Are you suffering chronic pain?
Do you feel stuck and frustrated?
Is pain stopping you do the things you love?
Does it feel as though you have limited choices?
Are you struggling to recover from an injury?
Tried many things but they don’t work?
I am here to help.
How I help you: Pain Coaching
A highly individualised and holistic approach to persistent pain: pain coaching
When we first meet in the clinic or online, I listen to you tell me about your pain and the way the it impacts upon you and your life.
It is a relaxed yet detailed conversation that sets the scene.
I will ask various questions that help me build a picture of what you have been experiencing, your lifestyle, your health, sleep, the things you enjoy, what matters to you in life and what you hope to achieve.
We will also talk about your prior aches, pains, injuries and any other medical problems as this has relevance for your current situation.
This is time for you to share your story, concerns, worries, and the challenges you face.
Then we look at the way you move, especially the painful areas, and how you control your body. We identify the sensitivities, restrictions, limitations and other embodied features of persistent pain that we address in your programme.
The examination and tests (eg/ strength, balance, sensation) that we do are simple and guide the next steps. Sometimes, if your story is particularly long, we get to the examination at the second appointment.
Giving you the knowledge and skills to make a difference in your world and your life
Sessions
Following the initial conversation and assessment, we create your programme that is designed to help you understand your pain and move on to live a fulfilling life.
Each session focuses on practical skills, exercises and strategies that you can use to ease pain and live your life. We practice together so that you know what you will be doing and how you will do it.
In the sessions, we may also use various treatments to relieve and ease pain and symptoms.
Following each session, your plan and the key points are emailed to you: practices and insights. Plus any resources that will be useful.
The sessions are approximately an hour to give us the time we need together. We can work in the clinic or online.
Pain Coaching & Specialist Pain Physiotherapy
Chronic pain is a specialist field with specific knowledge and skills that are used to create an individualised programme of care to help you ease your pain, improve your life and reconnect with what matters.
We start by helping you understand your pain and then look at the many different skills, tools, practices, exercises and strategies that you can use to achieve your goals.
There are four main themes we work to together:
(1) specific skills and exercises to achieve particular goals
(2) skills and tools to ease pain and deal with challenging moments
(3) ways to live your best life and do the things you want and need to
(4) skills of being well.
Here are some examples of what we do together, depending on your needs and goals:
- Understand your pain
- Improve and restore normal movement
- Increase mobility and flexibility
- Develop the body sense we need to move and be skilful
- Build strength and fitness
- Specific movements and skills for sports and work
- Rest and recovery skills and strategies
- Sleep habit
- Managing & building energy
- Planning, prioritising and periodising your day
- Habits of peak performers to achieve success
- Motor imagery & visualisation
- Breathing practices
- Mindfulness and focused attention training
- Hands on treatment to ease pain and stiffness
Beyond these are more nuanced skills and practices that help you to achieve specific goals you may have.
The coaching style has been purposely chosen, having pioneered pain coaching for over 15 years.
Coaching puts you first, a person who is suffering but who has strengths, a positive histaory and an ability to make changes for the better.
Together we focus on what matters to you and then create practical ways to achieve your goals.
Overcoming pain is a proactive process of learning, understanding, creating new habits and living life in the best way, and knowing how things are now is not how they will be.
There are a number of insights that together with your new knowledge of pain, help you make best choices to navigate your way forwards.
I am here to guide, encourage and motivate you to be successful, building your confidence and independence.
I have been an active and enthusiastic sportsman all of my life but reached a point where a running injury and its aftermath left me in constant discomfort and wondering if I would ever run again.
After over a year and a half of physio, scans and injections and with my options for recovery running out, Richmond was recommended to me. He started out by thoroughly understanding the problem and then proceeded to address it through a holistic mind and body approach of visualisation and flexibility exercises. The transformation through just 4 sessions has been phenomenal; I am starting to run again and have completed challenging hill walks that I couldn’t possibly have before.
I would thoroughly recommend him.
I came to visit Richmond suffering chronic knee pain for a couple of years that stemmed from a needless surgery many years previously.
The pain varied in intensity, but it often caused me problems both while running and afterwards – and also interfered with my daily life. Just walking was sometimes enough to trigger stabbing pains.
I’d more or less exhausted traditional physio and medical solutions so decided to try Richmond after finding him online. His approach and exercises (ones that focus on the mind and body as one) succeeded in complementing conventional physio, and allowed me to reframe and reduce my perception of pain.
I’m now able to run again and get on with life without the ever present worry of knee pain – and I’m very grateful.
After several years of stubborn residual post-surgery hip-pain, Richmond and his infinite calm, patience and interest helped me to within weeks be able to get out of a chair without any pain. From there it went up and onward, with all pains disappearing within months.
I’m now able to do my yoga, long walks, tap-dancing and lots of running around without any pains at all.
And the best of all – I can sleep through the night without waking up due to the pain! Thank you!
Locations
The Chelsea Consulting Rooms
2 Lower Sloane Street
London
SW1W 8BJ
132 Harley Street
London
W1G 7JX