The aim of the training carried out in November 2018 in Cotonou, in which 35 physiotherapists took part, was to provide physiotherapists with tools to improve the quality of care as part of pain management.

During this training different topics were discussed, such as risk factors and factors contributing to persistence of pain, strategies and tools for pain assessment that can be used by a physiotherapist, lumbago problems or practical situations taken from patient cases.

Pain is the main complaint from patients receiving physiotherapy. In practising their profession, physiotherapists are confronted on a daily basis with management of chronic pain associated with sometimes crippling musculoskeletal disorders. In fact, it is shown from various supervision missions carried out in 2016, and confirmed by a survey carried out among Benin physiotherapists, that management of chronic pain is one of their main expectations in terms of ongoing training. This need for ongoing training expressed by physiotherapists is in line with the third result of the 2017-2021 programme set up by the APEFE which is designed so that qualified and practising health workers benefit from ongoing graduate training.

This training project financed by the APEFE, and organised in partnership with the UCL, ABEKIR, FSS and CNHU, thus aims at improving pain management when treating musculoskeletal disorders in physiotherapy.