Trauma Pain Support — The Framework
About the TPS Framework
A structured framework for post-acute RTA recovery
Trauma Pain Support (TPS) is a structured post-acute rehabilitation framework designed to support long-term recovery after road traffic accidents — beyond discharge and beyond fragmented service boundaries.
Why TPS exists
Discharge from acute care is not the end of recovery. For many RTA survivors, it is the beginning of the most difficult and poorly supported phase — a period in which ongoing pain, psychological disruption, and functional loss continue, but structured support does not.
Long-term RTA recovery is often fragmented across services, systems, and professional boundaries.
Survivors can fall into a post-acute continuity gap — where clinical input has ended but full recovery has not been achieved.
Systems often respond in parts — but rarely hold the whole picture of a person’s ongoing recovery needs.
TPS was built to provide structure, continuity, and analytical clarity where that gap exists — the Post-Acute Trauma Continuity Gap (PATCG).
What TPS is
At the core of TPS is the Post-Acute Trauma Support (PATS) Model™ — a structured framework built around the post-acute phase of RTA recovery, grounded in trauma psychology, pain science, biomechanics, and long-term rehabilitation thinking.
TPS comprises ten structured modules, designed to bring analytical clarity, continuity, and structured thinking to the complex and often poorly navigated post-acute recovery phase.
TPS is not:
Who TPS serves
TPS serves six distinct audiences — each with different needs, but all working within the same post-acute RTA recovery landscape.
How TPS works in practice
TPS is a structured modular framework applied across different sectors and contexts. It supports understanding, analysis, continuity, and decision-making at every stage of the post-acute recovery journey.
Sector-specific routes allow each audience to access the framework in the way most relevant to their context.
For organisations, TPS is available as a licensed framework — with structured modules, tools, and resources built for professional application.
For individuals, TPS provides structured recovery tools, guidance, and resources designed for the post-acute phase.
The evidence-informed structure is consistent across all contexts — grounded in the same framework, applied with sector-specific relevance.
What TPS helps make possible
Continuity
Stronger continuity beyond discharge
A structured bridge between acute care and long-term recovery — so nothing falls through the gap.
Clarity
Clearer understanding of complex recovery needs
A framework that makes complex, multi-dimensional recovery needs legible across professional contexts.
Structure
More structured rehabilitation thinking
Ten modules that bring discipline and rigour to the analysis and planning of post-acute recovery.
Evidence
Better evidential and analytical clarity
For professional audiences, a framework that supports more defensible, coherent, and evidence-informed outputs.
Navigation
More coherent navigation of the post-acute phase
For survivors, a clearer path through the post-acute phase — with tools and structure where none previously existed.
Collaboration
Improved support across sectors
A shared framework language that allows different professionals to work with greater coherence around the same recovery journey.
Why I built TPS
I experienced the post-acute continuity gap first-hand, as a survivor of a serious road traffic accident. I understood what was missing — not because I read about it, but because I lived through it.
With over 15 years’ experience at the intersection of trauma recovery, pain management, and long-term rehabilitation, I could see both the clinical and structural gap. The academic literature identified it. No existing framework had filled it.
TPS was built to answer that need — a practical, evidence-aligned framework that serves survivors, supports professionals, and brings structure to a phase of recovery that has long been poorly served.
Esther Christopher — Founder, Trauma Pain Support
Evidence-led and independently supported
The TPS white paper is published on the Open Science Framework (OSF) — view the white paper →
Accepted for Oral Presentation at the 11th World Disability & Rehabilitation Conference 2026, Bali — following double-blind peer review
NICE Registered Stakeholder — contributing to clinical guideline development
Professional affiliations: RSM · BSPRM · VRA · SOM · UKABIF · IPIC
Explore the framework in your context.
Select your sector, view the research, or get in touch to discuss how TPS works in your context.
Professional Memberships: RSM · BSPRM · VRA · SOM · UKABIF · IPIC · NICE Registered Stakeholder
Trauma Pain Support Ltd · Company No. 16408714 · Registered in England & Wales · Framework aligned with WHO Rehabilitation 2030 principles
