Pain Neuroscience Applied to Childbirth: Exploring Theory, Integration and Outcomes (November 27)

Details

When: Wednesdays 6:30 PM - 9:00 PM EST • November 27, December 4

This class will be a 2 hour live online session, for two consecutive weeks.

Where: From the comfort of your favorite armchair.

How: All you need to take this live, online course is a Zoom account. We encourage you to sign up for your free Zoom account before the first session. You will receive your Zoom meeting link two weeks before the course begins.

Syllabus

Upon completion of this course, participants will learn how to:

• Review current research evidence on pain, labour, and delivery
• Examine personal beliefs and biases about pain in birth
• Learn how to initiate pain conversations with pregnant clients
• Understand methods for identifying and modulating pain during birth
• Confidently teach pain education and pain modulating strategies to expecting parents
• Understand the maternal brain and nervous system and the role of mindfulness, self-compassion, hypnosis, birth rehearsal, visualization, and more in changing the experience of pain
• Discuss pharmacological and non-pharmacological pain management options clients may have questions about

Benefits

Try this challenge: take a one-question survey of your pregnant clients and ask “What is your greatest concern about your upcoming labour and delivery?”

The majority of your primiparous clients will reply something along these lines: “I’m really worried about the pain.”

Generally, pain is something that is not well understood and often actively avoided. And in the case of pregnancy and birth, fear of pain can certainly arise, overwhelm, and even lead to the development of tokophobia.

Pregnant parents and their healthcare providers all have pre-existing relationships with pain which is is informed by their beliefs about, emotions around, and history with pain. As these intangibles of cognitions, emotions, and experiences converge in a birthing space, it is possible for a subtle shift to take place. The focal point around which birth orients can shift away from the woman and her power and can center around the experience of pain.

Why does this matter?

Because pain and how it is perceived leads to conscious and unconscious decision- making. And decisions made during birth have a direct impact on both short and long term birth outcomes – including pelvic, sexual, psycho-emotional, physical, social, spiritual, and generational outcomes.

So a goal of this course is to ask questions: Is pain truly an unavoidable feature of childbirth? Is having a baby really the worst pain that can ever be experienced? Should ideas about pain dictate what happens as birth unfolds? Can the experience of pain during birth be changed? If so, how and to what degree?

More importantly, this evidence-based course will enable learners to integrate pain science education into prenatal visits. It will also teach strategies that can be taught to modulate the experience of pain. Ultimately, the goal is for participants to feel more confident helping their pregnant clients overcome fear and catastrophization, and to experience greater self-efficacy, more power, and better birth outcomes.

Instructor

Ibukun Afolabi, MscPT, BA (Hons.)Kin, CCE (Gentle Birth), CD.

Ibukun is an Integrative Pelvic Health Physiotherapist whose passion lies at the intersection of women’s pelvic health and childbirth. She has been practising as a registered physiotherapist since 2007 and the bulk of her career has focused on serving pelvic and perinatal health population. Ibukun is a certified childbirth educator, certified postpartum doula, and birth support physio/doula. She is an instructor with Doula Canada and Physio-Plus. Ibukun is a sought after speaker and has offered training workshops for midwives, labour and delivery nurses, birthing families, and other health professionals. She is fascinated by the applications of pain neuroscience within the context of birth.

Certificate

Earn a certificate upon completion from Reframe Rehab.

Mentorship

Get ongoing support with free office hours and monthly drop-in sessions with instructors–available indefinitely to all course graduates.

Time Zone

Find out when the course runs in your time zone: The Time Zone Converter

Participation Policy

• Every participant will receive a certificate for course completion.
• We offer recordings of every session with limited access for one-week. Putting a time limit on the replay forces you to complete the material in a timely fashion which is advantageous over pre-recorded classes, which often get lost in the busy-ness of our lives.⁣
• Recordings will be sent within 24-48 hours of the session. If you haven't received it by the 48 hour mark, please check your junk mail and/or email brittany@reframerehab.com.
• No refunds will be given for missed classes.

Cancellation Policy

• Cancellations that are made 15 days or more in advance of the class start date, will receive a 100% refund by original payment method minus 10% administration fees.
• Cancellations made within 14 days or less of the event will receive a credit towards the same course to be taken within one calendar year. No refunds will be issued in this time period.
• Please let your instructor know if you will be missing a class so that the instructor knows.