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alternative medicines

Pain management

CHRONIC pain can take over a person's life. When it strikes it dominates their every thought, and, when it recedes they try to make up for the painful time lost with a frantic bout of activity that can often lead back to pain.

But this debilitating cycle can be broken.

Pru Burch, known by her Buddhist name Vidyamala, is running pain management courses at the Bodywise Natural Health Centre in Manchester.

Funded by a Millennium Commission grant, the sessions focus on simple relaxation and awareness techniques that help change a person's response to pain.

She said: ''Constant severe pain can dominate people's lives and make them very stressed. That can lead to other physical problems and it also affects their emotional state causing a downward spiral of depression when the sufferer simply thinks there is no hope.

''Relaxation breaks the tension cycle and helps people deal with the pain. You may not be able to change the condition itself, but you can change the way you respond to it.''

Vidyamala knows exactly what they are suffering. She has lived most of her life in pain.

After a serious accident when she was 16, she underwent two major spinal operations and was left with severe back pain.

As she was recovering she was involved in a serious car accident which left her needing more surgery. At 25 she was forced to give up the career she loved as a film editor, and now needs crutches to walk and sometimes a wheelchair to get around.

She said: ''After the car accident I had to spend many months lying flat on my back with my body encased in plaster. I was incredibly low and really despondent.

''I was then introduced to meditation by the hospital chaplain. He showed me how relaxing my mind could relax my body. It was a pivotal moment and it really helped me to cope.

''I began to read about meditation and when I left hospital I was lucky to find a good teacher and I carried on. I have been meditating daily now for 15 years and it has completely changed my life.

''I am living with constant pain because I am able to manage it. It is part of my life, but it does not rule it.

''That is what I try to teach. That it is possible to regain control. And I think it helps so much when I teach others to do the same that I have already done it.

''They are surprised to discover their teacher needs crutches and often takes a class sat in a wheelchair. It is not what they expect, but it means I speak from experience.

''I know what they are going through - I am going through it as well.''

She says pain management is a complimentary not an alternative medicine. ''People should make the most of the standard treatments available and not shun medical help.

''This is not an alternative it is more a change of attitude. What I try and show is how relaxation and meditation can help calm a person and help them focus on more positive aspects.

''I am not going to cure them, I offer no magical solution, and people who join the course have to be motivated.

''They have to be at the point where they are thinking, 'Right, the doctors have tried and failed so I am going to try and help myself now' not still be waiting for others to make them better.

''And everything I teach needs commitment. I give everyone a relaxation tape and it has to be done every single day to make a difference. But the effects can be dramatic. ''One woman, with quite a critical illness, has said that it has given her back her life. That is very inspiring.''

The courses are open to anyone trying to live with chronic pain, be it caused by arthritis, Parkinson's disease, MS or back pain.

Each course lasts for six weeks and classes are held every Wednesday afternoon at the Manchester Buddhist Centre. Because of the Millennium funding they are free.

Her first course is over-subscribed and bookings are already being taken for the second which begins on April 11th.

Vidyamala said: ''I have been incredibly surprised by the response.

I thought I would have to advertise extensively but people have just appeared! Which is sad because it means so many are living with chronic pain but also good in that they want to do something positive about it.''

Courses are also run by the NHS, but often there are long waiting lists. For details of those ask your GP or hospital consultant.

Contact numbers
Bodywise: 0161 833 2528