Flippin’ Pain™ is a public health campaign powered by Connect Health. It has a clear goal: to change the way people think about, talk about and treat chronic pain, to improve the lives of those affected by it.
The campaign is the only one of its kind in the UK and this September the team will be hitting the road for a week-long extravaganza of public events and community engagement via a flagship Community Outreach Tour and peloton in Lincolnshire.
In late 2019 a team of pain experts began a novel community engagement approach to providing people in Lincolnshire with a better understanding of the science of pain.
Prior to pandemic-related postponements of ‘on the ground’ campaign activities the Flippin’ Pain campaign had delivered full-capacity public seminars in Boston, Grantham and Lincoln (x2), featured live on BBC Radio Lincs and Lincoln City Radio and received coverage in local print media reaching an audience of over 200,000 people.
The campaign has continued to grow throughout 2020 and into 2021, attracting significant interest from around the UK and abroad. In-person events were adapted into virtually hosted public seminars, attended by >5000 people (primarily people living with pain and healthcare professionals) with a further >3000 having viewed the event recordings.
The initiative, inspired by the ground-breaking Pain Revolution movement in Australia, encourages people to rethink pain, re-engage and recover by bringing the real science of pain to the people. Understanding persistent pain is fundamental to improving the lives of people affected – it changes the way they respond to pain and can change relationships with friends, family and social and work life.
During the tour, renowned Pain Champions – made up of pain scientists, healthcare professionals and patient advocates – and keen cyclists, will be hopping on their bikes to take part in a peloton tour covering the length and breadth of the county. They will deliver the messages of the campaign to the people that need them most, via an array of free-to-attend public events.
Joining the riders will be an exciting pop-up experience laboratory on wheels, the Brain Bus. An immersive, interactive and attention-grabbing spectacle inviting people to experience first-hand some of the mind-blowing lesser-known phenomena of pain science.
The tour will stop off at multiple locations across the county, inviting people from all walks of life including medical professionals and those with persistent pain and their family and peers, to engage with the campaign. By collaborating with local authorities, health and care organisations and charity partners, Flippin’ Pain will achieve significant reach and deliver impactful change within the Lincolnshire community.
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