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.
17/11/2025
Patient Testimonial | The Pain Collective – Garden Route
“As a 27-year-old living with Hypermobile Spectrum Disorder, Osteoarthritis, and Scoliosis, my daily life used to be exhausting and painful — my ‘spoons’ were just never enough. I’ve always been active and loved hiking and outdoor adventures, but over time, even simple day-to-day tasks became difficult. My smile faded as my pain grew.
By pure luck and the grace of God, my partner (a medic) found The Pain Collective and booked an appointment for me. Seven months later, I can’t imagine how I managed before. I can clean my home, garden, paint, and bake again — all with a smile. My sleep has also improved, and my quality of life has transformed.
Without the Pain Clinic, I would not be where I am today.”
— Angelique
Stories like Angelique’s remind us why we do what we do — restoring movement, function, and joy through compassionate, evidence-based pain care.
🩺 Case of the Week | The Pain Collective
A 45-year-old woman came to us with severe right knee pain. She had already undergone a left knee replacement at just 40 due to advanced osteoarthritis, and now her right knee was failing her.
The orthopaedic team confirmed what she already feared — she would eventually need another knee replacement. But because of her age, their advice was to delay surgery for as long as possible.
This is where we stepped in at The Pain Collective. We started with conservative treatment and progressed to interventional pain management, including genicular nerve blocks and pulsed radiofrequency neuromodulation.
The result has been remarkable. Her pain improved dramatically, and she regained full function. Instead of facing another major surgery right now, she’s training for her fourth Camino walk.
✨ Lesson learned: We don’t treat the X-ray. We treat the patient.
Meet the leadership behind The Pain Collective — where skill meets compassion in the theatre.
Today we’re proud to introduce Dr Ronel Hattingh, who leads the Sedation and Theatre Team at The Pain Collective.
With more than a decade of experience in anaesthesia and sedation, Dr Hattingh ensures that every patient’s procedure is safe, calm, and deeply personal. Her background in emergency medicine leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic taught her the value of precision under pressure — and empathy when it matters most.
After completing her Certificate in Sedation and Pain Management, she joined The Pain Collective full-time in 2023. Her approach blends strong procedural expertise with an understanding of patient anxiety, creating a clinical environment where comfort and trust come first.
As a member of our Clinical Committee, Dr Hattingh is a champion for patient safety, ethics, and evidence-based care — ensuring every patient’s experience reflects the highest standard of professionalism and compassion.
Her vision:
To create a theatre environment where safety, dignity, and comfort are inseparable — and every patient feels secure and supported throughout their treatment journey.
We’re proud to introduce Bianca Olivier, a valued member of our administrative team at The Pain Collective.
Bianca is hardworking, dedicated, and fully committed to everything she undertakes. As an Authorisations Clerk, she plays an important role in ensuring that patients receive timely access to the treatments they need — handling authorisations with precision, care, and a genuine sense of purpose.
She shares what she loves about her work:
“I enjoy working at The Pain Collective because our work makes a meaningful difference in the lives of patients who are struggling with pain. The team feels like a family — supportive, compassionate, and deeply dedicated. It’s incredibly rewarding to see patients move from living in constant pain to enjoying life again.”
Bianca’s vision for patients living with chronic pain is one of empowerment and hope:
“My dream is for every person in pain to have access to the right treatment and support so they can regain control of their lives. No one should feel limited by pain — everyone deserves the chance to live with comfort, confidence, and optimism.”
Bianca brings focus, empathy, and consistency to her role — helping ensure that care at The Pain Collective remains seamless and patient-centred.
13/11/2025
Dr Kyle Gilday, lead clinician at Pain Nelson Mandela Bay is giving a talk at Three Sages Functional Café Bar. Did you know that the Three Sages is a community outreach initiative of the Pain Collective? At Three Sages we show the community in a practical way to care for their bodies and to banish inflammation. It just so happens to also being the coolest place in Gqeberha.
13/11/2025
🌿 Leadership Feature | The Pain Collective
Meet the leadership behind The Pain Collective — combining global experience with local impact.
Today we’re proud to introduce Dr Andrew Liebenberg, a Family Physician and GP Anaesthesiologist with clinical experience across South Africa and Canada.
Before joining The Pain Collective, Dr Liebenberg held leadership roles in rural hospitals — including Facility Medical Director and Surgical Triage Coordinator in Alberta’s Central Health Zone. His work has spanned frontline care, operational leadership, and system-level improvement.
With a strong academic background in pharmacology, integrative medicine, and family practice anaesthesia, Dr Liebenberg brings both technical precision and deep compassion to interventional pain care.
Since joining The Pain Collective in 2024, he has become a key member of our Clinical Committee, helping to shape the standards that guide our collective approach to patient care. He currently consults at the Paardevlei Pain Clinic.
His vision is clear:
To bring international best practice into local communities, ensuring that every patient benefits from world-class knowledge delivered with personalised, human care.
Meet Judy B***e — Senior Authorisation Clerk, The Pain Collective
We’re proud to introduce Judy B***e, Senior Authorisation Clerk at The Pain Collective and a vital member of our administrative team.
Judy is known for her dependability, attention to detail, and deep sense of responsibility. She takes pride in getting her work done properly and consistently, ensuring that every authorisation is handled efficiently so patients can receive the care they need without delay.
