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The Explain Pain Handbook Protectometer
The Explain Pain Handbook: Protectometer is a new collaboration between Professor Lorimer Moseley and Dr. David Butler.
Based on the most up-to-date research and the Explain Pain book, it allows patients experiencing pain to explore their unique pain story.
The centrepiece of the handbook the ProtectometerTM is an interactive device that allows patients and therapists to gain a deeper understanding of the experience and establish an individualized treatment and education plan.
Based on the most up-to-date research and the Explain Pain book, it allows patients experiencing pain to explore their unique pain story.
The centrepiece of the handbook the ProtectometerTM is an interactive device that allows patients and therapists to gain a deeper understanding of the experience and establish an individualized treatment and education plan.
50 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2015
8 people are currently reading
214 people want to read
About the author
G. Lorimer Moseley
9 books26 followersProfessor Lorimer Moseley is a clinical scientist investigating pain in humans. Lorimer joined NeuRA from The University of Oxford, UK, where he was Nuffield Medical Research Fellow in the Pain group, Department of Clinical Neurology, and Department of Physiology, Anatomy & Genetics. In 2011, Lorimer was also appointed Professor of Neuroscience and Chair in Physiotherapy, The Sansom Institute for Health Research at the University of South Australia.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
February 20, 2016
How many stars should I give this book? I think 500 should be fine, or maybe a thousand or two thousands, I don't know!
This is not an ordinary book, it's a game changer, an eye opener!
Years of studying medicine and we all got wrong, very wrong, about the pain and this is going to fix us, patients and doctors for good
Tried this with some of my patients with the worst types of chronic pain and fibromyalgia and man! You should see their faces, it's joy and surprise and confidence raising form the gloomy horizon of despair and frustration
Take a bow Dr Butler and Dr Mosley
You are awesome!
This is not an ordinary book, it's a game changer, an eye opener!
Years of studying medicine and we all got wrong, very wrong, about the pain and this is going to fix us, patients and doctors for good
Tried this with some of my patients with the worst types of chronic pain and fibromyalgia and man! You should see their faces, it's joy and surprise and confidence raising form the gloomy horizon of despair and frustration
Take a bow Dr Butler and Dr Mosley
You are awesome!
March 25, 2020
As a sports medicine physician I see a lot of chronic pain. I see mostly children but some adults and I have started Explain Pain Supercharged but decided to read this quickly to see how it will help some of my patients. I am interested in reading some of the related research on teaching these concepts to children that I found on twitter yesterday as well. I do like this book but do think this is targeted to adults which is fine.
I also was diagnosed with post traumatic arthritis in my early 20s. I noticed seeing x rays or having everyone gawk at my ultrasound at US conferences increased my pain. The more I focused on that I may need a knee replacement at a young age the more I hurt. While I do have chronic swelling I actually can road bike, mountain bike, and run relatively pain free when I don't focus on these things. The great thing is anyone can do this!
This is a quick read but for those in chronic pain it is made to be a work book which is great. Managing chronic pain is a journey and improvement will not happen overnight. As per the usual with this group the concepts are conceptualized by quirky images. The book is in plain language.
Chapter 1 Primer on pain and pain messages. That pain is to protect the body but sometimes we have pain signals when we are not actually putting our body in danger is an important concept for people to understand. *** key concept the amount of pain does not correlate to severity of injury or changes shown on imaging. Many of us in medicine know this but I think its important for patients to hear.
Highlights that the context of the pain is very important. When one believes they are injured ---> more pain. When they don't understand why they hurt and are worried it is serious --> more pain. When people say they have bone on bone arthritis --> more pain.
Chapter 2 is an assessment of ones own pain. It's very much a self reflection based on their concept of a protectometer which is really a great visual representation of changing pain thresholds. It has the user think about ones thoughts related to their pain, the context of their pain, what makes them feel safe and what makes them feel in danger. It then discusses how based on these factors our threshold for pain changes. When we have a lot of danger thoughts or signals one small thing can put us over the threshold for pain. One can strengthen their protective thoughts and signals by identifying what makes them feel safer and thus lower the threshold to having pain. It also helps one identify the things that may be a trigger. I love how in this chapter it ties in the changes to our body when we are constantly having danger signals. This is not just one body system. Thus why a lot of people in chronic pain are fatigues, have tight muscles, GI discomfort and poor digestion, depression, poor sleep, anxiety.
Chapter 3
Now its time to prepare for the journey.
