
Pain Science Education
Pain Science Education discusses the treatment of persistent pain. Learn how to use the brain, body, mind, and behavior to reduce pain and improve physical and mental well-being. This podcast offers free training for physical therapists, healthcare professionals, and people with pain.
Dr. Joe Tatta is a physical therapist, educator, author, and pain researcher. He is known for his contribution to integrative pain care and for championing the safe and effective treatment of chronic pain. With over 20 years of clinical expertise, Dr. Joe is dedicated to converting cutting-edge pain science into actionable therapeutic practices. An advocate for a biopsychosocial approach, Dr. Joe developed PRISM: Pain Recovery and Integrative Systems Model, a cognitive-behavioral approach that promotes resilience, growth, and recovery.
Pain Science Education invites listeners to explore a wide array of subjects including pain education, pain neuroscience, physical therapy, physiotherapy, pain psychology, wellness, and continuing education. Episodes feature interviews with leading experts, offering a deep dive into the pivotal topics shaping the field of pain management.
The insights shared here aim to propel the practice of physical therapy to the forefront of primary pain management. Dr. Joe Tatta is committed to guiding therapists and healthcare providers through the complexities of pain, equipping them with the knowledge to deliver non-pharmacologic and non-invasive approaches to chronic pain.
With Dr. Joe's guidance, listeners will uncover the potential of physical therapists as pivotal figures in pain management, understand the importance of health behavior change, and learn how to use integrative and lifestyle medicine in practice.
Join the Pain Science Education podcast to transform your clinical approach, enrich your professional toolkit, and participate in the revolution of pain management. Each episode promises to take you one step closer to learning about pain, becoming a leader in delivering exceptional, innovative care to those suffering with pain, and ultimately improving lives across the globe.
Latest episodes

May 9, 2019 • 52min
Episode 133 | Dr. Marcia Spoto, PT DC: Physical Therapists As Primary Spine Care Providers
We're going to talk about primary spine care providers. If you follow this blog for quite some time, you know that spine problems and spine disorders are among the most common, most costly and most disabling problems that we experienced in Western society with regard to chronic pain. For the purpose of this blog, when we talk about spine-related disorders. We're talking about a group of conditions that include back pain, neck pain, all the various types of headaches and migraines, radiculopathy and other types of symptoms that are related directly to the spine. If you want to know an interesting and perhaps shocking statistic, virtually 100% of the population is affected by this group of disorder s at least once in their life, if not twice. One proposed solution to treating chronic spinal pain in our healthcare system is to train practitioners who can function as primary care providers for the care of the spine itself. There are already physical therapists and chiropractors who function in a primary care role for the spine, although we don't have enough that are trained adequately. Some may lack the clinical skills and the confidence to function in this primary care provider role. At times, these can be big shoes to fill because a primary spine care provider requires a particular skill set that includes the ability to apply the latest evidence-based procedures, adequately educate and motivate patients and prevent and manage disability. The interesting thing is that much of this has already been tested and it's proved to improve patient satisfaction, reduced pain, reduced disability and reduce medical costs. Joining us on this episode to discuss this important topic is Dr. Marcia Spoto, who is a professor at Nazareth College in Rochester, New York. What's interesting about Marcia that she holds both a degree in physical therapy as well as in chiropractic medicine. She understands the care of the spine from two very important professions that contribute to the health of spine care throughout our nation and perhaps even globally. She has over 35 years of educating and caring for the spine. She also taught classes at the university level with regards to musculoskeletal management, pain management and differential diagnosis. She's maintained an active private practice called STAR Physical Therapy, which is in Fairport New York. She also serves on the American Physical Therapy Association Orthopedic Practice Committee and is a Co-chair of the New York Physical Therapy Association Public Policy Committee. Dr. Spoto does serve as a consultant for BlueCross BlueShield where she's a member of the Spine Care Pathway Program. If you want more information about this episode and if you want more information to read along and follow along with us, I recommend you download a paper that's free. It's called The Establishment of a Primary Spine Care Practitioner and its Benefit to the Healthcare Reform System in the United States of America. To download this free resource, all you have to do is text 133 Download to the number 44222. You can go to the website at IntegrativePainScienceInstitute.com/132Download and you can download it directly from there. This is an evidence-based paper from a reliable medical journal that talks about the establishment of a primary spine care practitioner. It’s great information. If you are a practitioner who works with spinal care too, check this out and also if you’re someone who's interested to learn more information about care of the spine. Without further ado, let's begin with Dr. Marcia Spoto. Sign up for the latest episode at www.integrativepainscienceinstitute.com/podcasts/. Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share! Here’s How » Join the Healing Pain Podcast Community today: integrativepainscienceinstitute.com Healing Pain Podcast Facebook Healing Pain Podcast Twitter Healing Pain Podcast YouTube Healing Pain Podcast LinkedIn Healing Pain Podcast Instagram

