Change your pain experience using Neuroscience Education, Nutrition, Mind-Body Therapies, and Psychology

PAIN IS HARD.

Persistent pain can take so much away from us.

  • It’s hard to make plans, without knowing when the next flare-up will come.

  • Our work productivity and our capacity of giving to the world are affected.

  • We can’t take care of ourselves and our loved ones as well as we would like to.

  • Our self-confidence goes down. We start to think we are defective.

  • We miss out on sports activities and social events.

What about you? What has pain taken away from you?

If you want your life back, I can help you.

SCIENCE HAS COME A LONG WAY ON THE UNDERSTANDING OF PAIN.

Pain is not only physical.

 

It’s been now shown consistently in studies that many factors affect the experience of pain, including:

  • Stress
  • Mental health (depression, anxiety, trauma)
  • Environment
  • Sensitivities
  • Early life experiences
  • Parenting and relationships
  • Learned behaviors
  • Lifestyle
  • Inflammation
  • Hormones
  • Nutrition
  • Self-esteem and body image
  • Sedentarism
  • Beliefs
  • Anger, invalidation, fear, helplessness, …

As you see, pain is much more than what is going on with our bodies.

It takes a multidisciplinary approach.

 

Most pain experts agree that in order to address the complexity of the chronic pain experience, a multimodal approach is the best way.

I work together with the other specialists in your life, building a pain care team, where the expert is you.

Mind

Body

Tension is a risk factor for pain. We will find the best strategies that work for you, combining yoga therapy, breath work, and removing your fear of movement. Reducing inflammation is also critical, so we will use the power of nutrition as well.

Nervous System

A sensitized nervous system can create, amplify and perpetuate the pain experience. We will regulate your nervous system through a combination of mindfulness, restorative yoga, visualization techniques, and even art and music therapy.

Education

You are the expert of your body, and now you will become the expert of your brain. I will introduce you to the world of pain neuroscience, explain what is happening inside of you, and those skills will help reduce your experience of pain.

What type of problems can be addressed with this approach?

 

This integrative multimodal approach has helped people with:

  • Chronic shoulder pain

  • Chronic lower back pain

  • Fibromyalgia

  • Hypermobility / Ehlers-Danlos syndrome

  • Chronic fatigue syndrome

  • Temporomandibular disorders

  • Chronic pelvic pain

  • Visceral pain

  • Osteoarthritis

  • Rheumatoid arthritis

  • Endometriosis

  • Irritable Bowel Syndrome

  • Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Why choose us?

 

There are many pain specialists out there. Some of them focus on physiotherapy, others on using biomedical devices, others on pain medication, and so forth. There is a place for all of them. But while focusing only on the physical symptoms might solve acute pain, it has very small chances to solve chronic pain. Chronic pain requires tackling other elements as well, starting with your mind and your lifestyle. Those changes in mindset and behavior require a long-term individualized approach. Our thera-coaching program does exactly that.

Dr. Elaine Barretto is a board-certified health and wellness coach and Lifestyle Medicine professional, with a Master’s degree in Psychological Medicine and Mental Health. Among other things, she is also a registered yoga teacher and a mindfulness practitioner, as well as a nutrition specialist. She has received training aimed at chronic pain treatment from an integrative perspective by renowned universities and some of the best specialists in the world. And she has applied that knowledge to help many others like you. She is a former scientist, and as such takes science very seriously, only working with evidence-based approaches, and staying constantly updated on the latest findings.

And last but not least, Dr. Elaine suffers from chronic pain herself. That alone doesn’t make her an expert, but someone that can relate to your experience. And she has taken her life back from pain. We would love to be able to help you do the same.