The Pain Podcast

lepubscientifique

Every episode of The Pain Podcast features interviews with world-leading pain experts, delivering practical solutions for your toughest clinical challenges. You’ll get cutting-edge insights, evidence-based strategies, and actionable advice to revolutionise your approach to pain treatment and transform patient outcomes.

  1. FEB 11

    Episode 74: When Assessment Becomes Treatment: Why the First Session Matters More Than You Think

    In this episode of The Pain Podcast, Tim Beames and Bart van Buchem explore a deceptively simple question: can assessment itself be therapeutic? Drawing on clinical experience from both in-person and online practice, they unpack how physical examinations are never neutral acts. Every question asked, every movement explored, and every test performed can shape expectations, build trust, reduce threat — or sometimes unintentionally increase it. Rather than viewing assessment as a box-ticking exercise, Tim and Bart discuss assessment as a shared process of sense-making. They explore: How validation, reassurance, and curiosity can emerge before any treatment begins The difference between testing and exploring Why over-testing can sometimes increase uncertainty or fear How assessments can update internal models and predictions about the body The role of safety, trust, and co-creation in early clinical encounters If you enjoy conversations like this and want to go deeper into pain science, clinical reasoning, and real-world practice, you can join Le Pub Scientifique. 👉 Free membership gives you access to selected episodes, discussions, and community content 👉 Premium membership unlocks full podcast archives, science sessions, clinical coaching series, and in-depth discussions with leading clinicians and researchers 🔗 Join here: https://www.lepubscientifique.com/   #PainPodcast #ClinicalReasoning #PainEducation

    36 min
  2. JAN 14

    Episode 73: The Healing Nervous System: Neuroplasticity, Bioplasticity and Pain Recovery

    In this episode of The Pain Podcast, Tim Beames and Bart van Buchem take on a big, often buzzword-y topic: neuroplasticity in pain recovery. Starting from a real patient encounter (“I think this is about my neuroplasticity…”), they explore what this term actually means, where it comes from, and how to use it in a way that supports – rather than scares or blames – people living with persistent pain. You’ll hear them discuss: Neuroplasticity as ongoing adaptation and change, not just “brain rewiring”. The shift from a narrow neuro focus to a broader bioplasticity lens across multiple systems. The problem with “maladaptive plasticity” and “broken pathways” language – and how it can reinforce a sense of defectiveness. How difference and context (holidays, relationships, movement, meditation, therapy, altered states) create new embodied experiences that can open the door to change. The role of salience, reward and emotional tone in determining whether change is large enough – and meaningful enough – to stick. Why recovery often shows up first as better participation, connection and quality of life, even when pain scores don’t shift dramatically. Tim and Bart also reflect on popular “rewire your brain” narratives, highlighting where the metaphor can be helpful and where it risks oversimplifying complex science. This episode is for you if: You’re a clinician trying to talk about neuroplasticity without slipping into hype or hopelessness. You work with people whose pain has become the “status quo” and are looking for ways to create safe, meaningful difference. You live with persistent pain and want a validating, nuanced explanation that doesn’t blame your brain or your beliefs. Connect with Le Pub Scientifique 🔍 Explore more science sessions, clinical coaching series and resources for clinicians: https://www.lepubscientifique.com/ ✉️ Get in touch about teaching, courses or collaboration: info@lepubscientifique.com

    37 min
  3. 12/17/2025

    Episode 72: Year in Review 2025: Connections, Coaching and a Growing Pain Community

