Anesthesiology-Services

Pain Clinic

On this page:

Overview

We are leaders in chronic pain, and we are here to help you.

The Ottawa Hospital Pain Clinic (TOHPC) is focused on giving you customized care for your chronic pain.  Using evidence-based strategies and treatments, our goal is to support you with your chronic pain and help you participate more fully in your life.

Our team of experts is ready to assess you, teach you, treat you and show you strategies to help you manage your chronic pain.  We follow a “stepped-care,” holistic approach, which means that we use all resources available within the clinic and in the community to help patients achieve their chronic pain recovery goals.

An older woman sits on an exercise ball with arms extended forward, performing a balance exercise. A physical therapist kneels beside her, offering support and guidance in a bright, modern room.

Who we help

We offer care to adults aged 18 and older living in Champlain LHIN and Nunavut. For people under 18, please contact CHEO’s Chronic Pain Service for help.

TOHPC treats patients who have the following conditions:

  • Arthritis.
  • Back pain.
  • Cancer pain.
  • Central pain syndrome.
  • Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS).
  • Headache and migraines.
  • Musculoskeletal pain.
  • Nerve pain.
  • Pelvic pain.
  • Pain after surgery.
  • Pain after trauma.

Treatments

At the clinic, we see every patient as a whole person who needs a whole-person approach. Pain can affect the body, mind, emotions and daily life.

TOHPC offers different kinds of treatments, (also sometimes called “interventions”) for chronic pain. Not everyone who comes to the clinic will receive an intervention.  We will work with you to develop a plan just for you.

The clinic offers some of the following interventions:

  • Radiofrequency ablation.
  • Epidural steroid injections.
  • Spinal cord stimulator.
  • Counselling.
  • Medication review.

Workshops

Along with interventional treatments, we offer group sessions and workshops where existing patients of TOHPC can better understand their pain, build new skills, and find support from others. Patients can find their password in their MyChart account.

Some of the topics we cover include:

  • Understanding pain: Flare-up strategies, how pain affects thinking, tools for coping.
  • Daily life: Posture and pacing, cooking with pain, using technology comfortably.
  • Mental health: Sleep, trauma, grief and loss, body image, self-compassion.
  • Mind-body practices: Mindfulness, breathing, gentle movement, relaxation.
  • Movement and exercise: Safe movement, pelvic pain exercises, and massage techniques.
  • Relationships and communication:  Communication with health-care providers, family support, parenting with pain.
  • Medications.
  • Other supports.

Programs

In addition to workshops, patients who have been accepted to TOHPC can access programs, such as:

  • The Patient Education and Resource Session (PERS). All new patients in the clinic must take this course.
  • Groups.
  • One-on-ones with a member of our team. 
Power over pain portal logo

Power Over Pain Portal

 Patients and non-patients of TOHPC can access the Power Over Pain Portal, a free, one-stop shop for chronic pain resources curated by The Ottawa Hospital and its partners. It’s full of articles, videos, podcasts, courses, workshops and peer support that can help you with your chronic pain.

Open the Portal

Team

With funding from the Ministry of Health, we bring together a team of learners and experts to work with you to manage your chronic pain. These experts include:

  • Anesthesiologists
  • Emergency medicine doctors
  • Gynecologists
  • Medical radiation technologists
  • Medical residents
  • Nurses
  • Nurse practitioners
  • Occupational therapists
  • Psychologists
  • Physiatrists
  • Physiotherapists
  • Social workers
  • Urologists

As an academic clinic, we also take an active role in teaching and training the next generation of specialized health-care-professionals.

Referrals

All patients must be referred by a physician.

Physicians, please send your referral to TOHPC using one of these two methods:

  1. Using OceanMD
  2. Faxing a paper form

Not sure if the pain clinic is right for your patient?  You can also consider:

The Ottawa Hospital Rehabilitation Chronic Pain Management Program

Rapid Access Clinic for Low Back Pain

eConsult for medication management

Contact us

The Ottawa Hospital Pain Clinic

613-737-8949

613-739-6296

The Ottawa Hospital – General Campus
Critical Care Wing (CCW), Room 1550
501 Smyth Road, Ottawa, ON  K1H 8L6

Monday to Friday 7:45 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

If you need to park a vehicle, we recommend using the CCW/Eye Institute/Cancer Centre parking lot. Enter through the CCW doors.