Start with a medical exam and packing your back pack full of knowledge as knowing is often empowering and decreases the anxiety and stress. Identify your goals and steps to get there. Here the adaptability of the human brain and body is discussed. How we can get rid of our danger messages progressively and build up our safety messages by doing things like imaging doing a painful activity, go to a happy place or do the activity with a friend.
Chapter 4. Final planning for the journey and starting the journey to less pain
First plan your journey. I love the focus on active coping rather than passive coping. Rarely is there a medical intervention that will medically make your pain disappear. Avoidance won't work either. Decreasing pain requires work on the part of the sufferer! Like all good things investment is necessary or else wouldn't you be out of pain already!It discusses gradual increasing of an activity to stay in a safe zone while keeping your goals in site. It discusses this in terms of mountain climbing with your goal at the top. The climb is gradual. the base camp is a safe zone. Sure there may be set ups and flare ups but take them in stride and gradually climb to your goal. This chapter also discusses how when we do these things we will be triggering our happy hormones and not our stress hormones so we progressively feel less pain. I like the highlight on self talk as well. Our own terms influence are pain. I like to say just as our skin does not look like we do when we are 20 , neither does our insides. Many people are age have these changes but most don't have pain so do not focus on these changes on imaging. I never say you have bone on bone arthritis or degenerative changes much. Sometimes when someone is playing through a bad injury I do have to highlight that this can cause permanent changes that can be prevented but that's usually reserved for children who are ignoring an injury that can heal not older people with degenerative conditions.
The other thing is this book is based on biology and also clinical studies. Humans are very adaptable and while that can lead to our chronic pain being triggered it also means we can take steps to adapt in a way that we can decrease our pain! Good luck conquering your pain!
I also was diagnosed with post traumatic arthritis in my early 20s. I noticed seeing x rays or having everyone gawk at my ultrasound at US conferences increased my pain. The more I focused on that I may need a knee replacement at a young age the more I hurt. While I do have chronic swelling I actually can road bike, mountain bike, and run relatively pain free when I don't focus on these things. The great thing is anyone can do this!
This is a quick read but for those in chronic pain it is made to be a work book which is great. Managing chronic pain is a journey and improvement will not happen overnight. As per the usual with this group the concepts are conceptualized by quirky images. The book is in plain language.
Chapter 1 Primer on pain and pain messages. That pain is to protect the body but sometimes we have pain signals when we are not actually putting our body in danger is an important concept for people to understand. *** key concept the amount of pain does not correlate to severity of injury or changes shown on imaging. Many of us in medicine know this but I think its important for patients to hear.
Highlights that the context of the pain is very important. When one believes they are injured ---> more pain. When they don't understand why they hurt and are worried it is serious --> more pain. When people say they have bone on bone arthritis --> more pain.
Chapter 2 is an assessment of ones own pain. It's very much a self reflection based on their concept of a protectometer which is really a great visual representation of changing pain thresholds. It has the user think about ones thoughts related to their pain, the context of their pain, what makes them feel safe and what makes them feel in danger. It then discusses how based on these factors our threshold for pain changes. When we have a lot of danger thoughts or signals one small thing can put us over the threshold for pain. One can strengthen their protective thoughts and signals by identifying what makes them feel safer and thus lower the threshold to having pain. It also helps one identify the things that may be a trigger. I love how in this chapter it ties in the changes to our body when we are constantly having danger signals. This is not just one body system. Thus why a lot of people in chronic pain are fatigues, have tight muscles, GI discomfort and poor digestion, depression, poor sleep, anxiety.
Chapter 3
Now its time to prepare for the journey.
Start with a medical exam and packing your back pack full of knowledge as knowing is often empowering and decreases the anxiety and stress. Identify your goals and steps to get there. Here the adaptability of the human brain and body is discussed. How we can get rid of our danger messages progressively and build up our safety messages by doing things like imaging doing a painful activity, go to a happy place or do the activity with a friend.
Chapter 4. Final planning for the journey and starting the journey to less pain
First plan your journey. I love the focus on active coping rather than passive coping. Rarely is there a medical intervention that will medically make your pain disappear. Avoidance won't work either. Decreasing pain requires work on the part of the sufferer! Like all good things investment is necessary or else wouldn't you be out of pain already!It discusses gradual increasing of an activity to stay in a safe zone while keeping your goals in site. It discusses this in terms of mountain climbing with your goal at the top. The climb is gradual. the base camp is a safe zone. Sure there may be set ups and flare ups but take them in stride and gradually climb to your goal. This chapter also discusses how when we do these things we will be triggering our happy hormones and not our stress hormones so we progressively feel less pain. I like the highlight on self talk as well. Our own terms influence are pain. I like to say just as our skin does not look like we do when we are 20 , neither does our insides. Many people are age have these changes but most don't have pain so do not focus on these changes on imaging. I never say you have bone on bone arthritis or degenerative changes much. Sometimes when someone is playing through a bad injury I do have to highlight that this can cause permanent changes that can be prevented but that's usually reserved for children who are ignoring an injury that can heal not older people with degenerative conditions.
