Psychologist and senior researcher in the field of low back pain research, Professor James McAuley discusses the historical development of psychological models in pain treatment.  In this episode, he highlights that psychology, while essential in pain management, may not be highly successful as a standalone treatment for low back pain. Professor McAuley and his team have been working on new treatment approaches for chronic low back pain, including cognitive functional therapy and pain reprocessing therapy. Their research focuses on improving self-efficacy in patients and utilising techniques like tactile acuity training to enhance sensory perception in the context of pain management.

Kent et al. (2023) https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37146623/

Bagg et al. (2022) https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2794765

James McAuley

https://neura.edu.au/researchers/prof-james-mcauley

Professor James McAuley is a psychologist, Professor in the School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health at UNSW and Senior Research Scientist at NeuRA.