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Rheumatology Vol. 43 No. 6 © British Society for Rheumatology 2004; all rights reserved

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Reply: What is pain management? What can rheumatologists do with no pain management team?

R. G. Cooper, K. K. Booker and C. Spanswick

Salford and Manchester Pain Management Centre, Salford, UK

Correspondence to: R. Cooper, Hope Hospital, Eccles Old Road, Salford M6 8HD, UK. E-mail: rcooper{at}fs1.ho.man.ac.uk

In our recent article ‘What is pain management, and what is its relevance to the rheumatologist?’ [1], our major remit was not to describe in detail pain management programmes or multidisciplinary team working, but instead to outline pain management principles, in order that ‘jobbing’ rheumatologists could understand their usefulness when usual therapies have failed to control pain. The contents of Dr Frank's letter confirm the effectiveness of such principles when used outside of the setting of very expensive pain centres. We congratulate him on the results of his studies, and applaud his efforts to help spread this important message. We feel sure he would join us in recommending that all rheumatologists adopt and use these principles. Indeed, it is probably even more important that this educational message gets into the primary care setting, where we feel it is especially important to avoid the initial induction of the iatrogenic component of overall psychological distress. It is reassuring to find someone as influential as Professor Wessley also highlighting iatrogenic issues [2]. In our Pain Centre, psychometric and other questionnaires are used for research as well as clinical purposes, but we agree with Dr Frank that their cross-cultural use may cause difficulties.

The authors have declared no conflicts of interest.

References

  1. Cooper RG, Booker CK, Spanswick C. What is pain management, and what is its relevance to the rheumatologist? Rheumatology 2003;42:1133–7.[Free Full Text]
  2. Page LA, Wessley S. Medically unexplained symptoms: exacerbating factors in the doctor–patient encounter. J R Soc Med 2003;96:223–7.[Free Full Text]
Accepted 14 January 2004


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This Article
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Right arrow Articles by Spanswick, C.
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Right arrow Psychology: Measurement and Management of Pain
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