Addressing the Opioid Crisis: Using Yoga and Meditation to Help Patients Manage Pain

Course Description

This course assumes some knowledge and experience with yoga and is designed to help participants understand the long-term affect of chronic pain on the brain and nervous system, understand how pain education itself as well as yoga and meditation practices impact the brain and patients’ experiences of pain, and provides practical tools to assist occupational and physical therapists in applying what is learned in various settings.

Course Objectives

At the end of this course, the participant will be able to:

• Differentiate between acute and chronic pain.
• Explain other factors that influence pain besides current injuries.
• Explain how chronic pain changes the brain and impacts patients’ experience and perception of pain, mobility, and activities of daily living.
• Summarize how pain education, yoga, and meditation positively affect the brain and nervous system and improve function and mobility.
• Discern which patients may benefit from alternative means of pain management.
• Access resources for further self-education as well as client education.
• Apply simple yoga movements to decrease fear of movement and guarding.
• Apply different types of meditation to promote the optimal brain wave activity to reach desired outcome.
• Access written scripts to use with patients.
• Initiate first steps of integrating yoga and meditation into their treatment setting.
• Perform a simple outcome study to track success and efficacy.

• Prerequisites

  None

• Educational Level

  Basic

• Other

  Satisfactory completion of this course will require the participant to complete a 10 question post-test with a minimum passing score of 70%.