1st Oxford Health BRC Pain Conference: from Theory to Practice (21-22 March 2024 at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford)

 The (hybrid) conference will cover a wide range of topics including:

• What Big Data and deep phenotyping can tell us about neuropathic pain
• Chronic pain and opioids: What’s the problem?
• Tailoring recovery: The art and science of personalised rehabilitation
• The journey through chronic pain: the patient perspective
• Touch, trust and pain: the social connection
• VR: the new frontier for understanding and treating chronic pain?
• Neural pathways: The role of neuromodulation in pain management
• Bridging the gap: immune system insights into pain
• AI, patient-reported outcome – or both?
• The bigger picture: flourishing, social prescribing and pain
• The placebo effect: how can we understand and harness its potential?
• Unlocking pain: Is sleep the missing piece?

We are delighted that Prof Irene Tracey has agreed to give a keynote lecture on 21st March before our conference dinner. In her keynote, “Taking on Pain: the Future is bright”, she will share her exciting vision for the future of pain research.

Our second keynote speaker is the Past President of the Massage Therapy Foundation, Douglas Nelson, who has over 30 years of experience in treating people with chronic pain. Doug will be speaking about an emerging topic at the intersection of pain and mental health: “Patients’ experience of invalidation – and what we can do about it”. Come and learn about the importance of validation – and the difference between validation and reassurance. 

The conference and dinner on 21st March are complimentary but please note that seating is limited. Alternatively, you can join us online!

For more information: https://sites.google.com/view/pain-ohbrc-conference-2024

Alternatively, you can join us online! To secure your spot (in-person or online), please register here: https://www.oxforduniversitystores.co.uk/short-courses/nuffield-department-of-clinical-neurosciences/nuffield-department-of-clinical-neurosciences/oxford-health-brc-pain-conference?token=c7e23e659ac5a19e52f275588d021f66

Sign up for our neurotechnology course!

For more information and to sign up, please visit https://cpnn.ac.uk/neurotech-course/

Immerse UK Awards University Tour

Following the success of the 2023 Immerse UK Awards, Immerse UK is proud to announce that they will be hosting a series of networking events across the UK at a number of universities this autumn. For more information, please click here.

11th Interdisciplinary World Congress on Low Back and Pelvic Girdle Pain in Melbourne, Australia.  

Noudy Eleryan – The effect of self-management interventions on musculoskeletal disorders in musicians: A scoping review.
Dr Akushla Rathnayake: Normalisation process theory (NPT) analysis of user experience of BACK-to-FITTM – A novel digital intervention to promote exercise self-management and physical activity in people with low back pain.
Dr Liba Sheeran: Assessment of spinal and pelvic kinematics using inertial measurement units in people with persistent low back pain. Co-production of BACK-on-LINETM, a work-based digital self-management of low back pain, for implementation and scaleup the rail industry. Phenotyping low back pain from video capture using computer vision and machine learning.

International Spinal Cord Society Tour

Delegates of the 62nd annual meeting of the International Spinal Cord Society (ISCoS) held in Edinburgh, visited the Queen Elizabeth National Spinal Injuries Unit and the Scottish Centre for Innovation for Spinal Cord Injury in a pre-conference visit on 1st October 2023. Around 40 delegates from research centres all around the world and patient representatives of the ISCoS society had a chance to see how neurorehabilitation research has been embedded into clinics, in this UK unique setting. Dr Aleksandra Vuckovic alongside her PhD students Ioana Susnoschi Luca, Shamsul Arefin, Emily Nicol and Research Associate Dr Rab Nawaz demonstrated the ongoing research with cutting edge neurotechnology, including systems for neuromodulatory treatment of spasticity, long-term home-based brain monitoring in people with
chronic pain and spinal cord stimulation for rehabilitation of arm and hand function. A hospital tour and a welcome speech by the Director of the Spinal Unit Dr Mariel Purcell were also included in the visit.

CPNN+ mentorship programme (now closed)

World Arthritis Day!

In response to the significant number of people affected by MSK, the Welsh Government has co-produced the Quality Statement for MSK Health. The Quality Statement for MSK Health sets out the Welsh Government’s vision for the development of better MSK care throughout the life-course and across the whole of Wales. The aim of the conference was to gather key stakeholders, professionals, and organisations from the health and social care sector to address the challenges and opportunities in the field of MSK healthcare. The event welcomed keynote speeches from the Minister for Health and Social Services, the Chief Medical Officer for Wales and many others who showcased good practices and innovations in MSK healthcare across Wales.

Living with Persistent Pain

Prizes at recent APDP annual conference

For more information on the APDP community please visit –

https://apdp.sixcircles.co/signin?message=loginRequired&next=https:%2F%2Fapdp.sixcircles.co.uk

CPNN+ PPIE funding competition announced!