• Hong Kong University School of Professional and Continuing Education

Integrative Pain Management - Chinese Medicine and Western Medicine

Explore how Chinese and Western medicine approaches can support more integrated pain management.

1,396 enrolled on this course

Pain management with Chinese and Western medicines

Integrative Pain Management - Chinese Medicine and Western Medicine

1,396 enrolled on this course

  • 4 weeks

  • 3 hours per week

  • Accreditation available

  • Digital certificate when eligible

  • Intermediate level

Find out more about how to join this course

  • Duration

    4 weeks
  • Weekly study

    3 hours
  • Languages

    English, Italiano, Español, Français, PortuguêsEnglish, Italiano
  • 100% online

    How it works
  • Unlimited subscription

    $244.99 for a whole yearLearn more
  • Accreditation

    AvailableMore info
The CPD Certification Service

This course has been certified by the CPD Certification Service as conforming to continuing professional development principles. Find out more.

Rethink how pain is understood, assessed, and managed

Pain is one of the most common reasons people seek healthcare, yet understanding and treating it remains complex.

Physical symptoms, emotional experiences, and underlying causes can all shape how pain is experienced and how care is delivered.

As healthcare continues to evolve, practitioners increasingly draw on different perspectives to support more holistic approaches to pain management.

On this online course from HKU SPACE, you’ll investigate how Chinese medicine and Western clinical approaches can work alongside one another within integrative medicine, developing a broader understanding of pain assessment and treatment.

Trace the pathways and experiences behind pain

Begin by taking a closer look at pain itself.

You’ll investigate pain pathways, thresholds, and different pain types while considering how symptoms and wider factors influence pain diagnosis and assessment.

This foundation helps build a more comprehensive understanding of pain and its impact on individuals and healthcare systems.

Compare perspectives across Chinese and Western medicine

You’ll examine how Western medicine and traditional Chinese medicine understand and respond to pain, considering both symptom-focused and holistic perspectives.

Along the way, you’ll explore concepts central to Chinese medicine, including pattern identification and broader ideas around holistic health.

Connect approaches to support more integrated care

Finally, you’ll investigate how collaborative approaches may strengthen patient care and support more integrated treatment pathways.

By the end of the course, you’ll have developed a stronger understanding of pain management approaches and the role integration can play within clinical practice.

Skip to 0 minutes and 9 seconds Pain is an unpleasant yet important and common sensation in humankind. Throughout our lives, pain comes and goes for some reasons like skin burns, cuts and bruises, stomachache and fractures. Pain seems inevitable, so its diagnosis, evaluation and treatment are essential. How do traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicine manage pain? Can we combine the both approaches to form an integrative one? In this course, we’re going to explore how these two approaches apply to pain management. A series of fundamental steps and processes in pain management will be examined through the integration of Traditional Chinese and Western medicine. Besides the steps and processes, this course also showcases a theoretical and practical experience of integrative pain management.

Skip to 1 minute and 14 seconds Join this MOOC now to equip yourself with professional knowledge of integrative pain management.

Syllabus

  • Week 1

    Understanding on Pain - the Western Medicine Perspective

    • Course Introduction

      In this activity, you are going to watch the introductory video, that introduces the course and meet our lead educator, Dr Jenny Tung.

    • Introduction to physiology and pathology of pain

      This activity presents the key elements of physiology and pathology of pain.

    • Diagnosis and evaluation of pain

      This activity introduces different types of pain and how pain is assessed.

    • Overview of pain management

      The activity introduces a number of pain management strategies such as pharmacological agents, adjuvant analgesics and multi-disciplinary pain management programme.

    • Summary of the week

      This activity gives you a brief summary of what you have learnt this week.

  • Week 2

    Severity of Painful Symptoms & Need to Properly Address the Issue

    • Introduction

      This activity introduces the pain pathway, threshold and types of pain.

    • Severity of pain

      This activity explains pain and its burden.

    • Addressing pain timely and properly: comprehensive assessment

      This activity presents how pain could be addressed timely and properly by using comprehensive assessment.

    • Addressing pain timely and properly: individualised treatment approach

      This activity presents how pain could be addressed timely and properly by using the individualised treatment approach.

