Understand Pain to change pain

UP is a purposeful enterprise envisioning a world where societies understand pain.

Why is this so important?

Chronic pain is the number one global health burden. This is the cause of immeasurable suffering across the world and costing society enormous sums of money.

One of the main reasons why this remains the case is due to the misunderstanding of pain. This misunderstanding results in low expectations, poor treatment choices and a great deal of fear that inhibits recovery and living well.

At UP we believe in each individual’s potential and ability to change their pain and live a meaningful life. This is because we know that pain can and does change when you truly understand it.

How do we know that pain changes?

Simply because people who understand their pain tell us about how they have changed their pain and their lives. We also have huge amounts of research that is on-going as we develop greater knowledge about pain.

In fact, when you spend time talking to someone who suffers chronic pain, you can help them to realise that pain is not a constant. There is no single state that we are in. There is constant change afoot ~ the impermanence of everything.

We change by design. Every moment is fresh and new. Our body systems are continually changing and updating, and we can choose a direction. This is realised when we understand pain. We can take great hope and be very optimistic.

How did UP come about?

From a series of conversations between Richmond and Georgie about the scale of the problem of pain, Georgie’s own suffering and how she was inspired to gain control and overcome her pain.

Following our chats, Georgie organised singing events with Rock Choir at T5 London Heathrow to launch our campaign. That was in 2015. Since then there have been a number of these #upandsing days, the Royal Parks 1/2 Marathon in October 2016 and the London Marathon in 2017.

From a campaign to a purposeful enterprise

With a firm purpose and a clear vision, UP is now carving a way forward with a range of workshops and talks to create the conditions for change. Pain is a social issue and hence we are taking the message to society.

The updated version of this website is being worked upon as we speak. The new site will be full of content about pain so that we can reach far and wide via the web. However, with our plans to scale the workshops, we are thinking globally….so get in touch wherever you are and let’s work together to understand pain!