Workshop Title: Unlock the Future of Pain Management with Lifestyle Medicine: A Transformative Workshop for Clinicians
Aim and Objectives
- What is Lifestyle Medicine and the potential synergy with Pain Management
- Mechanisms of action of physical activity with specific regards to chronic pain
- Mechanisms of action and evidence for the role of diet and nutrition in pain management
- Supporting behaviour change with evidence-based techniques
- Highlighting the role of lived experience experts in supporting pain patients
Summary
Are you ready to further enhance your biopsychosocial approach to pain management? Join us for an immersive workshop that delves into the emerging role of lifestyle medicine—a science-backed, patient-centred approach built on six transformative pillars: nutrition, physical activity, restorative sleep, stress management, social connection, and avoidance of risky substances. For pain clinicians understanding and implementing these principles alongside primary care providers can be a game-changer for our patients in terms of access and support.
Chronic pain is rarely just a physical symptom— we know that it’s deeply entwined with lifestyle factors. Poor dietary habits can fuel inflammation, stress can amplify pain perception, and inadequate sleep can impair healing. The evidence is already present but what has been challenging is getting that message out early enough. Imagine the impact of empowering your patients to make sustainable lifestyle changes that address these root causes much earlier than at present. With a focus on nutrition, this workshop will explore how anti-inflammatory and nutrient-dense diets can mitigate pain, improve energy, and support overall well-being. While we know that physical activity is important for health, understanding mechanisms of action and dose of activity enhances the work with our patients.
But lifestyle medicine isn’t just about the “what”; it’s about the “how.” That’s where behaviour change and coaching principles and the increasing importance of lived experience expertise come into play. As a clinician, you’ll learn evidence-based strategies to help your patients overcome barriers to change, cultivate motivation, and sustain healthier habits. This workshop will help provide the tools you need to act not just as a provider but as a partner in your patient’s journey to better health.
Discover the synergy between lifestyle medicine and pain management: how addressing one domain, like nutrition, can ripple across other pillars to enhance physical function, emotional resilience, and overall quality of life.
Join us and learn how to harness the power of lifestyle medicine to offer practical strategies to reduce pain, transform lives, and create lasting impact. Your patients deserve it.
Workshop Programme
| 11:00 – 11:30 | Deepak Ravindran | Overview of Lifestyle Medicine and how it can pain management clinic approaches |
| 11:30 – 12:00 | John Sykes | Evidence for, and mechanisms of action of, Physical Activity in health and wellbeing |
| 12:00 – 12:15 | Q&A | |
| 12:15 – 13:00 | Lunch | |
| 13:00 – 13:30 | Ursula Philpot | Evidence and mechanisms of the role of diet in pain |
| 13:30 – 14:00 | Ian Taverner | Lived Experience: Cooking Up Independence & Wellbeing |
| 14:00 – 14:15 | Q&A | |
| 14:15 – 14:30 | Break | |
| 14:30 – 14:45 | Lucy Ward | Experience of implementing dietary advice in a pain clinic |
| 14:45 – 15:00 | Deepak Ravindran | Behaviour Change techniques |
| 15:00 – 15:20 | Lee Vaughn | Lived Experience: How Health Coaching could have changed 33 years of Pain much sooner |
| 15:20 – 16:00 | All contributors | Panel Discussion |
| 16:00 | Close |
Dr John Sykes
MBBS MRCGP BSc FASLM Dip IBLM
A General Practitioner passionate about chronic disease management, mental health, acute medicine, men’s health and public health, Dr John Sykes believes Lifestyle Medicine has a significant place in primary care and beyond. He developed a Lifestyle Medicine Clinic in Sydney aimed at reducing risk, reducing progression and in some cases reversing chronic health conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure and obesity. John is now utilising this experience gained in this clinic to assist in advancing the care of diabetes, hypertension, and obesity in the UK.
One of the Trustees and Fellow of the British Society of Lifestyle Medicine, he has also obtained his Fellowship from the Australasian Society of Lifestyle Medicine and achieved a distinction in the Mac Nutrition Universal qualification which allows him to practise as a qualified nutritionist. John was the GP Trainee Central Leadership Scholar for Severn Deanery, Severn Deanery GP VTS Committee Chairman and RCGP ST3 Board Representative. He also worked in Public Health Wiltshire, leading an education programme for Primary Care staff members on the benefits of physical activity. He has organised several conferences including the inaugural RCGP Lifestyle Medicine Conference in June 2017, winning the local “Vibrant Faculty Award 2017” in Severn Deanery. He has organised, delivered and presented at several conferences and teaching events including “Mental Health Matters” Online Conference which raised over £8000 for mental health charities in the UK, Australia and the States.
Ursula Philpot
Ursula is a consultant dietician and senior lecturer specialising in eating disorders, disordered eating, mental health, and autism. Ursula is a clinical lead for children and young people’s Mental Health in Yorkshire with NHS England and runs a clinic for eating problems in Leeds. Her works with Primary Care Wellbeing Service, a complex mental and physical health service in Bradford led to an interest in chronic pain management. Ursula has undertaken research around diet and chronic pain, and collaborated with RethinkingPain a new community-based pain management service to develop their diet resources.
Dr Lucy Ward
Dr Lucy Ward is a has been working as a pain management consultant in Royal Free London since 2006. She works closely with the multidisciplinary teams to deliver holistic pain management care to the patients. To support this she has developed community pain services for 2 local boroughs and clinically leads these services.
More recently she has developed an interest in the impact of lifestyle choices on health and wellbeing and therefore severity of and ability to manage persistent pain. She is currently studying for the Diploma in Lifestyle Medicine with the BSLM.
Lee Vaughan
(Lived Experience Educator)
Having lived with Persistent Pain for over 32 years, Lee now aspires to champion his understanding of pain, educate Health Care Professionals and people living with persistent pain. His aim is to ultimately help to build a bridge between HCP’s and Patients to prevent people unnecessarily falling into the river and being swept downstream.
Ian Taverner
Ian was MD of a large international financial services company before his health deteriorated significantly, effectively ending his career.
Through his and his family’s experiences living with various chronic conditions, he embarked on a new career, authoring the bestselling cookbook, Cookfulness, designed specifically for people who find cooking difficult, either by disability and/or chronic illness, leading to him becoming a hugely sought after cooking coach, working with global charities and organisations.
Ian is Chair of the CRIISP Public Advisory Group and member of the Core and Governance Oversight Team, working to ensure that public contributors are key partners with researchers in driving the best possible outcomes.
Dr Deepak Ravindran
A BSLM 2020 diplomate, Deepak is Honorary Professor at Teesside University, a full time NHS Consultant in Pain, MSK and Lifestyle Medicine and Author of the Amazon Bestseller “Pain Free Mindset”. He serves as the Deputy Editor of E-Pain Platform at Health Education England and The Chief Medical officer at Boutros Bear, a digital rehab platform. He is an associate with Peak Health Coaching and is working as Director of Lifestyle Medicine for a primary care network (PCN) of GP practices in Reading, UK.
Dr Deepak Ravindran adopts a trauma informed ‘upstreamist’ approach to pain practice and has helped set up award winning community pain service in Berkshire (IPASS) in 2015 and the Berkshire Longcovid Integrated Service (BLIS) in 2020. He moved from secondary care in 2024 to support his local primary care network in their area into rolling out group consultations for all long term conditions including pain. A Management Honours graduate from Henley Business School, he has been awarded the National Apprentice of the Year(2021) by Chartered Management Institute (CMI). He is part of the scientific advisory board at Curable, MyPain and PainD.
