Pain Experts Answer Your Top Questions

FUNCTIONAL F1RST

You asked, they answered!

Three top pain scientists - Prof Lorimer Moseley, Dr. Tasha Stanton, Dr. David Butler - answer your burning questions about pain science. This episode is live from the Pain Revolution event in Australia.

Thank you to all who contributed questions and special thanks to the online communities who collaborated with us to make this podcast possible: Trust Me I'm a Physiotherapist, PhysioTutors, Rethinking Physiotherapy, GetPT1st, InfoPhysiotherapy and Exploring Pain Science. Check them out on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

Learn more about us here.

00:30 What is pain?

01:24 What do you tell a patient who answers you "So it's just in my head?"

02:07 How can we change people's general knowledge (before they become "patients") about pain and pain management?

03:09 What metaphors and analogies do you use with your patients?

04:38 How much is it possible to deliver in a 20-minute clinical education setting? What would you focus on?

05:37 What are some exciting new advances in pain science that you think will impact clinical practice in the near future?

06:22 What is one piece of advice you would give to someone suffering from persistent pain?

07:11 Those of us in the profession like to dig deep in the science and research, but what the overall public is interested in is far more practical - what can we do? Data alone hasn't convinced many, how can we better explain what's going on in a simple, understandable way?

09:24 What are some exciting new advances in pain science that you think will impact clinical practice in the near future?

10:43 What are the biggest barriers in making physio and pain management move forward?

11:56 How do you see the role of manual therapy in both acute and persistent pain - assuming an ethical and accurate explanation (as opposed to a PSB model approach)

13:35 What is the most effective way to implement a pain science approach in chronic regional pain syndrome (CRPS), and how should medications be used during implementation?

16:44 What can you tell us about pain thresholds? Could a pain threshold be more about coping/ pain tolerance or is there an actual inter-individual difference on a neurological level, such as our perception, or even a nociceptor level?

18:45 Does the health industry need to change the way it understands and treats pain? if yes - what are your suggestions?

21:18 With the biopsychosocial model, there is often a focus on the psychosocial factors, where does the bio fit into all of this? Where does it come into play or are they thought of very separately?

23:09 How do you explain pain to an uneducated patient who thinks treatment is a quick fix? My challenge is breaking down the information simply enough for such patients to understand.

24:48 What changes do you think healthcare professionals need to institute in the treatment of acute pain, in order to help prevent transition to chronic pain states?

26:29 What is your go-to one liner to explain Central sensitization to your chronic pain patient? How do you explain this on day one without loosing the patient?

29:37 Please explain fibromyalgia.

31:10 How does stress and emotion contribute to pain manifestation at different sites?

34:14 Mindfulness, how can it be used to work with people’s pain management/ perception?

36:32 I want to hear their answer on a question asked by Mick Thacker: If pain is a perception, then how does the neuro-physiology involved go on to be become a higher centre cognitive function?

40:13 Children who fall over in the playground experience a broad range of responses from their parents ranging from a "toughen up" type of indifference right through to overt and excessive concern. How might these paren