🧠 When “hope” and “advice” can get in the way of recovery Many people with chronic pain have been trying to get rid of their pain for a very long time. They’re often tired. So instead of asking for effort, belief, or optimism, how about: Close your eyes and take a rest while your hear my voice

Happy to be nominated for the UNSW 2025 Research High Impact Partnership Award by the Faculty of Medicine. Big thank you to the Centre for Pain IMPACT , UNSW Medicine & Health and all collaborators. #unsw #pain #evidencebasedhealthcare

🔥We scanned the lower leg muscles of 192 healthy children aged 5 to 15 years old using MRI. We wanted to understand how the muscles in the lower leg grow as children get older. 🎯Now we can identify when a child’s muscles are not growing as expected. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

🎯Great to see how physiotherapy students responded to the Knowledge of Pain Board Game. Game-based learning continues to show its value in helping future clinicians grasp complex biopsychosocial pain concepts in low- and middle-income countries. #painscience #physiotherapy #university #education

It is possible to facilitate a person’s ability to imagine, and it is also possible to guide someone toward experiencing a positive hallucination. Hallucinations differ from ordinary imagination. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

🎉Seven years since I sold the Institute of #Movement and #PainManagement. Assessment, screening for the right care pathway, pain management programs, and physical-activity plans tailored to each person’s needs and preferences. Chapter closed… to open a new one in Australia. ✨ #Anniversary

Research Data infrastructure in the digital era with Jodie Austin at the ACTA 2025 Clinical Trials and Registries Symposium. It was great to see how the SMART hub is collecting reliable health data in Queensland. #clinicaltrials #digitalhealth #AI

✈️Heading to the ACTA 2025 Clinical Trials in Melbourne this week. We will discuss efficient ways of conducting clinical trials, particularly in the era of #digitalhealth and #AI. 🎯See the first three presentations of the program!

This trial, published at @thelancet.com, showed that a fully self-guided digital behavioural program improved pain and function in people with fibromyalgia versus an active control A significant step toward accessible, scalable care 🔗 pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38991582/ #ChronicPain #DigitalHealth

➡️ More alternatives (suggestions) = higher likelihood of choosing an NSAID over the opioid in a situation of chronic low back pain flare-up. 🔗 jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

Strong evidence for scalable care #hypnosis #digitalhealth A new participant’s-blinded randomised controlled trial in JAMA Network Open found that self-administered audio clinical hypnosis led to a meaningful reduction in hot flashes (53% vs 41% with sham). 🔗 jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

A meta-analysis (137 studies, n = 12,966) found that touch improves pain, mood, anxiety, and cortisol regulation. Although human touch might be more beneficial, even robot-delivered touch showed physical benefits. #PainResearch #MentalHealth #Neuroscience www.nature.com/articles/s41...

🚨We showed that hypnosis can ease pain fast—and lasting relief might need a change in how we think about pain. 🧠 Understanding what drives short- vs long-term effects helps refine hypnotic suggestions. #ChronicPain #Research #hypnosis 🔗 pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34048108/

“The digital intervention was associated with annual per-person savings of $2025.7 in MSK care (95% CI, 1362.0-2689.4; P<.001) and $2369.5 in total health care (95% CI, 1305.4-3433.7) versus comparator group.” www.archives-pmr.org/article/S000...

A few years ago, I reviewed the science behind biopsychosocial models and pain neurophysiology. With experts in game design and lived experience, we turned that knowledge into the world’s first pain education board game. 🎲✨ Now, it will be available in English! #PainEducation #Innovation

A few years ago, I reviewed the science behind biopsychosocial models and pain neurophysiology. With experts in game design and lived experience, we turned that knowledge into the world’s first pain education board game. 🎲✨ Now, it will be available in English! #PainEducation #Innovation

🎵 Can music improve sleep quality? A Cochrane review found: listening to prerecorded #music daily for 25–60 minutes over periods of three days-three months led to moderate-certainty evidence of better #sleepquality. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36000763/ #EvidenceBasedPractice #CochraneReview

1/🧵 Out today in @frontiersin.bsky.social : “Consciousness science: where are we, where are we going, and what if we get there?” By @axc.bsky.social @liadmudrik.bsky.social, & me (a CIFAR & @erc.europa.eu production 🧠). www.frontiersin.org/journals/sci...

Imagine leaving your GP appointment with immediate access to a non-pharmacological intervention that fits in your pocket. UNSW #SDGShowcase: we shared how we combine education and clinical #hypnosis to retrain the #pain system for lasting change. #ChronicPain #Innovation #digitalhealth

Are clinicians reassuring their patients — or only themselves? 🧠 There are better ways to say “Your MRI is completely normal.” 👉 pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39428652/%EF... #PainCommunication #ClinicianPatientRelationship

What immediate skin-to-skin contact between newborns and their mothers SUGGESTS to newborns? It suggests safety, and the system responds accordingly. #cochrane #love www.cochrane.org/about-us/new...

Our research team will present the NOTUS project on the Sustainable Development Goals Showcase at UNSW next week. Everyone is welcome. Get tickets: www.unsw.edu.au/edi/sustaina...

🧠Pioneered study: Hypnosis Enhances the Effects of Pain Education in Patients With Chronic Back Pain: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Open access paper: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29654980/ #mind-body #pain #chronicpain #hypnosis #PainResearch

The total treatment effect is preventive for prostate cancer but harmful for other causes of death. Can the benefit in prevention be explained by the missing data from people who died from other causes? Causal Mediation in Time-to-event Analysis at @causalab.bsky.social

Which non-drug 💊 & non-surgical 🛑 treatments help with #BackPain? Our new Cochrane Review breaks down what works and what doesn’t. For clinicians, researchers, & anyone affected by pain! 🔗: cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.... #LowBackPain #pain #cochrane #exercise #acupuncture #yoga #pilates