• Belton J
• Birkinshaw H
• Pincus T

• Affiliation / University of Southampton. Department of Psychology
• Communication
• Musculoskeletal Diseases
• Open Access Document
• Patient Care
• Physician-Patient Relations
• Referral and Consultation

Abstract: Consultations between practitioners and patients are more than a hypothesis-chasing exploration, especially when uncertainty about etiology and prognosis are high. In this article we describe a single individual's account of their lived experience of pain and long journey of consultations. This personal account includes challenges as well as opportunities, and ultimately led to self-awareness, clarity, and living well with pain. We follow each section of this narrative with a short description of the emerging scientific evidence informing on specific aspects of the consultation. Using this novel structure, we portray a framework for understanding consultations for persistent musculoskeletal pain from a position of patient-centered research to inform practice.

Author keywords: Patient-centered - Reassurance - Validation - Communication

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