The Pain Collective is South Africa’s leading network of pain clinics, helping people live beyond chronic pain.
Our expert doctors and therapists work together to provide advanced, evidence-based treatments—without surgery.
20/12/2025
🌟 Team Spotlight | The Pain Collective
Meet Elisia Herholdt — Debtors Clerk
Elisia Herholdt is a dedicated Debtors Clerk at The Pain Collective, where she brings precision, problem-solving, and genuine care to every aspect of her work. She takes pride in keeping patient accounts accurate and up to date, ensuring claims are processed correctly and efficiently.
Elisia finds meaning in resolving account discrepancies and helping patients understand their bills — turning what can often feel overwhelming into a clear, supportive experience. Her work not only strengthens the financial health of The Pain Collective but also contributes to a smoother, more positive journey for every patient.
💬 Elisia’s dream for patients:
• To feel supported and cared for in every step of their healthcare journey
• To experience compassion and clarity when navigating their accounts
• To ensure billing never adds stress, allowing patients to focus fully on healing
Elisia is more than a meticulous accounts professional — she is part of the compassionate foundation that helps our patients feel understood, reassured, and empowered.
19/12/2025
Patient Success Story | Patrick Neal
For a year, Mr Patrick Neal struggled with chronic lower back pain. Simple daily activities like getting out of the shower, tying his shoelaces, or even sitting on the toilet were painful. He had even stopped playing golf, worried it might make his pain worse.
Everything changed when he was treated by Dr Lizane Riekert at the Pain Clinic in Panorama. His treatment included Pulsed Radiofrequency Neuromodulation, and the results have been life-changing.
Patrick is now back on the golf course, traveling comfortably, and carrying his own luggage without worry. Gardening, painting, and tackling handy work around the house are all things he can enjoy again—without chronic pain holding him back.
“I feel like I’ve got my life back,” Patrick shares.
If chronic pain is limiting your daily life, there is hope — your activities and passions don’t have to stop.
Patient Testimonial | The Pain Collective – Alwyn Kruger
After more than 20 years of chronic back pain, Mr Alwyn Kruger felt the weight of constant discomfort affecting every part of his life. Even after a previous spinal procedure, his pain never eased.
When he was referred to Dr Hans Relling at the Pain Clinic in Blouberg, everything changed. Alwyn’s treatment included a nerve block followed by Pulsed Radiofrequency Neuromodulation, and later a second round after breakthrough pain.
The results have been life-changing. Alwyn now enjoys near pain-free days, can stay active, and live his later years fully. He is especially grateful for Dr Relling’s exceptional aftercare, guidance, and support throughout the journey.
“It is no exaggeration to say that Dr Relling has given me the gift of a near pain-free life. The care from him and his team has had an overwhelmingly positive impact on my physical comfort and emotional wellbeing.” ❤️
🌟 Team Spotlight | The Pain Collective
Meet Jeanique Adams — Debtors Clerk
Jeanique Adams is a dedicated Debtors Clerk at The Pain Collective, where she manages patient accounts with care, precision, and a deep sense of responsibility. Her work ensures that our financial processes run smoothly, allowing our clinical team to stay focused on what matters most — delivering exceptional patient care.
Jeanique thrives in The Pain Collective’s compassionate, patient-centred environment. She sees firsthand how the work of every team member contributes to bringing relief and hope to individuals living with chronic pain, and she takes pride in playing a vital role behind the scenes.
💬 Jeanique’s vision:
• For every patient to feel supported — medically, emotionally, and financially
• To promote clear, respectful communication in every interaction
• To bring empathy into the financial side of healthcare, making the healing journey a little easier
Jeanique is more than a numbers expert — she’s part of the foundation that helps our patients feel understood, cared for, and empowered.
17/12/2025
🌟 Team Spotlight | The Pain Collective
Meet Ryan Paulse — Senior Debtors Clerk
With 14 years of experience in medical billing and finance, Ryan Paulse brings structure, clarity, and compassion to the financial side of patient care at The Pain Collective. As our Senior Debtors Clerk, he ensures every billing process is accurate, transparent, and handled with empathy — because he understands that behind every invoice is a person navigating the challenges of chronic pain.
Ryan was drawn to The Pain Collective for its unwavering commitment to holistic, patient-centred care. He believes deeply that both clinical and administrative teams play an essential role in each patient’s healing journey. His work supports a system where care remains accessible, ethical, and sustainable.
💬 Ryan’s guiding vision:
• To remove financial stress as a barrier to healing
• To ensure patients feel informed, respected, and supported
• To uphold a clinic culture driven by empathy, innovation, and integrity
At The Pain Collective, Ryan isn’t just managing numbers — he’s helping build a future where people living with chronic pain are met with dignity, understanding, and hope.
