The first pain clinic was established at the University of Washington, Seattle around 30 years ago by anaesthetist Dr John Bonica.
His interest came from his own experiences during the Second World War when the Pacific conflict regularly filled the 7700 beds at the military hospital at Fort Lewis, Tacoma, Washington. Out of Dr Bonica’s search for ways to relieve his patient’s pain came the genesis of the idea that the treatment of pain must come from a teamwork of a number of medical specialities.
In single-method clinics, one type of treatment such as acupuncture, biofeedback, hypnosis, nerve block or TENS is used. This may not adequately rehabilitate a patient with chronic pain. Pain altering methods frequently do not prevent chronicity.
If all single methods were incorporated into one clinic, the basis for a multi-disciplinary and comprehensive clinic would be obtained. There are few such clinics in Australia. Pain clinics are either single modality, or modality-oriented.
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