Dr. Barbara Fehlau studied Medicine at the University of Calgary. By then, she already had worked for years as a Medical Laboratory Technologist and was involved in research projects in Microbiology and Infectious Diseases.

Early on in her medical school training, she became interested in Palliative Care Medicine after watching her father and godmother die within a month of each other. She sought out experiences in this new field and started working in 1995 as a Family Physician/Palliative Care consultant in Vancouver General Hospital, St. Paul’s’ Hospital and in the Vancouver community.

As she wanted a slightly quieter life (LOL), she moved to the Comox Valley in 1998 to continue these passions and has been practicing at her own family practice from 1998 until moving recently in fall of 2015 to her new dedicated pain clinic.

Over the years she has developed increased expertise in Palliative care to addictions medicine and chronic pain. She ran the local methadone clinic for several years, and then she became an acupuncturist in 2003. She has learned 5 different forms of acupuncture, although the type of acupuncture she treats patients most regularly with is GTT (Gokavi Transverse Technique) which was developed from the well known Intramuscular Stimulation (IMS) approach for myofascial pain.

In the last few years she has learned more interventional techniques including Perineural Injection Technique (PIT) and Prolotherapy. At the University of Wisconsin in Madison Wisconsin, she studied Prolotherapy with the Hackett Hemwall Foundation then volunteered twice in Honduras. She intends to volunteer there again in the future.

She has also learned Perineural Injection Technique, a technique that is especially helpful for patients with neuropathic (nerve) pain. She trained with Dr Lyftogt from Christchurch New Zealand who developed this technique. She was one of the first twenty physicians in the world to attain Master Class training.

Because of her passion to help patients with their suffering, she continues to expand the treatments she learns all the time and in 2015 decided to make the move of leaving her Family Practice and focus on Pain management.

Since she also suffers from chronic pain herself, she understands from her own experience how difficult but important it is to continue living as normal as possible despite the pain. She had spinal surgery in 2001 and gradually improved over 11 years. More recently she had a previous athletic knee injury come back to haunt her. She understands the importance of approaching her pain in multiple ways and has benefitted from many treatments she now offers to her patients. She continues to be as active in many outdoor activities such as walking, hiking, sailing and kayaking.

She lives in the Comox Valley with her husband Roland, so chances are you may run into them walking on some of the trails in our area.