Cognitive Functional Therapy for Chronic Pain

Cognitive Functional Therapy (CFT) is a person-centred approach to chronic pain management. Originally pioneered as a new way of helping patients manage chronic lower back pain, CFT can be applied to any chronic musculoskeletal pain or injury issue.

Pain is more than just physical harm, it is an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience which permeates every aspect of a persons life. CFT takes this into account, looking at your lifestyle, beliefs and movement patterns which may be contributing to your pain experience, or stopping it from going away.

Chronic pain is often difficult to shift due to learned coping behaviours which mean you avoid, fear or become anxious over certain activities, movements and sensations. These coping strategies – which may have been useful in the initial, early stages of your issue – are often holding you back from moving on from the problem.

CFT is a collaborative approach, where you will take an active role in planning and directing the course of treatment. It involves lots of ‘homework’ in the form of functional experiments and cognitive re-framing surrounding problem movements or activities.

Using CFT in conjunction with manual or hands-on therapies, such as acupuncture, massage or Sports Therapy, can be a beneficial way of managing and getting rid of chronic and recurring pain.

Paul Fleming, BSc MSc