What is PNE?

Pain education, “pain neuroscience education (PNE)” or “Explain Pain” is a therapeutic tool highly recommended by several institutions especially by the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP). In its revised curriculum for pain management it is described as a major competence for physiotherapists to work with patients in chronic as well in acute pain states (IASP, 2018).

The authors of this curriculum are now going to shift the content from a knowledge based into a more competence-based structure. That means the therapist is not just taught in the mechanisms of nociception and pain but also in the way how to teach this knowledge. To fulfill this task, the therapist needs an empathic way and certain communication skills to guide the patient through this very complex field (O´Sullivan, 2012).