Helping people living with chronic pain to become active

Flippin' Pain is a public health initiative addressing attitudes to chronic pain, a barrier to physical activity. You've Got This (YGT) and Tees Valley Sport (TVS) partnered with Flippin' Pain, Connect Health, and NHS organisations to shift the approach from GP-focused interventions to community-based education. The collaboration delivered 19 events reaching 2,400 people, including 170 health professionals. The initiative challenged outdated pain perceptions, empowered individuals through education, and repositioned the narrative to emphasise being active with pain rather than simply managing it, winning the Health Service Journal (HSJ) Partnership Awards 2024 Gold for Most Impactful Partnership in Preventative Healthcare.

Persistent pain affects 30-50 per cent of UK residents and is a significant barrier to physical activity, with 44 per cent of inactive people citing pain as the primary obstacle. In the North East, prevalence reaches 43 per cent with opioid prescription rates 300 per cent higher than London. Flippin' Pain shifts perceptions about tackling chronic pain and the value of remaining active with pain. 

YGT and TVS worked with Flippin' Pain, sharing insights to create a locally relevant model community-based delivery. We expanded the target audience beyond GPs to social prescribers, nurses, occupational health professionals, and falls prevention staff - practitioners with higher patient contact time. An additional two sessions were also undertaken with physical activity professionals, recognising that they also experienced barriers to supporting people with chronic pain to be active.

The Flippin' Pain Tees Valley Outreach Tour delivered 19 events over six days in accessible community locations, featuring educational workshops, public seminars, and experiential pop-ups. Interactive multimedia resources (podcasts, infographics, animations) were co-created with pain experts and people with lived experience. The initiative emphasised that pain doesn't mean harm and promoted being active with pain.

• 2,400 people engaged across events
• 725 plus people attended educational sessions
• 170 health professionals attended the events (social prescribers, nurses, occupational health, falls prevention, exercise on referral)
• won HSJ Partnership Awards 2024 Gold for Most Impactful Partnership in Preventative Healthcare
• won Bright Ideas in Health Award for Innovation in clinical education
• built relationship with North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board (ICB), connecting with Waiting Well programme
• addressed empathy gap between professionals and patients regarding pain barriers
• information integrated into social prescriber scrapbook for Redcar & Cleveland.

The initiative has become deeply embedded through distributed leadership - YGT is no longer the primary driver but remains involved. Flippin' Pain now has established relationships with the North East and North Cumbria ICB and is exploring pain pathways integration throughout hospitals. 

Next steps include piloting an informal referral process from a local Primary Care Network (PCN) to a Pain Café - a weekly peer-driven support session in a local library space within a YGT Community Focus Ward in Redcar & Cleveland. This pilot will initially be facilitated by a Flippin’ Pain expert with eight people currently being trained as “Painfluencers” who will shadow sessions before the model expands.  All the Painfluencers have physical activity within their role so the pain concepts will be embedded into the local system and their day to day roles. This new development ensures expansion from university-based lectures initially to community venues, making information accessible to all.

• targeting health professionals beyond GPs (social prescribers, nurses, occupational health) who have more patient contact time significantly increased effectiveness
• also supporting physical activity professionals, who can experience barriers to supporting people living with chronic pain to be active
• communication approaches must adapt for areas with high deprivation and pain levels
• amplifying the synergy between pain and physical activity was crucial, shifting from "living better with pain" to "being active with pain"
• fostering seamless collaboration between healthcare and physical activity professionals helps both recognise that hurt doesn't always mean harm
• co-designing with people with lived experience creates more relevant resources.

Carol Appleton, [email protected]

Pain: Do you GET it? Tees Valley - Flippin' Pain

YGT Case Study Flippin’ Pain