Pain and the Brain – Neuroseminars

Online 1-day seminar
We have all come across the patients who wake up in pain and claim they must have ‘slept funny’ (despite sleeping in the same position that they always do). Maybe we sometimes assume that patients just have a bad memory when they genuinely have no explanation for why their pain started. And then there are the patients who complain of severe stiffness, but have full range of movement in the affected body part and all orthopaedic tests are negative. Pain often has a considerable brain-based component and in the absence of injury or other inflammatory process can even be entirely brain-based; this is especially true for both acute and chronic spinal pain, as well as headaches.
Understanding how pain is perceived, processed, modulated and sometimes amplified by different regions of the brain and spinal cord is therefore extremely important for clinicians dealing with pain patients. Being able to determine which areas of the nervous system to either stimulate or calm down can help you be more specific in your treatment and rehabilitation interventions. This seminar will also help you to understand how different therapies are likely to influence pain in the brain, not just manual treatment interventions, but also neuro-rehabilitative exercises, and therapies commonly used in the multidisciplinary management of chronic pain.
 
Course Content:
All of the following topics will be taught in clinical context. In other words, we will not just discuss theoretical concepts, but instead focus on what you can do in clinical practice to improve function in the neurological systems involved in pain processing and pain modulation.

The concept of brain-based pain
Nociceptive pathways from the periphery to the cerebral cortex
Pain gating and descending modulation of nociceptive afferent input
Wind-up, (mechanical) allodynia and central sensitisation
Cognitive and emotional aspects of chronic pain
Cerebellar and vestibular contributions to central pain modulation
Influence of pain on proprioceptive function and motor control

 
Course Instructor:
Nicole Oliver, DC, MChiro, BSc(Hons), PgDip(MSK Neuroscience)
Nicole graduated from the Anglo-European College of Chiropractic (AECC) in 2005 and began studying functional neurology in 2006. She gained the Diplomate of the American Chiropractic Neurology Board (DACNB) qualification four years later. Alongside clinical practice she lectures for Neuroseminars, teaching functional neurology to chiropractors, osteopaths, physiotherapists and other health care professionals in the UK and Europe. Nicole has presented at several conferences and conventions, including the 2014, 2016 & 2026 European Chiropractors Union (ECU) Conventions, the 2019 World Federation of Chiropractic (WFC) Congress, and at the annual or biannual conferences/ meetings of the Swiss, German, Norwegian, Belgian, Finnish, Swedish, Irish and Scottish national associations.
 
Registration fee:
£185 (GBP)/ €218 (EUR)