Apr 25, 2019 • 43min
Episode 132 | Dr. JP Caneiro, PT, PhD: How To Overcome Pain-Related Fear And Low Back Pain
It’s great to be with you sharing the latest information on pain science and the care of chronic pain. On this episode, our expert guest is Dr. JP Caneiro. JP holds a PhD in Musculoskeletal Physiotherapy. He’s part of an international team of clinicians and researchers that developed a behavioral intervention named Cognitive Functional Therapy. JP holds a research position at Curtin University where he runs a multicenter trial for low back pain as well as lectures in the Master’s of Physiotherapy program. Clinically, JP focuses on the management of complex pain working at Body Logic Physiotherapy in Perth, Australia. He’s also an associate editor for the British Journal of Sports Medicine and for two educational websites. The first one being called BodyInMind.org and the second, Pain-Ed.com. In addition to the great information that JP will share on this episode, he’s also generously providing you with four free downloads that you have to get your hands on because they’re so good. They’re so important whether you’re a practitioner treating someone in pain, or you’re someone who has had pain and you’re looking for answers on how to alleviate it and return to a more active life. The first handout is called A New Way of Thinking About Pain. This is a good infographic that includes phrases to help people reframe what pain is so they no longer think that they’re being damaged or that they’re being harmed by the pain. The second is an infographic about the Cognitive Functional Therapy framework. You can look at this and follow along with that framework as JP and I talk about his great work on this episode. The last two are the important studies that JP has been involved in the past few years with regards to chronic low back pain and Cognitive Functional Therapy. The first paper is called Cognitive Functional Therapy. It came from a 2018 Journal of Physical Therapy. The second paper which is published in 2018 Scandinavian Journal of Pain is called The Implicit Association Between Back Posture and Safety of Bending and Lifting in People Without Pain. JP was part of that study, a pivotal study with regards to a lot of the work that we’ve talked about on this episode. To download these free four gifts that JP has generously provided, all you have to do is text the word, 132Download, to the number 44-222. If you’re on your computer, you can open up a new browser, and you can type in the URL, www.IntegrativePainScienceInstitute.com/132Download. All these handouts will be available for free. If you’ve been following this podcast, some of the work that we’ve been putting out over the last couple of years, you may have noticed that all the content that used to have under DrJoeTatta.com has now been moved to one place. It’s all located on the IntegrativePainScienceInstitute.com website. This is going to be our new home, it’s a place where you can go for all the free podcasts, all the free blogs and all the free gifts and giveaways. Lastly, the practitioner training and continued education courses. I’ve organized it so it’s in all one place for you and it’s easy to access. Let’s meet JP and he’s going to share what he discovered during his PhD studies and how he has been able to translate this important knowledge into clinical practice. JP is a brilliant clinician. He’s easy to talk to. You’ll find that his passion in helping people with their pain really shines through. I know you’re going to enjoy and you’re going to learn a lot on this episode as I did. Sit back and relax, let’s meet JP. Sign up for the latest episode at www.drjoetatta.com/podcasts. Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share! Here’s How » Join the Healing Pain Podcast Community today: integrativepainscienceinstitute.com Healing Pain Podcast Facebook Healing Pain Podcast Twitter Healing Pain Podcast YouTube Healing Pain Podcast LinkedIn Healing Pain Podcast Instagram

Apr 4, 2019 • 37min
Episode 131 | Dr. Wayne Jonas: Evidence Does Not Support Invasive Procedures For Pain And How To Move Toward Integrative Pain Care
On this episode, we are discussing the insufficient evidence for invasive procedures and chronic pain in how we can move our sick care system toward an integrative model of pain care. Joining us is Dr. Wayne Jonas. He is a practicing family physician, an expert in integrative health and a widely published scientific investigator. He served as the Director of Alternative Medicine at the National Institutes of Health and was the Director of the World Health Organization's Center for Traditional Medicine. He published a book called How Healing Works and in September of 2018, he published a systematic review and meta-analysis called Are Invasive Procedures Effective for Chronic Pain? Make sure to download this free gift called a Guide to Nutrition for Chronic Pain. To receive the Guide to Nutrition for Chronic Pain, all you have to do is text the word 131 Download to the number 44222 or if you're on your computer, you can open up a browser and type in the URL www.DrJoeTatta.com/131Download and you'll receive instant access to this free gift. If you are a practitioner interested in learning more about nutrition for chronic pain, make sure to check out the certification program offered through the Integrative Pain Science Institute called Functional Nutrition for Chronic Pain. You can learn more by visiting www.IntegrativePainScienceInstitute.com and then you can click on the courses tab. It's fully accredited for 36 PT CEUs. Let's begin with Dr. Wayne Jonas. Sign up for the latest episode at www.drjoetatta.com/podcasts. Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share! Here’s How » Join the Healing Pain Podcast Community today: integrativepainscienceinstitute.com Healing Pain Podcast Facebook Healing Pain Podcast Twitter Healing Pain Podcast YouTube Healing Pain Podcast LinkedIn Healing Pain Podcast Instagram

