Krupp Foundation supports innovative movement song “I’m the boss here — little pain beast, let me go” for children with chronic pain
By supporting the dance-movement song “I’m the boss here — little pain beast, let me go”, the Krupp Foundation engages for an innovative project that emotionally strengthens children suffering from chronic pain and motivates them to be more active. The idea of specifically addressing patients aged 6 to 12 years came from Marjan Laekeman (M.Sc. Phys., consultant for special pain physiotherapy), who noticed in her professional career that children and adolescents with chronic pain receive little attention in medical research. Together with the Austrian author, composer and singer Ingrid Hofer, they musically implemented the dance-movement song.
Through rhythmic activation, positive self-affirmations and a shared dance experience, motivation, self-efficacy and joy of movement are fostered. The central message is: “Hey, I’m the boss here!” The so-called “pain beast” serves as a child-friendly metaphor to make pain tangible and to actively counter it. This helps children feel not at the mercy of their pain, but as capable of acting and self-determined.
The project is unique in this form: for the first time, dance, movement, power posing and singing are combined in a video with educational content developed specifically for this age group. The lyrics are based on biopsychosocial principles and were reviewed by an interdisciplinary team of pain experts prior to the artistic production.
The song and the video are freely available on common streaming platforms and YouTube. This means the song can be used both privately at home and in a therapeutic setting.