Pain Science for the SLP

Description

This course provides a comprehensive foundation in modern pain science specifically tailored for speech-language pathologists. Many clinicians encounter patients presenting with complex symptoms such as odynophonia, odynophagia, globus sensation, and laryngeal hypersensitivity, yet standard education often lacks instruction on the neurobiological drivers behind these complaints. By integrating the revised International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) definition of pain, learners will explore the critical distinction between nociception and the personal, multidimensional experience of pain. The curriculum deconstructs the trigeminocervical complex and the central cortical processing pathways that influence sensory perception in the head and neck. Clinicians will examine the molecular and neurochemical mediators responsible for peripheral and central sensitization, leading to nociplastic changes and cortical reorganization. This transition from acute to chronic pain states is analyzed through a neuroimmune lens to illustrate how long-standing discomfort becomes an inaccurate measure of tissue health. Participants will gain the knowledge necessary to analyze psychosocial factors and reframe patient experiences using science-based education.

Instructor

Learning Objectives

• Integrate updated pain science understanding of the definition of pain into the understanding of clinical presentations of patients with voice and laryngeal pain.
• Analyze the psychosocial realities of patients with voice and swallowing pain to inform client-centered treatment planning.
• Deconstruct the basic components of the pain system to identify specific neurophysiological drivers in an SLP context.
• Diagram the mechanism of nociplastic change to illustrate its impact on functional swallow or voice outcomes.

Agenda

All times in Eastern Time.

6:00pm–6:25pm

Chapter 1: New Conceptualization

6:25pm–6:35pm

Chapter 2: Our Pain System

6:35pm–6:45pm

Chapter 3: Nociplastic Change

6:45pm–6:50pm

Break

6:50pm–7:05pm

Question and Answer Session

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