Practical Pain Neuroscience for Health Professionals

Welcome to the Practical Pain Neuroscience for Health Professionals  live online course with Dr. Adele Stewart. I’ve been a GP for over 30 years and bring that experience—along with my background as a mindfulness teacher, my interest in modern pain neuroscience, and my role as Chair of the Royal Australian College of GPs Pain Group—to this course. I also have my own lived experience of chronic pain.

This course is being held in conjunction with Grand Pacific Health’s Chronic Pain Management Program in South Eastern NSW.

This series is ideal for Health Professionals of all types seeking to deepen their understanding of pain, enhance their communication with patients, and improve the quality of care for individuals experiencing chronic pain.

Lorimer Moseley and David Butler brought us the Explain Pain model which is an education approach that helps people understand the science behind chronic pain  that reduces fear and promotes recovery. Pain neuroscience has shifted from viewing pain as a direct measure of tissue damage to understanding it as a protective buffer.

Session 1: Rethinking Pain – from Damage to Protection. We introduce the Explain Pain model, highlighting the crucial distinction between nociception (a sensory input) and pain (a whole neuro – endocrine – immune ensemble-generated output). We’ll explore the surprisingly weak relationship between pain and actual tissue damage—helping GPs better understand persistent pain and how to support patients beyond a purely biomedical approach.

Session 2: A Balancing Act of Danger and Safety: Pain is not just about injury—it emerges from the brain’s interpretation of danger and safety signals. Through predictive processing, the brain constantly weighs these signals, shaping the pain experience. This session unpacks the pain-fear cycle, the incredible complexity of pain, and why it often persists. The good news? There are countless ways to influence pain beyond medication. Health Professionals have a much broader toolkit than they might realize, and this session will explore practical, evidence-based strategies to shift the balance toward safety and relief. A lot of this session is dedicated to the latest on stress.

Session 3: Moving Beyond the War on Pain: From “fighting pain” to “battling disease,” medicine—and society—are steeped in war metaphors. While intended to empower, these threat-based narratives can actually reinforce fear and amplify pain. In this session, we’ll explore how the language we use—especially in imaging reports and patient conversations—can shape a person’s pain experience. We’ll also discuss nociplastic pain, where pain persists without clear structural damage, and how both central sensitisation and threat-based narratives can drive this process. What can Health Professionals do differently? We’ll cover practical realistic communication strategies to foster safety rather than fear, helping patients reframe their relationship with their bodies and their pain.

Session 4: Beyond Faulty Wiring: the Neuro-immune conversation in Pain: Nerves are not just passive conduits like a toaster cord—they are living, responsive, and immuno-reactive. In this session, we’ll touch into the complexity of neuropathic pain  and spend quite a bit of time on the very cutting edge findings on the vital role of neuro-immune interactions. There are many practical strategies beyond medication that can empower patients to take an active role in their healing.

DATES:
Wednesday 13th August 2025 5.30-7pm
Wednesday 20th August 2025 5.30-7pm
Wednesday 27th August 2025 5.30-7pm
Wednesday 3rd September 2025 5.30-7pm

Please go the Health Professionals resources if you’d like to view a recording of this.