{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,25]],"date-time":"2026-09-25T00:21:15Z","timestamp":1790295675852,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":61,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,12,21]],"date-time":"2022-12-21T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1671580800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Department of Higher Education and Training, Republic of South Africa"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["IJERPH"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Chronic pain amongst individuals with traumatic and nontraumatic spinal cord injury (SCI) has high prevalence rates, with severe impact on the activities of daily living, mood, sleep and quality of life. This study aimed to explore the experiences and challenges of chronic pain management amongst the traumatic spinal cord injury (TSCI) population in the Western Cape region of South Africa. A qualitative descriptive approach was chosen for the study, in which 13 individuals living with TSCI were purposively recruited and interviewed telephonically. An inductive thematic analytic approach was used. The results indicate ineffectiveness of standard pain management, with a lack of education regarding pain physiology and pain management strategies as well as unbalanced decision-making between clinician and patient. Thus, patients develop coping strategies to survive with pain. Current pain regimes are suboptimal at best, underpinned by the lack of clarity or a mutually agreed plan to mitigate and eradicate pain. There is a need for chronic pain management beyond pharmacological prescription. Future practices should focus on adopting a holistic, biopsychosocial approach, which includes alternative pain therapy management. In addition, advances in pain management cannot be achieved without adopting a therapeutic alliance between the clinician and patient.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijerph20010077","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,12,21]],"date-time":"2022-12-21T06:42:57Z","timestamp":1671604977000},"page":"77","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":11,"title":["Exploration of the Experiences of Persons in the Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury Population in Relation to Chronic Pain Management"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"20","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3713-6847","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Tammy-Lee","family":"Williams","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Physiotherapy, University of the Western Cape, Cape Town 7535, South Africa"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Conran","family":"Joseph","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Physiotherapy, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch 7602, South Africa"},{"name":"Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institutet, 17177 Stockholm, Sweden"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Lena","family":"Nilsson-Wikmar","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institutet, 17177 Stockholm, Sweden"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Joliana","family":"Phillips","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Physiotherapy, University of the Western Cape, Cape Town 7535, South Africa"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,12,21]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"219","DOI":"10.1159\/000524867","article-title":"Epidemiology of traumatic spinal cord injury in developing countries from 2009 to 2020: A systematic review and meta-analysis","volume":"56","author":"Golestani","year":"2022","journal-title":"Neuroepidemiology"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"692","DOI":"10.1038\/sc.2015.51","article-title":"Incidence and aetiology of traumatic spinal cord injury in Cape Town, South Africa: A prospective, population-based study","volume":"53","author":"Joseph","year":"2015","journal-title":"Spinal Cord"},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"328","DOI":"10.1136\/rapm-2020-101960","article-title":"Prevalence of chronic pain after spinal cord injury: A systematic review and meta-analysis","volume":"46","author":"Hunt","year":"2021","journal-title":"Reg. 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