16/12/2025
🌼 Patient Testimonial | Mrs Constance Constance
For almost three years, Mrs Constance Constance lived with unbearable back pain, constant migraine attacks, and moments where her legs would give in without warning. She spent countless hours with specialists and in hospital — until she felt like she was running out of hope.
That changed the day she met Dr Suzaan Jacobs and the incredible team at The Pain Collective’s Garden Route clinic in George.
Mrs Constance describes this as a life-changing turning point.
During her very first consultation, Dr Jacobs helped her understand her full pain journey — the causes, the patterns, and a clear way forward. For the first time, everything made sense, even parts of her MRI that had never been explained before.
✨ Today, she is living pain-free.
✨ Migraine attacks are almost nonexistent.
✨ And she’s spending precious moments with her family again — moments she never thought she’d get back.
Her words say it all:
“Saying I am grateful would be an understatement. May Dr Jacobs and the Pain Clinic continue to bring hope and change lives.”
Stories like Mrs Constance’s inspire our team every single day. ❤️
Pasientstories by The Pain Collective – Fredrika se Pad na Herstel 🌟
Fredrika het ons oorspronklik besoek met erge nekpyn en hoofpyne wat in haar arm af verwys het. Sy het dié pyn al van haar 20’s af ervaar en was vir jare afhanklik van sterk pynmedikasie. As jong vrou het sy ’n ernstige sweepslagbesering opgedoen, en haar flikkergram het later bevestig dat sy gevorderde artritis in die fasetgewrigte van haar nek het. Sy het ook tekens gehad van ’n onderliggende outo-immuunsiekte.
Ons pynspan het dadelik begin om haar chroniese pyn omvattend te bestuur. Sy het intervensionele pynbehandeling ontvang, is ondersteun deur ons rehabilitasiespan, en is na ’n rumatoloog verwys vir verdere diagnose en behandeling.
Vandag gebruik sy feitlik geen pynmedikasie meer nie. Sy leef ’n baie meer aktiewe leefstyl, het selfs ’n paar kilogram afgeskud, en sukkel glad nie meer met die erge hoofpyne wat haar jare lank teruggehou het nie. Haar lewenskwaliteit het merkwaardig verbeter.
’n Pasiënt om werklik trots op te wees — Fredrika het ’n groot rol gespeel in haar eie herstelpad.
Sy is behandel by PAIN Breede Valley deur Dr Elze-Mari Greyling.
As the holidays approach and we all start winding down, remember one important thing: don’t take a holiday from looking after your body.
A little intention goes a long way — even during the festive rush!
Here are 4 easy tips to help you stay healthy and energised this season:
✅ Move every day
Aim for at least 30 minutes of walking or gentle movement. Your body will thank you.
💧 Drink lots of water — about 3 litres a day
It’s warm, busy, and easy to forget — keep tracking your water intake and try to choose water over sugary drinks.
🐟 Choose Mediterranean-inspired meals
Opt for lighter, colourful dishes when eating out, and consider a “Something Fishy” theme for your big family meal. Think of it as an Omega-3 Christmas gift from you to you.
🌬️ Remember to breathe
Slow, deep breathing helps switch your body from fight-and-flight (sympathetic) into rest-and-restore (parasympathetic). A few mindful breaths can reset your whole day.
✨ Wishing you a healthy, joyful festive season! ✨
14/12/2025
🌟 Pasiënt van die Week: Claudine 🌟
Claudine is ’n bekende gesig hier by ons in PAIN Breede Valley, aldus Dr Elze-Mari Greyling. Sy het in die verlede ’n baie suksesvolle radiofrekwensie-behandeling ontvang, maar haar simptome het onlangs begin terugkeer. Sy het veral gesukkel met pyn in haar nek wat afstraal in haar arm. Die ongemak was só intens dat sy aanvanklik gedink het dit is haar hart en sy het by ongevalle beland.
Sy het toe ’n afspraak gemaak by die Pynkliniek, waar ons haar prosedure herhaal het nadat die diagnose en plan deeglik verduidelik is.
Vandag — 12 weke ná die behandeling — vertel Claudine dat dit voel asof die “swaar gewig op haar skouers gelig het.” Sy het geen pyn meer nie en voel soos ’n nuwe mens.
Ons is ongelooflik bly saam met haar vir hierdie wonderlike herstel!
Magrietha het vandag met ’n ware huppel in haar stap hier by ons uitgekom. Tydens haar eerste konsultasie kon sy glad nie op haar eie loop nie — haar dogter moes haar ondersteun. Maar Magrietha het ongelooflik getrou vasgebyt in haar rehabilitasie.
Nou staan sy elke oggend 05:00 op en stap in haar aftree-oord. Die brandpyn in haar heup is heeltemal weg, en sy gebruik geen pynmedikasie meer nie.
Dit is stories soos háre wat wys wat moontlik word wanneer die regte diagnose, die regte behandeling, en ’n toegewyde pasiënt bymekaar kom. Ons is baie trots op haar vordering!
