Capital Pain & Rehabilitation Clinic is celebrating 20 years of assisting their patients with pain, through a multi-disciplinary approach that includes physical therapy, counselling and psychology, pain education and a wide range of therapeutic procedures. The clinic focus on the patient and their goals, working with a range of conditions, including musculoskeletal, neuropathic and neurological, injury, disease and illness.

“It’s wonderful that we’re able to be still providing our services to people around Canberra and around the region,” says pain, interventional and rehabilitation medicine specialist, Dr Geoffrey Speldewinde.

“And through that time, it’s been an evolving service, as the evidence for a lot of pain management strategies has expanded, internationally and nationally.”

The team is made up of specialists in various fields working together to solve the ‘pain puzzle’ through a four-pronged approach – medical, educational, physical and psychological interventions, guided by the best available evidence.

“What’s most rewarding is a lot of patients actually finding out what’s been causing their pain all this time,” says Dr Speldewinde, who is also a past president of the Australian Pain Society and a specialist instructor in spinal procedures.

“All the interventions that we do here are about providing a realistic appraisal of the likelihood of a useful outcome, whatever that might be for that person.”

Dr Speldewinde says the very first step for the clinic is to validate a person’s pain complaint – “their pain is real, it’s not make-believe” – before moving to a potential diagnosis and treatment plan involving one or more of the clinic’s team members. He says it’s common for patients to brush off their pain, which can escalate as time goes on.

“All too often, the first time that someone sits down with us, it’s the first time someone has listened to their story and worked out what may help them get to a better place. It’s a common scenario with patients, sometimes they don’t believe that something can be diagnosed with the pain they’ve had for so long.

The clinic’s counsellor and clinical hypnotherapist, Jude King, says some patients require treatment with all four disciplines of the ‘pain puzzle’, such as those with chronic pain, while those with acute pain may require one or two.

“Patients, such as those with chronic pain, have conditions that are very complex and require a team approach; they have never had success before because this is the first time they have a team working with them,” Ms King says.

“Patients with acute injury or illness or rehabilitating may only need to see one or two different practitioners at the clinic. The beauty of this clinic is our flexibility.”

Capital Pain & Rehabilitation Clinic is a COVID-safe practice, adhering to all hygiene and social distancing requirements.

Capital Pain & Rehabilitation Clinic

25 Napier Close, Deakin

• T: 6282 6240
• F: 6282 5510
• E: [email protected]
• W: capitalrehab.com.au

This article was created in partnership with the Capital Pain & Rehabilitation Clinic. For more information on sponsored partnerships, click here.