A guide to managing cancer pain
More than half of those with cancer will experience pain. People living through a cancer diagnosis and experiencing changes to physical health, relationships, and emotional and psychological wellbeing can find it difficult to face pain or the prospect of relieving it with any confidence or hope. However, there is hope.
Getting control of pain is a collaboration, and clinicians can help. But there are also many things people in pain can do to help themselves. Much of pain research focuses on new approaches that offer effective additions or alternatives to drugs and invasive procedures. These approaches allow those experiencing pain to take back some control. Rather than feeling helpless, they can actively relieve their pain.
The Cancer Pain Book guides the reader in understanding their pain experience – the what, how and why of cancer pain – and the mind–body connection, with a focus on pain management through proven psychosocial interventions including exercise, relaxation, meditation and psychological tools. This can build mental resilience, self-compassion and positive thinking.
The Cancer Pain Book is the third title in HammondCare's 'Pain Series', following the highly acclaimed The Pain Book (2013) and The Spinal Cord Injury Pain Book (2014).
The Cancer Pain App
Developed to accompany The Cancer Pain Book, the free Cancer Pain App features a range of guided meditations and exercises that help to manage and provide pain relief for cancer pain. The strategies explained and demonstrated in the app have been shown to benefit people living with cancer-related pain. They are suitable for people with all types and at all stages of cancer.
The Cancer Pain App is available on the Apple and Google stores.
About the authors
Professor Melanie Lovell is a palliative medicine physician, senior staff specialist and Medical Head of Palliative Care with HammondCare in Northern Sydney. She has been caring for people with pain and cancer and doing research to improve cancer pain for over 20 years. She was founding Chair of the Australian Adult Cancer Pain Management Guideline Working Party, which developed and updates Cancer Council Australia’s Cancer Pain Guideline.
Rebecca McCabe has over 20 years of experience in working with people with various pain conditions. She has co-authored two books on persisting pain and has presented her research at many national and international conferences. She is currently Senior Physiotherapist at HammondCare, operates her own physiotherapy practice, and is the president of a multidisciplinary health centre in Strathfield.
Dr Skye Dong is a clinical psychologist and post-doctoral researcher who specialises in working with people facing adjustment to illness, chronic pain, trauma, grief, and loss. She has published widely in the area of cancer symptom management and presented her research at international conferences. She currently works clinically in private practice and public health, utilising a range of evidence-based, mindfulness-based, and relational psychotherapies to work with individuals and groups.
Professor Philip Siddall is a pain medicine specialist at HammondCare and conjoint professor in pain medicine at The University of Sydney. He has worked as a clinician in the field of pain management for over 35 years, with positions at major teaching hospitals in Sydney, Australia as well as Cambridge, UK. He is the author of two books on pain management and is known internationally for his research and contribution to the field, with many publications in international journals and conference speaking invitations.
Product details
- Softcover: 164 pages
- Publisher: HammondCare in 2022
- Language: English
- ISBN: 978-0-6486790-1-1
- Product Dimensions: 250 x 175 x 10 mm