    • Summary of the week

      This activity gives you a brief summary of what you have learnt this week.

  • Week 3

    Application of Chinese Medicine in the Diagnosis and Treatment of Pain

    • Introduction to Chinese medicine

      This activity gives you an overview of Chinese medicine.

    • Holism of pain management & pattern identification

      This activity explains how the two key notions in Chinese medicine -holism and pattern identification can be applied in pain management.

    • Chinese medicine treatment for pain

      This activity presents various Chinese medicine treatments and its principles in pain management.

    • Summary of the week

      This activity gives you a brief summary of what you have learnt this week.

  • Week 4

    Pain Management: Role of Combined Chinese/Western Medicine Approaches

    • An overview on pain management

      This activity introduces the role of combined Chinese/Western medicine approaches.

    • Western medicine in pain management

      This activity defines the notion of pain from a Western medicine perspective and introduces different treatment approaches in Western medicine.

    • Chinese medicine in pain management

      This activity presents the roles of Chinese medicine in pain management, the safety of the complementary approach and effectiveness of acupuncture.

    • Integrated Chinese medicine pain clinic (IPC)

      This activity gives you some brief information of the IPC and its operation.

    • Summary of the week

      This activity gives you a brief summary of what you have learnt this week.

Who is this accredited by?

The CPD Certification Service
The CPD Certification Service:

The CPD Certification Service was established in 1996 and is the leading independent CPD accreditation institution operating across industry sectors to complement the CPD policies of professional and academic bodies.

When would you like to start?

Start straight away and join a global classroom of learners. If the course hasn’t started yet you’ll see the future date listed below.

  • Available now

Learning on this course

On every step of the course you can meet other learners, share your ideas and join in with active discussions in the comments.

What will you achieve?

By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to...

  • Explain what pain is from the perspective of Chinese and Western medicines
  • Explain the basic knowledge of the pain diagnosis and treatment
  • Evaluate the significance of integrative pain management with Chinese and Western medicines

Who is the course for?

This course is designed for healthcare professionals including pain specialists, general practitioners, physiotherapists, psychologists, and nurses. It may also be useful for Chinese medicine practitioners interested in integrative pain management.

Who will you learn with?

Dr TUNG Shong Jenny is Associate Head of College of Life Sciences and Technology, HKU School of Professional and Continuing Education.

Dr Steven Wong is the President of The Hong Kong Pain Society. He is the Consultant Anaesthesiologist of the Department of Anaesthesiology at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Hong Kong.

Dr ZHOU Jiefang is an Honorary Associate Professor at the HKU School of Professional and Continuing Education.

I am an clinical oncologist working in Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Hong Kong, with great interest in management of lung cancer, palliative medicine and cancer pain.

Consultant Anaesthesiologist & Director of Pain Management Centre of Kwong Wah Hospital.

Who developed the course?

HKU School of Professional and Continuing Education

In fulfilling the mission of The University of Hong Kong in extending lifelong learning opportunities for the community, HKU SPACE aspires to be a world-class centre of excellence.

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Ways to learn

Choose the best way to learn for you!

Best Value - learn more, save more!

Subscribe & save

$244.99 for a whole year

Automatically renews

Develop skills to further your career

  • Access to this course
  • Access to 1,000+ courses
  • Learn at your own pace
  • Discuss your learning in comments
  • Digital certificate when you're eligible

Cancel for free anytime

Buy this course

$109/one-off payment

Fulfill your current learning need

  • Access to this course
  • Learn at your own pace
  • Discuss your learning in comments
  • Printed and digital certificate when you’re eligible

Start learning today

Free

Try this course - with limits

  • Limited to 4 weeks

Find out more about certificates, Unlimited or buying a course (Upgrades)

Sale price available until 2 November 2026 at 23:59 (UTC). T&Cs apply.

Find out more about certificates, Unlimited or buying a course (Upgrades)

Sale price available until 2 November 2026 at 23:59 (UTC). T&Cs apply.

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  • Learn through a mix of bite-sized videos, long- and short-form articles, audio, and practical activities
  • Stay motivated by using the Progress page to keep track of your step completion and assessment scores

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  • Whenever you’re ready, mark each step as complete, you’re in control
  • Complete 90% of course steps and all of the assessments to earn your certificate

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