Neuroplastic Persistent Pain Recovery Programme
An eight-week small-group course for pain that has not settled
Written by Irralee Andrzejowska, Senior Physiotherapist & Pain Management Specialist. Medically reviewed by James Walker, Service Development Director & Senior Physiotherapist.
If your pain has lasted months or years, your scans are clear, and treatments have helped only for a while, a structured course offers something individual appointments cannot: time, a group who understand, and a step-by-step way of working. Self-management courses are one of the approaches the NHS lists for persistent pain [1]. Our next eight-week group starts on Monday 5 October 2026.
What is the Neuroplastic Persistent Pain Recovery Programme?
It is an eight-week course, run in a group of up to eight people, that teaches you why persistent pain happens and what you can do to change it. Each week is a 90-minute session combining education, practical skills, guided discussion and exercises to try at home between sessions.
The thinking behind it is the same as our mind body approach to resolving pain, which explains in full how a sensitised nervous system can keep producing real pain after the body has healed [2]. This page covers the course itself: when it runs, what it covers, and how to join.
Who is the programme for?
It is for people whose persistent pain (often called chronic pain) has lasted three months or longer, or keeps returning, and whose medical tests have not found a serious or structural cause. It suits people who would rather learn and practise alongside others than work one to one, and who are ready to take an active part - the course asks you to try things between sessions.
It is not suitable for pain caused by an inflammatory disorder, an infection or a serious underlying condition. Those need different care, and identifying them is exactly what the assessment beforehand is for.
What the eight weeks cover
Each session builds on the last. Across the course you will explore:
- Why persistent pain occurs, and what keeps it going
- Common myths and fears that feed the pain and fear cycle
- Practical techniques to settle the nervous system out of a constant state of alert
- Pain reprocessing strategies that help retrain the brain's protective responses
- Brain retraining exercises that support a return to movement and activities you have been avoiding
- Identifying and working with past and current emotional stresses
- Reducing pressures such as perfectionism, and the place of self-compassion, rest and self-care
What happens in a session
Sessions run for 90 minutes with the same small group each week, so you are not re-explaining yourself to a room of strangers. There is teaching, discussion, and practical work you can carry into the week. You are never asked to share more than you want to.
Between sessions you will have exercises to practise. The course works through repetition, so what happens between the weeks matters as much as the sessions themselves.
When does the next course run?
The next group runs for eight weeks from Monday 5 October 2026 to Monday 23 November 2026, meeting every Monday from 10.15am to 11.45am at [TO CONFIRM: our Sheffield West on-site studio].
The group is capped at eight people, so places are limited.
How do I join?
Everyone starts with a one-hour neuroplastic pain assessment. It looks at whether your symptoms are most likely to come from a structural problem, something that needs onward referral, or a pain pattern this approach can help - and it makes sure the right care is identified before any course begins. If the course is not the right fit, you will be pointed to what is.
You can book that assessment online without a referral, or call 0114 230 2030 to speak to our team.
If the programme is then the right fit for you, a place on the next group is booked through our reception team, or online through the programme's own booking link, which is being set up in the same way as our studio classes. The course fee is paid in full when you book your place.
Why take this course with us
The course is led by a musculoskeletal physiotherapist with specialist pain management training who is a practitioner with SIRPA, the Stress Illness Recovery Practitioners Association. That matters because the assessment beforehand is a clinical one: it is a physiotherapist deciding whether this approach is right for you, with the rest of our physiotherapy service behind them if something else turns out to be going on. Our one-to-one persistent pain service remains available if you would rather work individually, or alongside the course.
How much does it cost?
The programme costs £180 for the eight-week block, paid in full when you book, and that single fee covers all eight sessions rather than being charged week by week. It is a reduced rate for this first group. The one-hour assessment beforehand is charged separately - see our prices page for current figures, or our reception team can talk you through the options before you book.
Book an assessment
The next step is a one-hour neuroplastic pain assessment. You can book an appointment online without a referral, or call 0114 230 2030 to speak to our team.
This page is general information and not a substitute for individual assessment.
Further reading
Resources recommended by your course leader, to explore at your own pace. They are not part of the course, and they are not a substitute for assessment.
Videos
- A six minute video explaining the science of neuroplastic pain
- Recovery stories from SIRPA, for hope and inspiration
- A series of short animations explaining pain
Podcast
Books
- Chronic Pain: your key to recovery, by Georgie Oldfield
- The Way Out, by Alan Gordon
References
Frequently asked questions
Is my pain real, or is this saying it is in my head?
Is this the same as pain management?
Not quite. Pain management usually means learning to live alongside pain. This course works towards changing the pain itself by retraining the responses that keep it switched on. Many people find both have a place.
Do I have to have had treatment with you before?
No. The assessment is open to anyone, and you can book it without a referral.
What if I cannot make one of the weeks?
Tell us before the course starts if you already know. The sessions build on each other, so the course works best when you can commit to all eight.
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Our Experts
Your local expert team:
- Neurological Rehabilitation Specialist
- Spasticity Management Specialist (also Botulinum Toxin Injector Trained)
- Long-term Neurological Conditions Management Expert
- PD Warrior Accredited
- Parkinson's Rehabilitation Specialist
- Qualifications in Physical Activity and Exercise in Rehabilitation
- Brain Injury Rehabilitation
- Stroke Rehabilitation
- Spinal Injury Rehabilitation
- Paediatric Neurological Rehabilitation Specialist
- Clinical Specialist
- Association of Paediatric Chartered Physiotherapist (APCP)
Our team are ready and waiting to assist with your recovery.
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Your pain is real, and the whole course is built on that. None of the eight weeks treats persistent pain as imagined or psychological. What the sessions give you is an explanation you can follow and practical work to do with it - education, techniques for settling the nervous system, and exercises to practise between weeks - so you leave with something to work on rather than a label.