    In this Christmas special, Tim Beames and Bart van Buchem look back at 2025 with Le Pub Scientifique and The Pain Podcast. This episode is part gratitude, part reflection, and part behind-the-scenes tour of what’s been happening in the Le Pub universe – and how it all connects to real clinical work. They talk about: Meeting listeners and members at EPIC in Lyon and in Melbourne, and the sense that there is now a recognisable, values-driven global pain rehab community. The growth of Le Pub Free Membership (around 350 members) and how it offers access to current assets: podcasts, clinical takeaways, and practical tools. Highlights from Science Sessions, including: Predictive models and mechanisms of pain Nociplastic pain Immunology, lifestyle and their role in rehab The ongoing work of the Pain in Motion group A big year for the Clinical Coaching / Confidence Series: Irene Wicki on radiculopathy and nerve-related pain Bernhard Taxer on headaches, migraine and craniofacial pain A roundtable with Bernhard & Laura Rathbone on overlapping symptom profiles Sessions with Alison Sim and Ben Boyd on persistent conditions and therapeutic process Short-form resources: Pain Hacks – Bart’s 90-second practical pieces. Tim Translates – short paper reviews with explicit “how I use this in clinic” reflections. The FND Motor Masterclass – why functional neurological disorder is becoming more visible in neurology and rehab, and how the masterclass blends psychiatry, neurology and physiotherapy to give clinicians a grounded starting point. How recording the podcast itself has become a reflective practice tool for both Tim and Bart, feeding directly into their day-to-day clinical work. They finish by looking ahead to 2026: A better-organised platform to make Le Pub’s resources easier to access. Upcoming Science Sessions on conditions like osteoarthritis. A continued focus on confidence and competence for clinicians working with people in pain. If this episode helped you… Share it with colleagues who care about pain, but might not yet know Le Pub exists. Consider joining the free membership to access practical takeaways and upcoming sessions. Let Tim and Bart know what you’d like to see more of in 2026. 🔗 Explore Le Pub Scientifique & join the community: In this Christmas special, Tim Beames and Bart van Buchem look back at 2025 with Le Pub Scientifique and The Pain Podcast. This episode is part gratitude, part reflection, and part behind-the-scenes tour of what’s been happening in the Le Pub universe – and how it all connects to real clinical work. They talk about: Meeting listeners and members at EPIC in Lyon and in Melbourne, and the sense that there is now a recognisable, values-driven global pain rehab community. The growth of Le Pub Free Membership (around 350 members) and how it offers access to current assets: podcasts, clinical takeaways, and practical tools. Highlights from Science Sessions, including: Predictive models and mechanisms of pain Nociplastic pain Immunology, lifestyle and their role in rehab The ongoing work of the Pain in Motion group A big year for the Clinical Coaching / Confidence Series: Irene Wicki on radiculopathy and nerve-related pain Bernhard Taxer on headaches, migraine and craniofacial pain A roundtable with Bernhard & Laura Rathbone on overlapping symptom profiles Sessions with Alison Sim and Ben Boyd on persistent conditions and therapeutic process Short-form resources: Pain Hacks – Bart’s 90-second practical pieces. Tim Translates – short paper reviews with explicit “how I use this in clinic” reflections. The FND Motor Masterclass – why functional neurological disorder is becoming more visible in neurology and rehab, and how the masterclass blends psychiatry, neurology and physiotherapy to give clinicians a grounded starting point. How recording the podcast itself has become a reflective practice tool for both Tim and Bart, feeding directly into their day-to-day clinical work. They finish by looking ahead to 2026: A better-organised platform to make Le Pub’s resources easier to access. Upcoming Science Sessions on conditions like osteoarthritis. A continued focus on confidence and competence for clinicians working with people in pain. If this episode helped you… Share it with colleagues who care about pain, but might not yet know Le Pub exists. Consider joining the free membership to access practical takeaways and upcoming sessions. Let Tim and Bart know what you’d like to see more of in 2026. 🔗 Explore Le Pub Scientifique & join the community: https://www.lepubscientifique.com/ ✉️ Get in touch about courses, teaching or collaboration: info@lepubscientifique.com

    29 min
  4. 11/19/2025

    Episode 71: Pain & Identity - Practical Ways to Rebuild the Self

    Pain can steal roles, confidence, and connection. Tim and Bart explore how to spot identity loss and how to guide patients toward a values-led, reconstructed sense of self using language, movement, small wins, and co-created experiments. Why identity matters: chronic pain often causes biographical disruption—a break in the story of “who I am.” Neuro/psycho frame: predictive processing and the “model of me”—how ongoing threat can dominate self-inference. Clinician toolkit: Narrative reframing (precision over catastrophising). Values clarification (ACT-informed prompts that patients can actually answer). Small wins & the Three Gifts practice to re-evidence competence and joy. Co-creation & teams to expand the landscape of affordances. Vignettes: CRPS-style limb disownership language; makeup/hair example as “new me” exploration. Micro-experiments: safe, graded role re-entries across movement, connection, work, and creativity. Resources Mentioned: Le Pub Scientifique Free Membership (includes Sleep Clinical Action Plan). Prior conversations with Lance McCracken, Laura Rathbone, Bronnie Lennox Thompson (in the Le Pub library). Connect & Subscribe: Le Pub Scientifique—free membership for clinicians & people living with pain. Share the episode if it helped you or your patients.   #chronicpain #identity #ACT #physiotherapy #values #predictiveprocessing #CPPS #CRPS #narrativereframing #rehab

    36 min

About

Every episode of The Pain Podcast features interviews with world-leading pain experts, delivering practical solutions for your toughest clinical challenges. You’ll get cutting-edge insights, evidence-based strategies, and actionable advice to revolutionise your approach to pain treatment and transform patient outcomes.