Free tools for living with chronic pain
Science-informed brain-training exercises you can do from a chair or bed. No sign-up, no app to install and nothing to pay. Works on phones, tablets and computers.
Tools
Neck left/right training
Look at a photo and decide whether the person has turned their head to their left or their right. 60 photos, plus mirrored versions, shown in a new random order every time.
More body parts
Hands, feet, back, shoulders and face, using the same simple format.
Movement animations
Short animations that compare a guarded, compensating movement with a relaxed one.
What is left/right training?
When you decide whether a picture shows a left or a right body part, your brain quietly imagines moving your own body into that position to check. Researchers use this “left/right judgement task” to study how the brain represents the body, and people with long-lasting pain are often slower or less accurate at it, especially for the painful area.7
Left/right judgements are also the first stage of graded motor imagery, a step-by-step rehabilitation approach that has been tested in clinical trials, mainly for complex regional pain syndrome and phantom limb pain.1,3 Read what the research does and doesn’t show.
Made for people with limited energy
- No account, no download. Open the page and start.
- Fewer clicks. You can answer by resting the pointer on a side, or with the arrow keys.
- Easy to read. Large buttons, a font designed for low vision, and a dark mode that follows your device.
- Private. Your results are saved only on your own device. We don’t collect them.
Please read: this site is for education and practice. It is not medical advice and does not replace care from a qualified clinician. If an exercise makes your pain or other symptoms worse, stop and rest, and talk to your clinician before trying again.
References:
- Moseley GL. Graded motor imagery is effective for long-standing complex regional pain syndrome: a randomised controlled trial. Pain. 2004;108(1–2):192–198. Link
- Moseley GL. Graded motor imagery for pathologic pain: a randomized controlled trial. Neurology. 2006;67(12):2129–2134. Link
- Breckenridge JD, Ginn KA, Wallwork SB, McAuley JH. Do people with chronic musculoskeletal pain have impaired motor imagery? A meta-analytical systematic review of the left/right judgment task. The Journal of Pain. 2019;20(2):119–132. Link