Neil Pearson: Life is Now Pain Care
Neil Pearson is a Canadian physiotherapist, yoga teacher, and educator who has done amazing work on the subject of chronic pain.
I was first introduced to Neil’s work by a physical therapist who had attended a training with him, and it changed my life.
My PT insisted I watch the following three lectures, given by Neil. I would not be able to give any of the explanations for pain that I do on this website without the information they contain. If you have chronic pain, you honestly must watch them.
I have written a series of posts on how my experience in physical therapy changed my life. You can find links to all of the posts in my section on “Calming Your Nervous System.”
Neil’s company Life is Now Pain Care offers great resources and educational workshops for both pain sufferers and medical professionals.
I highly recommend his webinar series Yoga for People in Pain, which explains how yoga and meditation can help people with chronic pain desensitize their nervous systems.
I also highly recommend Neil’s webinar “Building hope: the way through pain to self-management and recovery.” Here, he outlines some fascinating new areas of research on how people can begin to desensitize their nervous systems, including how repetitive gum chewing can increase serotonin levels and reduce pain.
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Update, March 2016: Neil has created some really interesting new pain education products, for both patients and professionals. They are now available on his website.
In the process, he has released a lot of cool open-access materials to the public. I find them to be really interesting, because although they might not be as polished as some of his newer products, they reveal a lot about his original thought process, and what went into his developing such a unique approach. I am very pleased to be sharing some of them from my blog– definitely check them out!
Optimistic Scientific Recovery Model
Body Awareness Meditation (to read aloud and record)
Yoga Journal Articles:
Yoga and chronic low back pain
Know pain? A brief guide to understanding pain for yoga therapists
Irene
June 12, 2013 at 5:17 pmI want to thank you fro making this website and posting Dr. Neil Pearson’s videos on Persistent Pain and Neuroplasticity. I have had a 27 year battle with severe lower back pain. I was always able to somehow work after readjusting my life and activities. But, about 7 years ago things took a turn for the worse and just went down hill with the past two years being the worst as I can not work and had to move back in with my parents and my activity level has severely come to a halt. With everything I do, I must go lie down on ice for about an hour afterward. Sitting in only tolerable for about twenty minutes, standing a few minutes. I can not climb stairs, and walking is 15 to 20 being the max at one time. I have split up walking throughout the day , but again I must rest on ice in between. I have been looking for a therapist or doctor to work with who has this training, but have not been able to find anyone in New Jersey . So, I thank you so much for allowing me to listen to all of Dr. Pearson’s video’s to gain a better understanding of it all and his suggestions on techniques to try. I have been trying them, they are hard to do mentally.
I was wondering if you knew of any physical therapist or doctor in New Jersey that is familiar with this training.
Thank you so MUch and I hope you are pain free
Sincerely,
Irene
sunlight in winter
June 13, 2013 at 3:20 amHi Irene,
Thanks so much for your comment. I’m really glad the things I’ve written turned out to be helpful.
I’m so sorry to hear you’re going through all this. I can really identify with your situation– it sounds similar to what I was going through a few years ago when I stumbled upon this material.
I don’t know of anyone in NJ off the top of my head, but I do have a few suggestions for how you could proceed:
–Consider contacting Neil Pearson directly, and asking if he has any colleagues or former students who happen to be practicing in your area. He lists an email address on his website and I can’t imagine he would mind you asking.
–From time to time, Mr. Pearson offers workshops for patients on how to live with chronic pain. Most of those workshops seem to be in Canada where he is based, but I believe he does come to the US occasionally. You could try checking his website from time to time or following him on Facebook for updates https://www.facebook.com/lifeisnowpain
–Neuro Orthopedic Institute (NOI) is another network of practitioners and researchers who work with the same pain science concepts as Neil Pearson. You might be able to find someone through this network. They are an international organization, but here is a link for the US branch: https://www.facebook.com/usanoigroup
I hope you are able to get some help soon! If you have any more questions, feel free to let me know. Best of luck!
Irene
June 14, 2013 at 11:03 amHi, I want to thank you for your empathy and concern. I truly appreciate it. Prior to finding your website, I did locate Neil Pearson but just not his videos which I am so grateful to your site for. I did email him and he was kind enough to reply that he knew of a doctor and physical therapist in NYC that may be of some help. It is about an hour and a half from me on a good day with no traffic. So, I think I need to get a little better maybe before I take the trip. But, I definitely will research them on line. I also had placed an email to the NOI group before finding your website but the one in England and they again referred me to a PT in NYC. I didn’t know there was an NOI in the US, so thank you so much for that Link.
I am so impressed and grateful with how knowledgeable and organized with this information. I realize it must take so much time, work and effort to put all this together and to keep reaching out to people. Just know that you really help a ton of people and I for one am eternally grateful
Sincerely,
Irene
sunlight in winter
June 16, 2013 at 9:15 pmYou’re welcome! Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts. It’s a really good feeling to know that I am helping others.