About pain medicine

One in five people in Australia and New Zealand will experience chronic – or persistent – pain at some stage in their lives.

Established in 1998, the Faculty of Pain Medicine (FPM) has trained hundreds of specialist pain medicine physicians. These specialist pain medicine physicians also treat acute pain (post operative, post-trauma, acute episodes of pain in "medical conditions") and cancer pain (pain directly due to tumour invasion or compression, pain related to diagnostic or therapeutic procedures, pain due to cancer treatment). Further information on the Faculty Pain Medicine and its training program can be found on our webpage dedicated to the Faculty of Pain Medicine training program.

This short animated video provides information to patients and carers about the role of specialist pain medicine physicians and the management of chronic pain in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand.

What is pain and how do we manage it?

There are three commonly recognised types of pain.

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What do specialist pain medicine physicians do?

As pain medicine is a multi-disciplinary specialty, specialist pain medicine physicians come from a variety of backgrounds.

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Patient resources

We've collated a range of resources for pain patients and their families.

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Opioids and chronic pain

Opioids are a class of medicines taken to help reduce pain. They work on the central nervous system to slow down nerve signals between the brain and the body.

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Last updated 13:55 11.03.2022