We’re proud to introduce Erin Dreyer, a physiotherapist with 19 years of clinical experience and a proud graduate of Stellenbosch University.
Erin is passionate about helping people move and live with confidence. She finds deep fulfilment in walking alongside her patients through their recovery journeys and values the meaningful connections built along the way.
Her clinical focus includes postnatal care and chronic pain management, where she offers a holistic approach that supports body, mind, and emotional wellbeing.
Beyond her professional work, Erin treasures time with her husband and two boys — her greatest joy. She loves reading, connecting with friends, and maintaining a balanced, healthy lifestyle.
Grateful to love her work, her team, and her patients, Erin brings compassion, expertise, and energy to her practice, embodying The Pain Collective’s mission of restoring function, confidence, and wellbeing.
An 81-year-old woman arrived at our clinic after two years of intermittent lower back pain. Until recently, she and her husband managed it at home — a plaster here, a gentle rub there, and the pain would settle for a while.
But after a fall three months ago, they decided it was finally time to have her back assessed. Her husband, a long-standing patient at our Pain Clinic, made the appointment on her behalf.
After taking a full history and examining her, we sent her for X-rays. The results were striking: she had a significant scoliosis.
When I showed her and her husband the images, their surprise was palpable. No one had ever told her that her spine wasn’t straight — not once in 81 years.
We often hear how words from previous consultations shape a patient’s understanding of their body. But sometimes, it’s the absence of information that matters just as much. It makes one wonder how different her pain journey might have been if she had known this earlier in life.
✨ Lesson learned: Clear, honest explanations don’t only guide treatment — they help patients make sense of their own history and understand what their bodies have been carrying for years.
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Our team started in 2005 with a simple neurosurgery practice at Medi Clinic Paarl. From there we grew in numbers and expertise as we learned and grew in experience. Team members came and went. Friendships were formed and lost as therapists and doctors came and went; but our patients saw our commitment to their care and became family members and stayed.
Spinal pathology is for the greater part a life-long sentence with ups and downs. With the origin of the disease in the genetic make-up of an individual, it is a wear-and-tear disease that progresses throughout the individual’s life. All treatment for spinal pathology is temporary. Be it therapy, medication, pain procedures or surgery. Nothing remains fixed forever in this scourge of modern humanity. Our lifestyles in turn are aggrivating wear and tear disease, leading to a pandemic of back pain and neck pain.
In the beginning we operated on a large number of our patients, following the available literature and teachings of the day. With time we progressively turned ourselves towards non-surgical solutions as the literature and experiences taught us that for the better part spinal pathology can be treated in a conservative manner, with equal success as with surgery, without the risks of surgery.
Today we are housed in the ultramodern Anodyne Pain Clinic on the second floor of the Panorama Healthcare Centre, just a corridor away from the Advanced theatre complex where we perform all our pain procedures. We have in-house physiotherapy, biokinetics, occupational therapy, movement therapy, dance therapy, counselling and everything else.
Basil Adriaanse, the enigmatic owner of Adriaanse and Associates Physiotherapy has practices all over the Western Cape and calls Anodyne his headquarters. He and his team have been taking care of our patients for as long as we can remember. Involved at management level in a multitude of healthcare concerns, he is a bright star.
Linda Hiemstra and her team from Back to Work Occupational Therapy , bring academic excellence and quality of care in a no-nonsense and caring way. There is very little about pain, the physiology of pain and also the psychology behind it that Linda does not understand. She and Basil are heavily involved in step-down and rehabilitation and have practices at several Spescare hospitals as well.
Carin Terblanche of Carin Terbalnche Biokinetics is the elegance of movement in our practice. Understanding the flow and balance of muscles. Two of the loves in her life, water and dance has led her to be instrumental in developing the global Limber Dance Therapy maintenance program. She is also heavily invested in hydrotherapy as a means of reduced gravity movement and release.
Our Anaesthetists, Dr Rozali Spies and Dr Christa du Toit are extremely experienced and have evolved towards pain management over the years. Equally adept at guiding a patient through a difficult anaesthesia or performing a pain-procedure, they form the backbone of the medical expertise in the practice.
Our Neurosurgeon, Dr Liebenberg, needs no introduction. Always treading where angels fear to tread, he has remained the Captain of the ship throughout the years. A man who is very happy to call a spade a spade, he wears his heart on his sleeve and always puts the care of his patients first, whether they have the insight to know that he is doing it, or not. The Patriarch to the thousands of patients of our clinic throughout the years and the multitude of therapists, he just always seems to show up when no one expects it.
We are improving and exploring new avenues of treatment for our patients always. The magic of the Clinic is that we genuinely care and worry about our patients. Each and every one is special in their own way, their quirks, their fears and their little habits. We care for all of them. Even the patients over the years, that have fallen out with us and have left, remain close to our hearts.