Mar 28, 2019 • 36min
Episode 130 | Rob Vining, PT, MSPT: Telehealth And Physical Therapy
In this episode, we are talking about the rapidly expanding field of telehealth, which is the use of electronic communication to remotely provide healthcare information services to patients who need physical therapy. Telehealth is gaining more and more attention as providers, patients and payers all seek more effective, and cost-efficient ways to deliver care. Here to speak with us about telehealth and physical therapy is Rob Vining. He has been a physical therapist for many years and has worked across all settings with the focus on outpatient orthopedics. His current mission is to bring telehealth and technology into the practice of physical therapy. He Cofounded the software company, PTLive and created the educational platform Telehealth PT. He hosts the Telehealth 20 Podcast and PT TechTalk. He is also a guest lecturer at physical therapy programs about telehealth in the physical therapy profession. As a free gift to accompany this episode, Rob is providing you with the telehealth library. This package is valued at over $120 and includes archived Q&A sessions, webinar training, featured in-depth discussions on telehealth, information on marketing, consumer engagement, technology, security, and much more. To download this free telehealth library, all you have to do is text the word 130Download to the number 44222. If you’re on your computer, you can go to the URL www.DrJoeTatta.com/130Download where you can enter your name and your email address. Take a moment to download this free gift and let's begin with Rob. Sign up for the latest episode at www.drjoetatta.com/podcasts. Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share! Here’s How » Join the Healing Pain Podcast Community today: integrativepainscienceinstitute.com Healing Pain Podcast Facebook Healing Pain Podcast Twitter Healing Pain Podcast YouTube Healing Pain Podcast LinkedIn Healing Pain Podcast Instagram

Mar 21, 2019 • 31min
Episode 129 | Dr. Dan Riddle, PT, PhD, FAPTA: Cognitive Behavioral Pain Coping Skills Delivered By Physical Therapists To Patients With Pain Castrophizing And Undergoing Knee Arthroplasty
I am excited that you're here with me as we discuss the latest in pain care and pain science. We are discussing the topic of pain catastrophizing, which has been identified as a prognostic indicator of poor outcomes for many types of chronic pain syndromes. Interventions to address pain catastrophizing are commonly used by many pain professionals including physical therapists and psychologists but have not been tested in patients who are undergoing total knee arthroplasty or what is known as a total knee joint replacement. To speak with us about whether pain coping skills training can potentially help patients undergoing total knee arthroplasty is Dr. Dan Riddle. He is a Professor of Physical Therapy, Orthopedic Surgery and Rheumatology at Virginia Commonwealth University. His clinical and research interests are in the lower extremity and musculoskeletal disorders with the primary focus on osteoarthritis and joint arthroplasty. Dr. Riddle studies diagnostic, prognostic and intervention-based research techniques with an emphasis on the role of pain in both the disease and recovery process. He is currently the chair of the Neurological Aging and Musculoskeletal Epidemiology study section for the National Institutes of Health. He has received numerous awards for his work, including an award from the Foundation for Physical Therapy and the National Institute of Arthritis. He will discuss his multi-center three-arm single-blinded randomized controlled trial for pain catastrophizing. In his study, one group received usual care, one group received Cognitive Behavioral Therapy delivered by a physical therapist and one group receive arthritis education delivered by registered nurse. I love this study because of its three-arm design. I think you'll be surprised at the outcome as to which group did better. This study and this podcast is valuable information which can help you make better clinical decisions about your plan of care for patients undergoing total knee arthroplasty. Sign up for the latest episode at www.drjoetatta.com/podcasts. Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share! Here’s How » Join the Healing Pain Podcast Community today: integrativepainscienceinstitute.com Healing Pain Podcast Facebook Healing Pain Podcast Twitter Healing Pain Podcast YouTube Healing Pain Podcast LinkedIn Healing Pain Podcast Instagram

