| painTRAINER | By Centre of Health, Exercise and Sports Medicine at the University of Melbourne in collaboration with Duke University and Hackensack Meridian Health |
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Features
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| Clinical review |
If guided by a relevant health professional with phone or email follow up, or self-guided for highly motivated patients.
If self-guided (due to high risk of non-adherence; however, even completing one session could be helpful.)
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| Security and privacy | Does the app:
Read more about safety and security when using apps. Brochures: |
| Cost | Free |
| How to access the course |
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painTRAINER
painTRAINER
- An interactive, online programme that teaches you effective strategies to manage your pain.
painTRAINER is an interactive pain coping skills course for people with chronic pain. Caregivers may also find the programme useful in helping them support someone experiencing pain. The course helps users understand how pain works and learn pain coping skills to improve daily function and reduce pain.
It comprises 8 x 30–45 minute guided lessons on pain coping skills which are presented as interactive animated slideshows with audio overlays. It is recommended that users complete one session per week. The programme teaches a variety of pain coping skills which are divided into relaxation-related skills (progressive relaxation, mini-practices and pleasant imagery/distraction), activity-related skills (activity-rest cycles) and thought-related skills (unhelpful automatic thoughts vs coping thoughts, and problem solving).
For the complete app description, go to the painTRAINER website(external link) or, for a more detailed review, see reviews below.
| PROS | CONS |
|---|---|
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✔ Developed by relevant health professionals in the US and Australia, with research backing up its utility for improving pain coping and function for osteoarthritis. However, it is probably useful for other pain conditions, too. |
✘ Can’t link with a health professional for them to view your progress. |
User review
Reviewer: Member of the public, Auckland New Zealand, October 2020
Comments: Couldn't register, even though tried various ways.
Clinical review
If guided by a relevant health professional with phone or email follow up, or self-guided for highly motivated patients.
If guided by a relevant health professional with phone or email follow up, or self-guided for highly motivated patients.
Reviewer: Jeremy Steinberg, GP, FRNZCGP
Date of review: March 2020
Platform: Web browser
Comments: painTRAINER is the name for the Australian version of a programme previously known as PainCoach. It is an interactive 8-week web course that teaches pain education and pain coping skills. The pain education section is didactic with very high information density and so it is unlikely that retention will be high. Nevertheless, the subsequent pain coping skills lessons are interactive and high quality, which is the bulk of the course. I would liked to have seen more information about the benefit of graduated exercise in chronic pain. The programme has been proven to improve pain coping and function in research that mainly looked at osteoarthritis, but I suspect that it would still be useful for other pain conditions, too.
Safety concerns: None.
New Zealand relevance: Australian-based.
References
- Effects of internet-based pain coping skills training before home exercise for individuals with hip osteoarthritis (HOPE trial): a randomised controlled trial.(external link)(external link) Pain 2018 Sep;159(9):1833-1842.
- Automated internet-based pain coping skills training to manage osteoarthritis pain: a randomized controlled trial.(external link)(external link) Pain 2015 May;156(5):837-48.
- Effectiveness of an internet-delivered exercise and pain-coping skills training intervention for persons with chronic knee pain: a randomized trial.(external link)(external link) Ann Intern Med. 2017 Apr 4;166(7):453-462.
- A qualitative study of patient and provider perspectives on using web-based pain coping skills training to treat persistent cancer pain.(external link)(external link) Palliat Support Care 2018 Apr;16(2):155-169.
- "I could do it in my own time and when I really needed it": perceptions of online pain coping skills training for people with knee osteoarthritis.(external link)(external link) Arthritis Care Res (Hoboken) 2019 Oct 18.
References
- Effects of internet-based pain coping skills training before home exercise for individuals with hip osteoarthritis (HOPE trial): a randomised controlled trial(external link) Pain 2018 Sep;159(9):1833-1842.
- Automated internet-based pain coping skills training to manage osteoarthritis pain: a randomized controlled trial(external link) Pain 2015 May;156(5):837-48.
- Effectiveness of an internet-delivered exercise and pain-coping skills training intervention for persons with chronic knee pain: a randomized trial(external link) Ann Intern Med. 2017 Apr 4;166(7):453-462.
- A qualitative study of patient and provider perspectives on using web-based pain coping skills training to treat persistent cancer pain(external link) Palliat Support Care 2018 Apr;16(2):155-169.
- "I could do it in my own time and when I really needed it": perceptions of online pain coping skills training for people with knee osteoarthritis(external link) Arthritis Care Res (Hoboken) 2019 Oct 18.
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Disclaimer: The NZ Health App Library is a free consumer service to help you decide whether a health app would be suitable for you. Our review process is independent. We have no relationship with the app developers or companies and no responsibility for the service they provide. This means that if you have an issue with one of the apps we have reviewed, you will need to contact the app developer or company directly. |
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