Pain rehabilitation

A number of professional categories work together in our assessments and rehabilitation. We have an outpatient clinic for assessments and various pain rehabilitation programmes that may include cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). We also have a telephone counselling service for persistent pain after whiplash injuries. We also have a regional mandate to investigate and diagnose patients with painful hypermobility.

Accreditation and quality registry

The unit offers internationally accredited rehabilitation programmes – physiotherapy programmes and BAS and Intensive pain management programmes. CARF (Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities, USA) is an international organisation that audits rehabilitation facilities all over the world. Our unit has been audited by CARF in 2021, and our current accreditation period is 2021–2024.

We are affiliated with a quality registry, the National Quality Registry for Pain Rehabilitation (NRS), to monitor and improve our activities. The person responsible for the quality registry is based at our clinic.

Research

We conduct clinical, patient-centred research as part of the pain rehabilitation programme. Our research area is chronic pain, which is defined as pain that persists for at least three months. Some 20 per cent of the adult population in Sweden is estimated to suffer from severe or moderate chronic pain. A small percentage of this group undergo assessment by pain rehabilitation centres.

Research support and empirical knowledge exist to indicate that what is known as a biopsychosocial approach can help patients with chronic pain to improve their function and enhance their ability to live an active life while enjoying a good quality of life. The biopsychosocial approach involves taking into account the patient’s biological/medical, psychological and social conditions. Chronic pain assessment, rehabilitation and research are conducted by means of such an approach, and we have a tradition of interdisciplinary collaboration within the unit. Psychologists, physiotherapists and doctors are currently conducting research and collaboration.

Our research focuses on various rehabilitation interventions, identification of co-morbidity between chronic pain and other conditions, and treatment of chronic pain that includes innovation in partnership with industry. We also conduct epidemiological research using data collected from large groups of patients. A collaborative project is also in progress with a view to creating a national biobank for patients suffering from chronic pain.

Our unit manages the national quality registry, the National Quality Registry for Pain Rehabilitation (NRS). It also collaborates with other national centres with a view to understanding the relationships between various factors that affect pain rehabilitation outcomes.

Examples of ongoing research projects:

• Children and adolescents suffering pain: cognitive and emotional interpretations of pain in children and parents, impact of pain on quality of life, function and behaviour
• Opioid tapering for non-malignant, chronic pain in adults
• Sensorimotor control of the hand with various diseases and injuries
• Mapping and rehabilitation of chronic pain, including registry research
• Digital therapeutic interventions for chronic pain in children and adults
• Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other psychiatric co-morbidities in chronic pain.