The other thing is this book is based on biology and also clinical studies. Humans are very adaptable and while that can lead to our chronic pain being triggered it also means we can take steps to adapt in a way that we can decrease our pain! Good luck conquering your pain!
July 3, 2019
Overly simplified & unhelpful. Long story short, the message is “It’s all in your mind. Think positive & you’ll get rid of your pain.” Utterly invalidating, I hated it.
April 23, 2024
There are much better books out there on coping with chronic pain. This guide is overly wordy and complicated, especially the mountain exercise at the end. Worst of all, the poor choice of wording at times implies that a patient's pain would have simply gone away if they would stop thinking about it (yes, this is occasionally true but not usually true!). Buyer beware: there is a hint of victim blaming and toxic positivity within these pages.
The authors want to instill their readers with confidence in their ideas, but in presenting 'sometimes' statements as 'always' statements, they risk putting readers on the defensive and making readers question their interest in being factually accurate. For instance, they insist that everyone can get better. That's just not true. This black-and-whites approach may then make readers question the true statements they make.
There are only a few key ideas in here which any book on chronic pain will explain. You will learn that the brain makes pain, for instance sensors in your body send a signal that this something is too hot and your brain creates pain to make you pull your hand away. You will learn that what we think, say, and do can make pain better or worse. The book also explains the vicious cycle of chronic pain; it triggers other problems which then stresses your body out more which causes more pain. Central sensitisation will be touched on but not called that.
Most importantly, you will learn about pacing and graduated activity therapy though the book doesn't call it this or explain it well. Pacing and graduated activity therapy is especially helpful for localised pain, like back pain.
I would not recommend this book to anyone. Look elsewhere for the basic information above.
The authors want to instill their readers with confidence in their ideas, but in presenting 'sometimes' statements as 'always' statements, they risk putting readers on the defensive and making readers question their interest in being factually accurate. For instance, they insist that everyone can get better. That's just not true. This black-and-whites approach may then make readers question the true statements they make.
There are only a few key ideas in here which any book on chronic pain will explain. You will learn that the brain makes pain, for instance sensors in your body send a signal that this something is too hot and your brain creates pain to make you pull your hand away. You will learn that what we think, say, and do can make pain better or worse. The book also explains the vicious cycle of chronic pain; it triggers other problems which then stresses your body out more which causes more pain. Central sensitisation will be touched on but not called that.
Most importantly, you will learn about pacing and graduated activity therapy though the book doesn't call it this or explain it well. Pacing and graduated activity therapy is especially helpful for localised pain, like back pain.
I would not recommend this book to anyone. Look elsewhere for the basic information above.
March 14, 2025
This is an excellent resource for people living with chronic pain and ready for a new, integrative approach to neuro/bio plasticity. Pain is wildly misunderstood by not just the average person, but also by many health professionals who see it as a structural issue to be operated on / medicated, or "all in your head". I'm looking forward to using the activities in the handbook with my chronic pain clients.
November 20, 2024
My physiotherapist asked me to read this book for my ongoing horrific persistent pelvic pain.
Most of the theories in here I knew, but it was helpful to see it laid out like this.
Pain lives in your head but so do you and your experiences and your existence.
Most of the theories in here I knew, but it was helpful to see it laid out like this.
Pain lives in your head but so do you and your experiences and your existence.
August 13, 2025
An excellent handbook to use after reading Explain Pain in order to more fully digest and integrate the material into your own life. What a gift these authors have given readers in pain to help manage and eventually eliminate pain!
October 29, 2018
Excellent home handbook for management & progressing on the journey .
January 23, 2025
I continue to reach for this book as a reminder that the body doesn’t feel pain the brain makes it.
A terrific help for people struggling with chronic pelvic pain or pudendal neuralgia.
A terrific help for people struggling with chronic pelvic pain or pudendal neuralgia.
March 27, 2022
Good resource for chronic pain patients
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews