Of course, the primary purpose is to raise awareness of the problem of chronic pain that besieges so many people across the globe.
It is also to share hope as our knowledge and understanding of pain advances at a rapid rate. As a result we can help people shape positive futures.
Further, ultrarunning is a way to experience one’s own pain and learn — blog here.
The route
It is a mixed bag. A good amount of the trail will be along the South Downs Way as I head from Ditchling Beacon to Eastbourne.
From there I will find my way along the coast to Hastings, where it all began. I don’t remember that day, but I know it happened.
The distance will end up around 80k I would suspect. Time? No idea. I always get that wrong.
One of the beauties of heading off on a long bimble is the loss of a sense of time. I often have no idea of the hour. There is only this moment. Truly present.
Preparing for an ultra requires planning. It is also a time to take it easy and eat.
Update on the route
I am now planning to start at the Menai Bridge.
Having looked at the path along the North Wales Coast, it became apparent that an acknowledged leg runs from the Bridge to Chester. Or vice versa, which is the way that I am travelling — East to West.
This extends the route a little to 131k.
In the meantime…
I am looking at the maps to build in my sense of the journey and to arrange the rest stops. Here I will meet Jo and Chico for fuel, fluids and any other bits and bobs that help me to keep going. Perhaps a change of socks.
Jeff is joining me for the last 30-40k.
Ffynnongroyw or Mostyn.
Meet Jeff
This week is an easy week: a few relaxed runs help to keep moving, plenty of sleep and nourishing food.
I’ll gradually be pulling my kit together. It maybe chilly running through the night. Perhaps it will rain. Must be prepared.
This month sees the return of the 100k + distance as I trot along from Bangor to Chester.
For some time I have been chatting with Jeff, an UP ambassador, about running together. So, I am delighted and excited to say that Jeff is joining me for the last leg — I will be on my last legs, that’s for sure!
Jeff is a great encourager. He is a coach, a facilitator, a writer and much more. Jeff has a book coming out soon, which I know will be superb. I am going to ask him to write a blog about it.
I also have crew for this one. Jo, my wife, has agreed to drive along the route and keep me supplied. She will be ably assisted by Chico.
Chico
Here’s the plan:
Drive up to Anglesey on Sunday. Set off around midnight, wrapped up and be-torched.
Make my way along the coast line through the night. Meet Jo and Chico at dawn with fresh supplies.
Keep going.
Find Jeff.
Keep going.
Have a beer and a pizza.
Lie on the back seat and be driven home.
Why?
To raise awareness: pain is one of the largest global health burdens affecting millions and costing billions.
There is much we can do as a society.
It starts with understanding pain. From there, people can feel educated, empowered and enabled to move on and shape a positive future.
This is the purpose of Pain Coaching, an approach I began pioneering around 10 years ago.
Thanks to…
Recently I started using Wholy Me organic products: the drops and the balm.
The drops I use each day, morning and evening. The balm I apply, using self-massage, as needed. This is quite often as I usually have some aches and pains from training and running.
I have no other me to compare, however, my own experience is certainly one of overall calming and soothing on a day to day basis. The balm relieves my local soreness. It is a great combo.
Recently, I had a chat with Celine from Wholy Me on Instagram Live. I shared my thoughts and experiences. The Wholy Me Instagram page is here.
Here’s the blog that Wholy Me wrote about our conversation.
I will certainly be taking my drops and balm with me!
Please share so that we can give hope!
Over the past 5 years there has been a significant increase in the understanding of pain as a perception. This enables us to offer a wide range of practices, exercises and ways to help, guide and support people along their journey to improve their lives.
See the Resources tab on the site for articles and talks, and more on the Specialist Pain Physio site; podcasts and blog (Richmond’s clinic site)
upandrun 14 is a special one. 100k round the block to raise money for the #NHSHeroes at Kingston Hospital. This shall be the Kingston Hospital Self-Transcendence Race*, my much shorter version of the 3100!
Each month I run an ultramarathon. That is a distance beyond a marathon, typically 45 kilometers plus. This will be the 14th since I started ultras last May.
There are several purposes of upandrun. One is to raise the awareness of the problem of pain that affects millions and costs billions. Another is to help people understand how they can improve their lives. But, upandrun 14 (April) is different.
This month upandrun will be dedicated to raising money for NHS staff at Kingston Hospital, my local one. I am pleased to link up with the Kingston Hospital Charity to steer donations to the people who are caring for the sick and vulnerable. It is vital that the NHS Heroes remain well, and our support will help them and their families.
upandrun 14 for the NHS ~ Kingston Hospital: donate here
With upandrun 14 due, it made me wonder how I could use my legs to make a contribution to the NHS. I thought, why not run around the block?. I stay local, the streets are quiet (easy to keep distance from others) and I could clock up a decent mileage. Initially I decided on 50k but then it seemed like a better idea to round it up to 100. A 5k route times 20. Round and round I will go, grabbing refreshments from my crew (mainly my wife, but she does not know yet).
The Kingston Hospital Self-Transcendence Race is a tongue in cheek version of the Sri Chinmoy self-trancendence race. This is a 3100 race around one block in New York totalling, yep, you’ve got it, thirty one hundred miles. If you fancy that, read here. I’ll be doing a mere 60 odd miles.
The course set, the day chosen (Monday 20th April) and the charity on board, it’s all go. I have a JustGiving page set up and on the first afternoon had donations over over £1000 — great start! To get to £3000 would be fantastic, and maybe more…..
Now to take it easy for a few days.
You will be able to follow progress on Instagram (@paincoach) and Twitter (@painphysio) where I will post pics and vids. Please take part, send messages, share and donate what you can!
* The idea for the name of the run came from my old mate Chris, who actually got me into ultrarunning. Ta!
The end of a successful roadshow: Neil Wright (TensCare), Juan Schaerer (Adcock Ingram), me, Nick
I was very pleased to be asked to speak at the Adcock Ingram Sports Science & Rehabilitation division launch roadshow — a whistle-stop tour of South Africa.
Innovative TensCare CEO Neil Wright asked me whether I would give a series of talks in South Africa (Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town). He had heard that I bring an ‘edge’ to the topic of pain. I like to think so, but only in terms of challenging out-dated thinking that holds us back. What a great opportunity, I thought. A chance to spread important messages via Understand Pain (UP) and to learn about how chronic and complex pain is addressed in South Africa.
The new Adcock Ingram division was being launched to local physiotherapists, chiropractors and biokineticists, and the theme of the events was pain. How could I resist? Adcock Ingram are engaging with therapists and clinicians in a new way that is generating a great deal of excitement. This is based on creating great relationships and distributing high quality products that compliment rehabilitation, including the range of devices from TensCare.
Both the team putting on the roadshow and the attendees were buzzing! The feedback from the people in the audience was very positive. There was a thirst for quality pain education, and it would be great to follow up with full Pain Coach workshops.
Johannesburg audience
TensCare and TENS
TensCare is an employee owned company, distributing TENS and electrotherapy machines all over the world. One of the main reasons to use TENS is for pain relief, in both acute and chronic pain. It is probably best known and most used in maternity care.
In my experience, TENS is under-used for chronic pain. Whilst TENS will not solve the problem, it can offer relief that helps the journey forwards. As an inexpensive and simple form of self-treatment, it is a good option. The key is that the user understands how it works and how to best use the unit. This can take some time and practice, but with instruction, discovering the right parameters can be found more swiftly.
Nick & Richmond selfie in Durban
I shared the stage with Nick Martichenko from Canada. Nick spoke about the use of tape and the understood mechanisms, whilst I focused on pain and pain coaching. I entitled the session ‘The Challenge of Pain’ as a doff of the hat to Pat Wall, the founder of modern pain biology, who wrote a book of that name. It was Wall’s work that resulted in the development of the TENS machine.
Three days, three events
On the road…
The roadshow put on by Adcock Ingram was very high quality from start to finish. They really wanted to make sure that every detail was covered. This was appreciated by the attendees who were most enthusiastic about the event. There was a new precedent being set, and the beginning of a new engagement between Adcock Ingram and therapists/clinicians.
I was particularly impressed by the way that the sales team approached their work. Selected and led by Juan Schaerer and Sheila Keshav, this group has come together in a short period of time. There was a great deal of positivity within the team, supporting each other, and getting jobs done from start to finish. I was privileged to be able to hear some the individual stories about how they came to join the team.
Cape Town Team
From a pain education perspective the roadshow was a great opportunity to talk about ways in which we can help people understand their pain and move on to improve their lives. That’s the purpose of UP. I hope that everyone else enjoyed their time as much I did. This was a super start and I will be very interested to learn how this story unfolds.
Richmond Stace | co-founder of UP and pioneer of Pain Coaching
Pain Coaching Project UPDATE
The Programme is now open to anyone suffering persistent or complex pain.
Face to face or Skype ~ reaching across the globe with Pain Coaching to improve lives
As the project has proceeded, I have been making changes to better suit the needs of the participants. Now I am delighted to be able to offer the programme to a wider audience — chronic pain is one of the biggest global health burdens.
Participants will receive 6 free Pain Coaching sessions: an initial conversation to understand the person’s narrative, clarify what is important to them, what they want to achieve and outline the steps forward. The next four sessions focus on practical tools: e.g./ practices, exercises, strategies, habits of peak performance. The final session is a summary and an opportunity to look at ways to keep momentum.
It’s probably going to be a soggy #upandrun on tomorrow when I trot from Cheltenham to Bath along the Cotswold Way. The weather has hit the UK over the weekend, another sure sign of climate change and reason to look after our planet and ourselves — the two entwined.
#upandrun 12 is an unsupported, or solo run. Whilst I do enjoy the excitement of an event, there is something about doing it alone. Not seeing another person for miles or hours and simply connecting with nature has special qualities. For company you have the trail, the fields, the trees, animals, birds, sounds of the wind and silence.
Our experience of nature is embodied of course, so no matter what we perceive ‘out there’, the inner world informs what that is like. Running for long periods of time means inevitable connecting with the self, one’s body and how they are unified. Each step, each twinge, each ache and each pain tell a story. Your story.
Challenging moments arise. On a solo, there’s no-one there to encourage, no aid station and no medal at the end. There’s a purity to this; what’s the motivator? A purpose. Undoubtedly, having a strong sense of purpose is fuel. The ‘why’. So why?
My shared purpose with UP is simply to help people improve their lives, in particular those suffering chronic pain. And why? Because I believe that we can truly help others transform their lives and move on. This belief has strengthened over the years. We are designed to do better than just survive, which is what many people are doing day to day; surviving their lives.
Packing ~ no number, no medal
Then there is the ‘why’ of running…
Recently I was considering the practice of curiosity, and it dawned on me that this is the reason I run. I am curious about what is over the next hill, how the day unfolds, the scene in front of me and how it emerges in my awareness and passes. I am curious about how far I can go and what it will feel like; the unknown.
Tapping into the natural explorer, these ultra-runs quench that thirst. We are born explorers, learning about the world and ourselves with every movement and experience from the outset. Picture a baby starting to move, crawl and then walk, building a lived experience of the world. We create that world by acting upon it, predicting what comes next based on what came before. Touching nature by stepping on the trail, I a perceiving that very trail by the act of running.
#upandrun is made complete by workshops and spending time coaching and encouraging people to reach their potential and achieve the results that they desire. The current project focuses upon people suffering pain from osteoarthritis. There are more free places available, so please share or do get in touch to sign up for your place (see the link below).
You can see me on the trail tomorrow by following on Twitter @painphysio and Instagram @paincoach and FB Specialist Pain Physio.
Then it looks like #upandrun 13 will be over Table Mountain…..
If you are interested in partnering and supporting #upandrun, please get in touch. There are a range of ways you can sponsor and share your story with that of UP. Email Richmond here.
“I can see the world”, were the words of a person who learned to be upright. Early reflections on the UP OA Pain Coaching Project
I love hearing people’s realisations, uttered as they experience something new, with wonder, curiosity and excitement. This was someone participating in the UP OA Pain Coaching Project, who learned to be more upright and hence had a new view of the world.
It sounds so simple to be upright, yet it takes practice. We can train ourselves to use our body in a more efficient way seeking thoughtless, effortless movement, yet with awareness of having a body. Disconnection with the body for reasons of persistent pain or trauma are common. Reconnection with the body then, is an important part of moving forward, together with whatever is most important to us in our life.
The focus of osteoarthritis treatment is usually upon the area that hurts. This frame of reference needs widening as it is the person who feels pain (and other symptoms), not the body part. Further, the biology of the experience of pain and stiffness, and any other perception, exists far beyond the location of the actual feeling. To feel pain, we need a sense of the body area, a nervous system, an autonomic nervous system, a sensorimotor system, an immune system and more. What we don’t actually need is the body part. Confused?
Consider phantom limb pain. The limb is lost yet the person feels pain in that space. The simple fact is that pain and injury, or pain and pathology, are poorly related. This is why purely addressing the bit that hurts is not adequate.
Richmond Stace
You may think that in an acute injury this will be enough. I sprain my ankle so I treat and look after the ankle. Many do this. But the body (person) keeps not only the score of the injury and response, it will craft adaptations that can only be addressed by considering the whole person. Failing to do this means that protective responses and habits, formed at the outset, can persist and create further problems or on-going sensitivity. The idea of a quick fix is largely to blame. There is no quick fix. There is only complete treatment and rehabilitation of the person if you want the best outcome.
UP OA Pain Coaching Project
We are a month in, some nearing the end of their course of sessions. It’s been fascinating to look deeply at people’s experiences and beliefs. This project is an opportunity to reflect upon and study Pain Coaching, identifying key moments in conversations and themes that arise.
The purpose of UP is to improve the lives of those suffering chronic pain. Beyond building insights into the coaching process for pain, the UP OA project is a great way of reaching into the community and helping people understand their experience and learn new ways of moving forward.
I will be posting reflections each week.
If you suffer osteoarthritis pain or know someone who you think will benefit, please contact us here, putting OA in the subject bar. We have opened more free places.
UP moves into the 3rd week of the OA Pain Coaching Project. There are more places available if you suffer pain from osteoarthritis…
We started the UP Pain Coaching Project for osteoarthritis pain three weeks ago, and so far it has exceeded expectations. Motivation has been high amongst the participants, keen to learn different ways to improve their lives. Most have signed up for face-to-face sessions at the New Malden Diagnostics Centre, but we can also use Zoom/Skype if you live afar.
“I realised by the time I’ve got here this week my joints already feel better.” (A participant at their second session)
The free programme consists of 3 interrelated steps
What are the real results you want to achieve? (This is your direction)
What is the ideal self you want to work towards?
What is really important to you in your life?
How committed are you to the programme?
How and why is it important to you to make some changes to improve your life?
Understand your pain
What you will understand…
What is pain?
Why does pain persist?
What causes and influences my pain?
What positive action can I take when I am in pain to feel better?
Positive action: exercises, strategies, practices and tools
On clarifying what you are working towards, we design a programme for you. The content will depend upon your picture(s) of success. There is a huge range to draw upon, some of which are daily proactive practices, and others that expand your choices for dealing with challenging moments. All are in line with the results you want to achieve.
Your toolbox can include: movement, mobilisation, sensorimotor training, breathing, relaxation, sleep strategies, periodising your activities, exercise, increasing activity levels, connecting with what is important to you (people, places, purpose), self-coaching and motivation, imagery, how to form better habits, prioritising, mindfulness practice and more.
If you are suffering osteoarthritis pain or know someone who is, get in touch and book your free sessions today: email us here quoting OA in the subject line
After a few months of planning, the Pain Coaching Project started today. This is a really exciting time for Understand Pain (UP) and we are thrilled to be able to offer free sessions to people suffering the symptoms and pain of osteoarthritis (OA).
Pain Coaching focuses on the person, their strengths and their potential to improve their life. This comes in many forms as each person will have their own picture(s) of success. For some it will be an increase in walking, whilst for others it maybe to be able to socialise and feel more connected. We all have our ‘thing’. The aim of the programme is to give you knowledge, tools and practices to improve your life.
Starting with a conversation about you, your life and what you want to achieve, we then move into the practical sessions. There are many practices and tools to use, so we choose those most relevant to you. For example, we look at ways to mobilise your body and improve your quality of movement, breathing, planning your days, organising activities, relaxing deeply, building fitness, mindfulness, improving strength and confidence to be active.
If you would like to take advantage of the Pain Coaching Project and see how you can improve your life, book your place now by emailing here, and putting OA in the subject line.
understand pain 