Nerve Pain in Practice - Sydney

Treating Nerve Pain

Nerve pain and sensitivity can present in many ways in practice, and the symptoms vary widely: tingling, itching, burning, stinging, sharp shooting pain, a deep nagging ache, a feeling of ants crawling, or an area that feels tight, swollen, bigger or simply odd.

Nerve pain triggers are often complex and multifactorial, and neural tissue involvement can be subtle in the early days, often mimicking or co-existing with simple mechanical pain. As a primary healthcare practitioner, you are well placed to recognise and manage any neural component of your patient's pain early, supporting their recovery and helping prevent ongoing pain and disability.

In Nerve Pain in Practice Liz Howard has translated a vast body of research into an evidence-informed osteopathic approach to assessing and treating the neuro-endocrine-immune system. She uses the current evidence from pain science, fascial research, neurodynamics and clinical trials to support traditional osteopathic treatment models.

Apply your palpation skills and manual therapy techniques for fascia (connective tissue) to the peripheral nervous system. Liz will guide you in this rewarding area of practice via efficient, ergonomic and safe techniques for younger and older patients, including the most sensitive and fragile.

The course will feature pre-learning videos and face-to-face learning to cover:

• Early symptoms
• Developmental and other risk factors
• How to assess and effectively manage nerve pain
• Manual therapy techniques
• Treatment planning
• Self-management
• Brief overview of conservative and interventional options for treating nerve pain

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course, you will be able to:

• Briefly describe the current understanding of pain, neuroinflammation, peripheral and central sensitisation, and how this can change during recovery
• Integrate targeted questions for neural sensitivity/pain and contributors including biopsychosocial, biomedical and developmental influences into your current history taking
• Use validated tools and tests for assessing the neuro-endocrine-immune system in practice
• Apply the principles of neurodynamics to testing and treating the neuro-endocrine-immune system e.g. nerve tension testing, nerve sliders and gliders
• Understand the conservative treatment options your patient may be offered, including medications (oral, topical), manual therapy, acupuncture and TENS (transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation)
• Confidently treat peripheral nerve symptoms with indirect techniques
• Understand the interventional treatment options your patient may be offered, including injections, pulsed radiofrequency, neuromodulation and surgical approaches
• Formulate a recovery plan with your patient to achieve their goals including education, self-management and desensitisation
• Understand when to refer and to whom

Course Details

The Nerve Pain in Practice course is applicable to all allied health manual therapy practitioners. No prior experience with indirect techniques is required. You will learn practical examination and treatment protocols for nerve pain that you can use with confidence in your clinical practice.

The course includes around 1.5 hours of pre-learning videos to watch before the day, followed by the face-to-face workshop from 8:30AM to 4:30PM. Places are limited to 16 attendees. You will receive snacks, printed course notes and an e-certificate of attendance for your CPD records. The course can be counted as 9 hours CPD, including the pre-learning.

About the Presenter

Advanced Pain Management Osteopath Liz Howard has many years of experience treating nerve pain in the pelvis and in general practice (peripheral nerve pain), providing her with unique clinical experience through the lens of the latest pain science.

Liz practises at the Women's Health & Research Institute of Australia, a specialist pelvic pain clinic in Sydney. She completed a Master of Science in Medicine (Pain Management) at USYD in 2013 and has over 25 years of experience as an osteopath, including pain education and as a clinical specialist in sacral neuromodulation.

Liz has more than 16 years of experience teaching at Australian universities and as a CPD provider. Her teaching experience ranges from course writing, presenting lectures and practicum in Undergraduate and Master’s Osteopathic programs (University of Western Sydney, Southern Cross University), clinical supervision of Osteopathic students (UWS, SCU, SportsMed Mumbai), to presentations at many professional associations including RANZCOG (Royal Australian & New Zealand College of Obstetrics & Gynaecology), AGES (Australasian Gynaecological Endoscopy & Surgery), NSANZ (Neuromodulation Society of Australia and New Zealand), Osteopathy Australia National Conference, Pregnancy Massage Australia, Pelvic Floor Seminars, GP education evenings and international allied health events, most recently in Ireland, Sweden and New Zealand.

Find out more about Liz Howard's experience treating nerve pain here.

Attendee Feedback

I used the abdominal and SIJ techniques on a patient in my first clinic shift post-course. So empowering. I'll definitely be back for further courses.
Jacqui Quinn

I had a patient with a very angry tennis elbow. I'd tried everything in the past, no real change. After the course, it was the first time in 8 months he was pain-free.
Alvaro Mojica

Liz always takes the complicated science of pain and the intricacies of myofascial release and explains them in a way that is easy to understand, visualise and feel. Love the up to date pain science, studies and fascial anatomy that she presents and how it relates to patients in everyday clinic life.
Ainslie Windle

Why wouldn't you do this course more than once! Liz presented the content with enthusiasm backed by a vast range of knowledge. The day was well coordinated, with a balanced mesh of theory and practice. Through the pre-learning videos I felt like I already had a leg up on what lay ahead.
John

Really contemporary, up to date, and directly relatable for clinical practice. Well supported by organised, easy-to-follow notes, with current research and references providing a solid background.
Denise Cornall