Effectiveness of a Pain Education Programme for Persistent Work-Related Musculoskeletal Pain

Pain education is an important factor in the self-management of work-related musculoskeletal pain and can help in reduction of pain, disability, anxiety, stress, improved physical activity, positive thoughts, and reduced catastrophising of pain. Hence the objective of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of a pain education programme on workers with persistent work-related musculoskeletal pain in improving knowledge, self-efficacy and reduction in their pain. A survey questionnaire was used to evaluate the knowledge and understanding of the workers regarding pain and a questionnaire was used to evaluate their social and psychological status. The primary outcomes used were the McGill Pain Questionnaire and revised Neurophysiology of Pain Questionnaire. The pre-post analysis regarding the effectiveness of the course programme by analysing the outcomes of McGill pain questionnaire, Neurophysiology of pain questionnaire and the programme evaluation score showed a statistically significant difference in the post-scores compared to the pre-scores. This showed that the pain education programme was effective in the reduction of pain, disability and better conceptualisation of pain.