In this Episode, Ben & Brad Neal get into the load and capacity model of pain.

Is this model poorly defined?

Are people talking the same languge when it comes to 'load'?

Does it lead to treatment focused on exercise?

Is that a bad thing?

What about homeostasis?

Give it a listen! 

Join Ben as he gets into part 4 of the podcasts series into LBP, with a look at treatment!

Topics covered:

What does the evidence say?

Mediation vs modulation?

Education

Affordances - Opportunities to help

Short versus long term for re- occurance and treatment 

Join Ben for part 3 of this short podcast series into back pain!

This episode deals with the objective portion of working with back pain.

Here is a little breakdown of the contents....

Testing is as much for the patient as the clinician

Special tests are not that special and still subjective 

Movement matters but is not diagnostic  

Here is another short episode from Ben looking at working with back pain.

This episode focuses on the subjective assessment.

What to listen out for?

Key questions to ask?

In this 10 minute episode, Ben explores the most important part of any session working with back pain, the person suffering from it and interfacing with them!

It's easy to get caught up in whats the tissue or driver of the problem and  want to listen out for the symptoms or get on with the testing.

But in a modern BPS approach, it might be how comfortable you make some one feel that gets you the good stuff! 

In this episode, Ben is joined by tendon expert & professor at Monash university in Melbourne, Peter Malliaras! 

Peter & Ben discuss:

Why tendons, whats Pete's journey!

Exercise for tendons, how does it actually work?

The role of the organism in tendon health and rehab

Pete's approach to tendon rehab, utilising a parallel approach 

The push back on Pete's research into shockwave therapy

Enjoy!!!

Join Ben as he talks about the complexity of pain!

An analogy Ben uses is "making the forest dry" to understand some of the contributors we have to pain arising and how we can make this understandable for our patients 

Ben discusses three contributors to causation, risk factors, initiating actions and also maintaining factors. All 3 contribute to our patients current state although mostly initiating events are looked at! 

Join Morton & Ben as they chat about the complex and confusing world of nocicplastic pain

Nociplastic pain is...... 

Pain that arises from altered nociception despite no clear evidence of actual or threatened tissue damage causing the activation of peripheral nociceptors or evidence for disease or lesion of the somatosensory system causing the pain.

Morton & Ben discuss.....

Whats the difference between a pain descriptor and a pain mechanism?

Why does the term nociplastic pain exist? What was the need for it?

What mechanisms might underpin nociplastic pain? What treatments might help nocicplastic pain? Should it be a focus of treatment?

About Morton.....

After qualifying as a clinical physiotherapist (1999) and completing several clinical exams, Morten was granted the title of specialist physiotherapist in musculoskeletal physiotherapy (2005) and sports physiotherapy (2006). From 2010-12 he joined the multidisciplinary Pain: Science & Society MSc-program at King's College London (UK). Between 2015-19 Morten did his PhD in Medicine/pain at Center for Neuroplasticity and Pain (CNAP), Aalborg University, where he is now associate professor. 

Recent paper on Nociplastic pain - https://www.jospt.org/doi/10.2519/jospt.2025.13335

Join Ben as he dives into the world of neuroplastic pain! 

"Neuroplastic pain is a type of chronic pain that occurs when the brain misinterprets safe signals from the body as dangerous. It's not imaginary, but it can be treated psychologically"

Ben asks.......

Can we really say that pain is from the brain simply because of the absence of structural issues?

Is FMRI more reliable at diagnosing the pain source than MRI?

Can neuroplastic pain rule out nociplastic pain & associated nociception?

Join Ben as he dives into the tricky subject of if exercise should be fun!

Fun is good! But maybe we need more than fun to really inspire us. Sometimes we have to do things that aren't fun but they are easier or convenient 

Instead we may need to focus on the benefits and value that we gain even if thew process is not fun or enjoyable!