The new Australian Standards for Health Practitioner Pain Management Education were launched at the 46th Australian Pain Society Annual Scientific Meeting by Dr Noam Winter and Professor Helen Slater, members of the team that developed the standards.

Professor Annina Schmid presented the Sunderland Lecture and gave two other talks at this year’s Australian Pain Society Annual Scientific Meeting, exploring the role of neuroinflammation in neuropathic pain.

In a session about improving communication and therapeutic interactions with children and families, the lived experience of a young adult who has had chronic pain since childhood was at the forefront.

Pain researcher Dr Felicity Braithwaite is interested in the power of storytelling to influence people’s beliefs about pain.

A clinical reasoning framework for chronic pain was the focus of a pre-conference workshop at the Australian Pain Society Annual Scientific Meeting.

At the 2026 Australian Pain Society’s 46th Annual Scientific Meeting, held in Adelaide in April, the breadth of physiotherapy’s contributions to pain research was highlighted. Here we report on some of the key sessions of interest to physiotherapists – from understanding the biological mechanisms underlying neuropathic pain to practical insights for working with children and adults living with chronic pain – and we present our latest series of videos featuring interviews with speakers about their research.

The International Association for the Study of Pain named 2026 as the Global Year for Neuropathic Pain. Zoë Harper, Karri Field and Cameron Dickson of the APA Pain national group present five discussion points about this condition.

PERSISTENT PAIN The combined role of the nervous system and the immune system as a contributor to persistent pain is slowly being worked out by researchers. Physiotherapy researcher Dr Scott Farrell talks about new avenues for investigation.

Alongside the physical symptoms of persistent pain, there often come years of frustration, fear of movement, conflicting advice, unsuccessful treatments and a growing loss of confidence in the body. For physiotherapists, helping people navigate that complexity can be one of the most challenging – and rewarding – areas of clinical practice.

PAIN EDUCATION The APA has recently made the Online Pain Education Network’s Clinical Pain Management Training Program a prerequisite for its foundation pain physiotherapy courses.