Mar 14, 2019 • 25min
Episode 128 | Zoe Letwin: How To Develop An Interprofessional Pain Education Program
Patients have a very unique perspective on what they are going through. Yet health professionals tend to leave them out of the picture. Showing the importance of how health systems should get feedback from what patients want is Zoe Letwin. Zoe has a master’s degree in Professional Education and is currently a second year PhD student in the Health Profession Education field at Western University. Gathering up all her knowledge and insights, she talks about Inter-professional Pain Education and shares her competency-based framework that details the ways practitioners can create a competent person-centered partner in pain care. Zoe builds up from her passion about creating a culture of empathy in pain education and values lifelong learning, taking us into how the complexity of pain should involve everyone together. Sign up for the latest episode at www.drjoetatta.com/podcasts. Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share! Here’s How » Join the Healing Pain Podcast Community today: integrativepainscienceinstitute.com Healing Pain Podcast Facebook Healing Pain Podcast Twitter Healing Pain Podcast YouTube Healing Pain Podcast LinkedIn Healing Pain Podcast Instagram

Mar 7, 2019 • 37min
Episode 127 | Dr. Chad Cook, PT, PhD: Psychologically Informed Care - Valuable Or The Catch Of The Day?
Dr. Chad Cook, PT, PhD, the Program Director of the Doctor of Physical Therapy Program at Duke University, brings to light the value of psychologically-informed care. Getting deep into how it contributes to physical therapy and pain care, he lays down some literature about it - from the studies to the biases in them - showing how psychologically-informed practices are so hot right now and where they should improve. Dr. Cook talks about why pain mechanisms are important for every pain practitioner to understand and why this can benefit not only them as practitioners but those who are in pain or knows someone in pain. Sign up for the latest episode at www.drjoetatta.com/podcasts. Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share! Here’s How » Join the Healing Pain Podcast Community today: integrativepainscienceinstitute.com Healing Pain Podcast Facebook Healing Pain Podcast Twitter Healing Pain Podcast YouTube Healing Pain Podcast LinkedIn Healing Pain Podcast Instagram

Feb 28, 2019 • 41min
Episode 126 | Emily Fletcher: Less Stress, Less Pain And More Life with Ziva Meditation Expert
Do you know that you can use meditation to lessen stress and accomplish more in your life? This is what Emily Fletcher teaches. Emily is the founder of Ziva and the creator of The Ziva Technique, and is regarded as a leading expert in meditation for high performance. She joins us to talk about her meditation, her book called Stress Less, Accomplish More, The Ziva Technique and its benefits, and more. If you're interested in learning more about mindfulness, meditation, and manifesting wonderful things in your life, you will learn a lot from this great podcast. Sign up for the latest episode at www.drjoetatta.com/podcasts. Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share! Here’s How » Join the Healing Pain Podcast Community today: integrativepainscienceinstitute.com Healing Pain Podcast Facebook Healing Pain Podcast Twitter Healing Pain Podcast YouTube Healing Pain Podcast LinkedIn Healing Pain Podcast Instagram

Feb 21, 2019 • 45min
Episode 125 | Dr. Steven Kamper, PT: How To Translate Research Into Practice And Improve Pain Management
A niche in the medical field that is rarely explored is children and pain. This is where Dr. Steven Kamper, PT, found a good place to research as he reviewed its relationship to the parents’ pain. This also leads to his passion to pursue the process of integrating research into practice. Dr. Kamper takes us into a more profound understanding of research as he discusses the importance of evidence-based practice or research into clinical care. Sign up for the latest episode at www.drjoetatta.com/podcasts. Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share! Here’s How » Join the Healing Pain Podcast Community today: integrativepainscienceinstitute.com Healing Pain Podcast Facebook Healing Pain Podcast Twitter Healing Pain Podcast YouTube Healing Pain Podcast LinkedIn Healing Pain Podcast Instagram

Feb 14, 2019 • 39min
Episode 124 | Dr. Jolene Brighten, NMD: Hormones, Birth Control And The Association With Chronic Pain
Women's health is very special as it concerns menstrual cycles, fertility and infertility, menopause, and all issues involving female hormones. Birth control expert Dr. Jolene Brighten, NMD recognizes this uniqueness. She discusses links between hormones, inflammation and chronic pain, balancing your hormones naturally, post birth control syndrome, and why this isn't being discussed more in mainstream medicine. She also shares about the nutritional plan that she uses with her patients to help them balance their hormones naturally and come off the pill. Sign up for the latest episode at www.drjoetatta.com/podcasts. Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share! Here’s How » Join the Healing Pain Podcast Community today: integrativepainscienceinstitute.com Healing Pain Podcast Facebook Healing Pain Podcast Twitter Healing Pain Podcast YouTube Healing Pain Podcast LinkedIn Healing Pain Podcast Instagram