Pain Smart

“Without access to pain management, quality of life for children and adolescents with chronic pain is severely limited. Children with chronic pain report higher levels of physical disability, anxiety, depression, sleep problems and poor academic performance”

World Health Organization

WHO Guidelines on the management of chronic pain in children

This is a study led by a team from the University of Sydney in partnership with the Nepean and Blue Mountains Local Health District. This study is a Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) supported by the Australian Government.

The National Strategic Action Plan for Pain Management | Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care

The Pain Smart Study

The aim of the study is to estimate the (cost-)effect of a pain education module plus (for those reporting significant musculoskeletal pain) or minus biopsychosocial case management to students attending secondary schools.

Musculoskeletal conditions are second only to mental health as the largest cause of disability in Australian adolescents, and those who experience prolonged back pain have up to 4 times the odds of chronic pain in adulthood. Adolescents who have pain regularly are more likely to drink alcohol, smoke, suffer poor mental health and miss school. Musculoskeletal pain costs Australia more than $1 Billion per annum in healthcare expenditure. Clinicians and the public are often misinformed as to causes of pain and many Australians receive non-evidence-based-care.

Evidence shows that the best way to prevent transition from acute to chronic pain involves education about pain and appropriate management, however, initiatives providing information about musculoskeletal pain as recommended by the National Pain Strategy are lacking. Furthermore, the World Health Organisation guidelines recommend biopsychosocial care for adolescents with pain, however many primary care clinicians offer treatments based on outdate, biomedical models.

We are prosing a pain education module and tailored biopsychosocial care for those who experience significant musculoskeletal pain. The pain education was developed by a group of researchers’ experts in the health promotion area, and it will be delivered by the teachers to all students in years 7- 10, in classroom as part of the PDHPE curriculum. Biopsychosocial care will be delivered by a trained Allied Health professional based in outpatient services. We expect that biopsychosocial care, in addition to pain education will result in reduced pain impact in adolescents.