Judy shares what drives her:
“I enjoy working at The Pain Collective because of the team’s shared commitment to helping patients manage their pain through compassionate, patient-centred care. The organisation encourages continuous learning and professional growth, while maintaining a calm, supportive environment for both patients and staff.”
Her vision for patients living with chronic pain is filled with empathy and hope:
“I want every patient to feel supported and guided toward relief, recovery, and a better quality of life. My dream is for everyone living with chronic pain to experience comfort, hope, and eventually, a pain-free life.”
Judy brings consistency, compassion, and quiet strength to our team — helping make The Pain Collective a place where care truly connects.
11/11/2025
🌟 Meet Dr Elze-Mari Greyling — Chief Interdisciplinary Officer, The Pain Collective 🌟
We’re proud to introduce Dr Elze-Mari Greyling, our Chief Interdisciplinary Officer — a medical doctor whose 15-year career spans general practice, anaesthesia, psychiatry, and interventional pain care.
Dr Greyling’s strength lies in building bridges — between clinicians, disciplines, and patients. She leads our interdisciplinary standardisation and clinician-training programmes, ensuring that every patient receives integrated, evidence-based care.
Her clinical focus is deeply personal: helping people with chronic pain regain function through a tailored combination of interventions, therapy, nutrition, and education. Certified in DNA-based personalised medicine, she integrates genetics into treatment planning — turning data into precision healing.
Living with osteoarthritis herself, Dr Greyling embodies her philosophy that movement is medicine. Her love of running and triathlon reflects the same resilience she inspires in her patients.
She serves as Lead Clinician for Pain Whale Coast (Hermanus) and Joint Lead Clinician at Pain Breede Valley (Worcester), where she continues to advance interdisciplinary collaboration and patient-centred care.
Meet the leadership behind The Pain Collective — where excellence meets empathy.
Today we’re proud to introduce Dr Izelle Taljaard, our Chief Compliance Officer and lead clinician for The Pain Collective’s Durbanville, Winelands, and Swartland branches.
Dr Taljaard combines medical precision with human insight. Trained in intensive care nursing and later as a medical doctor at Stellenbosch University, she understands both the science of healing and the lived experience of patients in pain.
Her work focuses on non-surgical, multidisciplinary pain care, with a strong emphasis on education, wellness, and prevention. By integrating her clinical expertise with a belief in holistic recovery — nutrition, natural supplementation, and lifestyle medicine — she helps patients rebuild confidence in their bodies and reclaim quality of life.
As Chief Compliance Officer, Izelle ensures that every clinic within The Pain Collective operates to the highest standards of ethics, safety, and care, embedding trust at the centre of our mission.
Her vision is simple yet profound:
To make every Pain Collective clinic a place where patients feel safe, supported, and truly seen.
At The Pain Collective, our promise is simple: no patient should be treated differently because of what’s in their wallet.
Right now, that means we only see medical aid patients — and for the funds that support pain management, we treat them without co-payments.
To treat private patients fairly, we need systems that make sure every private patient — not just the wealthy — can access the same care. Those systems are being built, and when they’re ready, everyone will be welcome.
Until then, we choose fairness over profit. That’s how ethical healthcare starts.
Want to be first to know when private access opens? Join our waiting list by emailing us — and help us build a model of pain care that’s equal for all.
At The Pain Collective, patient safety and comfort are central to everything we do — and Dr Riaan Combrinck plays a key role in ensuring exactly that.
Dr Combrinck is a dedicated medical professional specialising in sedation and anaesthesia for interventional pain procedures, providing calm, expert care across multiple day theatre settings in partnership with The Pain Collective.
His passion for anaesthesia was established early — graduating from the University of Pretoria in 2016 with distinction in anaesthesia — and refined through his experience in the Anaesthetics Department at George Regional Hospital during his community service in the Western Cape.
Since earning his Diploma in Anaesthesia in 2020, Dr Combrinck has built a successful dual practice as both general practitioner and anaesthetic provider, bringing a uniquely holistic approach to procedural care.
His focus is always on safety, precision, and compassion — creating a calm and controlled environment for every patient undergoing pain procedures.
🌿 Meet Our Interventional Pain Doctors | The Pain Collective
Meet our Interventional Pain Doctors — where empathy meets expertise.
Today we’re proud to introduce Dr Kyle Gilday, one of the dedicated pain practitioners at The Pain Collective.
Dr Gilday’s path into medicine began with a fascination for sleep research — a study of how the human body and mind recover, adapt, and endure. That curiosity evolved into a calling: to understand the complex, deeply personal nature of pain.
After completing his medical degree, Kyle worked in hospitals across Cape Town and rural Mpumalanga, where he witnessed how pain touches every part of a person’s life — physical, emotional, and social. This experience led him to specialise further in anaesthesia and pain medicine, combining procedural skill with a compassionate, whole-person approach.
At PAIN, Dr Gilday treats not just the symptom, but the individual behind it. His work blends modern interventional techniques with evidence-based holistic care, helping patients regain control, find relief, and feel heard.
In his own words:
“Behind every pain story is a person who deserves to be seen and understood. No one should have to navigate pain alone.”
We’re proud to have Dr Gilday as part of our interdisciplinary team — where connection, science, and empathy come together to change lives.
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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.
