Chronic pain is a major cause of human suffering. Yet pain that persists for three months or more is often unrelated to any physical injury. So why does it still hurt? Research over the last few decades shows that many of us – sufferers of chronic pain and health practitioners alike – are victims of a trick of the nervous system. Where we believe that pain has its root in a damaged body, it is the brain that prolongs the hurting long after the body has healed.

Paul Biegler, a science journalist and former doctor who has been on his own pain journey, investigates the true source of chronic pain — our brain’s so-called neuroplasticity – and emerging therapies, including cognitive therapy and graded exercise exposure, that take advantage of that same neuroplasticity to rewire the brain and end the suffering.

Through conversations with scientists, doctors, and people who have overcome chronic pain, Biegler shines a light on the rigorous new studies – and emotional personal stories – that are changing the way we understand and treat pain. Most importantly, he shows how to take control over persistent pain and truly heal.

In this episode Gregory Dobbs chats to Paul Biegler about the role central sensitisation and maladaptive neuroplasticity play in our physical response to pain, how people experiencing chronic pain are actually activating emotionally laden brain areas, why movement, exercise and pacing are beneficial in recovery, and how the power of knowledge can overcome chronic pain.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Paul Biegler is a journalist, academic and former specialist physician in emergency medicine. His new book Why Does It Still Hurt?: How the Power of Knowledge Can Overcome Chronic Pain is published by Scribe in January 2023. He is the author of The Ethical Treatment of Depression (MIT Press 2011) which won the Australian Museum Eureka Prize for Research in Ethics.

In 2020 Paul was one of two finalists for the Finkel Foundation Eureka Prize for Long Form Science Journalism. In 2012 he was awarded the Media Prize of the Australasian Association of Philosophy for an opinion piece in the Sydney Morning Herald on climate scepticism and a Radio National interview on his book.

Paul’s journalism covers health and science and includes feature articles in a wide variety of media. He penned the ethics column at Cosmos alongside fellow columnists Alan Finkel, Chief Scientist of Australia, and broadcaster Norman Swan. Paul was runner up in the New Philosopher writing prize for his essay The Ill-fitting Self.