Fighting the pain

One of torture's legacies is pain. It can take various forms - physical, psychological and spiritual. In helping survivors to cope, the Medical Foundation has to work on a number of fronts, one of the foremost being to help the abused reclaim their bodies from the torturers' imprint.

Forms of torture that commonly result in lasting problems and sometimes disability include beatings, suspension by the arms and being forced to sit or stand in contorted positions for lengthy periods of time.

To exacerbate matters, clients living with chronic pain may also suffer from depression and fatigue, preventing them from seeing exercise as potentially beneficial to their rehabilitation.

In such cases, the MF offers specialist physiotherapy and massage therapy services.

For some clients, major improvements can be achieved through physical therapies and others can be shown strategies for coping with a condition that is likely to continue.

Specially trained therapists help clients regain good posture, learn and perform appropriate exercises and provide advice about breathing techniques designed to encourage relaxation and achieve personal goals.

In many cases the key to dealing with pain is to get the body moving again, says Liz Hart, the MF's lead physiotherapist.

"Some people who are in pain are frightened to exercise because they think the pain is telling them not to move. We encourage people to be more active, which has been shown to be useful in pain management."

Physiotherapy and the complementary therapies offered by the MF can be crucial in helping torture survivors regard their bodies in a positive light.

"Treating chronic pain is very much about managing it," adds Liz. "With many of the clients I see, I can't take away the pain, but I can help the client establish who is in charge - the person and not the pain.

"The aim is to help clients feel more comfortable with their bodies, which they may have grown used to regarding as damaged and violated."

In addition to physiotherapy, the MF offers clients a specialist massage service, and can provide reflexology when available.