Podcast: ‘Why We Hurt and What To Do About It’ with Dr. Lorimer Moseley

If you’ve been to my practice or spent any time on this blog, then you’ve undoubtedly heard me mention the phrase, ‘Modern Pain Science’. This is the field of study that has most impacted me in the way that I contextualize and communicate how massage works. It makes sense doesn’t it? Most people who find their way to my office are in search of help in navigating their pain, whether it’s chronic or acute. The more robust our understanding of pain is, the better chance we have to meet it’s demands with skill and effectiveness.

One of the major figures in guiding me along my pain science revolution is a clinical neuroscience researcher, Dr. Lorimer Moseley. He’s the author of some highly influential books to those in my field such as ‘Explain Pain’, and ‘Painful Yarns’ in which he details the intricacies of what goes into an experience of pain. His lectures and interviews have garnered over one million views on YouTube alone and his work has brought him some of the highest medals of achievement in Australian society. (He’s from down under, in case I haven’t mentioned that).

So naturally as somebody with a podcast and a penchant for getting my goods straight from the source - I invited him onto my podcast, 21st Century Vitalism. Shockingly, he accepted my invitation and joined me for an hour long discussion about his life’s work of understanding why we hurt and what our options are for responding to it.

This conversation turned out really well (in my humble opinion) because it organically focused on the role of manual therapy in healing from chronic pain. I had an opportunity to share some of my thoughts with him and had some great clarification and elaboration on some of my clinical hunches. Below is that conversation in it’s entirety. I hope you listen and are able to gleam some important information about your own unique experience of relating to pain.