Airing Pain is the online radio programme and podcast from Pain Concern . Each edition we bring together people with chronic pain and top specialists to talk about resources that can help. You can listen to Airing Pain every Tuesday via Able Radio , with all episodes available on demand here and on our website . Or subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favourite podcast app to get the latest podcasts delivered straight to your mobile or tablet. We welcome feedback - rate on your device…
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'The last injury report by Save the Children stated 50,000 casualties in children from 2020 to 2025, and we think that's an underestimation…' Can mental and physical trauma in childhood lead to a lifetime of pain? ‘If you’re exposed to things like abuse, neglect and various household challenges, and external challenges like war and displacement, you might be more likely to develop poor health…’…
This episode is produced in partnership with the British Pain Society. The interview with Sam Hughes was recorded at their 2025 Annual Scientific Meeting. Can nature and mindfulness help pain? This episode of Airing Pain looks at the interplay between nature and mindfulness, and how they can become part of the pain management toolkit. Nature and neuroscience. Understand the science with Dr Sam…
This episode is produced in partnership with the British Pain Society. These interviews were recorded at their 2025 Annual Scientific Meeting. The 2026 Annual Scientific Meeting is just weeks away – register here . Amongst other things, here we tackle the taboo subject of acute period pain, highlight how changes in primary care are improving the pain management landscape, and discuss common…
‘if you’re treating people in pain, you’re treating autistic people in pain’ Do neurodivergent people experience pain differently? The simple answer – and the slightly more complicated one Why you, or your patients, aren’t recovering Building relationships across neurotypes Pain thresholds, pain anxiety, pain communication… With Dr David Moore, Reader in Pain Psychology at Liverpool John Moores…
This episode of Airing Pain explores how social factors impact the onset, experience and treatment of pain. …understanding how things like your thoughts, your fears, your social interactions influence your biology can be really, really powerful… …you're not just dealing with the pain, you're holding it in for everyone else… …we normalise, and even celebrate, different types of pain for different…
'Now I’m in control of the pain instead of the pain being in control of me' This episode explores the transformative impacts of pain education classes. Featuring excerpts from a live education session, here we look at how a brief, free course—delivered by trained volunteers with lived experience—is empowering people to navigate life with chronic pain. Listen to hear how patients are learning more…
Airing Pain #149: Why pain persists: from childhood trauma to faulty immunity This edition of Airing Pain looks at the research into why pain persists, how we can identify people at risk and whether we could prevent it happening. In this episode: How does acute short-term pain turn into chronic, persistent pain? Kathleen Sluka explains that people who experience psychological trauma at young ages…
Artist Jason Wilsher-Mills has lived with pain and chronic polyneuropathy since he was a child. In this interview he talks about his recent exhibition at the Wellcome Collection in London called "Jason and the Adventure of the 254"
"Susan Birth, Chief Executive of Ehlers-Danlos Support UK, explores the challenges faced by individuals with Ehlers-Danlos syndromes and hypermobility spectrum disorders, touching on symptom management, NHS navigation, and promising new research."
"Simon Harvey, General Manager of Able in South Wales, discusses supporting adults with learning disabilities, autism, and neurodivergent conditions. He reflects on the podcast's relevance for families and individuals, sharing personal insights about pain management and raising autistic children with ADHD."
Airing Pain 148: Links between hypermobility and neurodivergence Released on: 5/3/2025 This Airing Pain episode explores how neurodivergent individuals experience pain, potential links to hypermobility, and the need for better education to support conditions like autism and ADHD. Neurodiversity refers to the different ways a person’s brain processes information. It is an umbrella term used to…
This episode of Airing Pain focuses on person-centred care. Person-centred care is based on the individual rather than on a generic group of patients. In this episode: Vicky Sandy-Davis, Lead Nurse of Independent Health and Social Care, talks about the importance of recognizing the value of person-centred care, specifically for people with intellectual or learning disabilities Ian Taverner and…
Airing Pain 146: Irritable Bowel Syndrome & Inflammatory Bowel Disease This edition of Airing Pain focuses on two conditions affecting the gut: Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) and Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD). Both affect the digestive system, and both cause pain. In this episode we learn about what separates these outwardly similar sounding conditions, how they are diagnosed, and what…
Airing Pain 145 Rethinking Pain: Pain Management in the Community This edition of Airing Pain centres on rethinking the traditional clinician-patient relationship in pain management and exploring alternative approaches to bringing pain management back into the community. Dr Barbara Phipps, GP and Lifestyle Medicine expert, discusses the development and benefits of group consultations for pain…
Airing Pain 144: Dilemmas in Pain Research This episode of Airing Pain focuses on the challenges that researchers must overcome when researching pain and developing new treatment approaches. Many questions remain unanswered in the field of pain research. For example, we might know that a treatment works for some people living with pain, but we might not know how it works or why some people benefit…
This edition of Airing Pain focuses on the treatment of pain, the importance of catering treatment to a person’s individual genetic makeup, and why addressing the psychological dimensions of pain is crucial in treating it effectively. The process of finding a medication or treatment that works for a person often involves a lot of trial and error, which can be a frustrating process for someone to…
Pain Concern would like to remind listeners that the topic of chronic pain can be uncomfortable for those with lived experience of chronic pain. Please read the description for information about this edition's content. In a 2020 US study, it was found that ‘Implicit bias remains a contributor to healthcare disparities.’ This can be based on gender, ethnicity, disability or locality, and has the…
This edition of Airing Pain sheds light on the unique challenges of living with cancer as a child or young adult, and the later impacts of the cancer treatment they underwent during the critical formative years. Airing Pain speaks to experts on the longitudinal impacts of cancer for these age groups; across medical, physical, and psychosocial. Pain and fatigue are commonly reported as the most…
This edition of Airing Pain is on the topic of early childhood experiences. (Content warning: includes abuse, neglect, and household dysfunction) The World Health Organisation states that ‘adverse childhood experiences (ACE) can have lifelong consequences on a person’s health, and well-being, and can lead to a person developing persistent pain in later life’. A lot of this research is conducted in…
This edition of Airing Pain was recorded at the Living Well with Persistent Pain in Wales conference during Pain Awareness Month in September 2023. The topic of the conference was the launch of the revised Persistent Pain guidance first published in 2019. The COVID-19 pandemic has changed how we live and access services. How are healthcare professionals who treat patients with persistent pain…
Is self-compassion a trait or a state of being? This edition is inspired by findings that suggest stronger self-compassion is associated with reduced impact of chronic pain. Self-compassion, in this sense, is the ability to respond to pain and difficulties with kindness and openness rather than criticism. In this episode we ask our artistic contributors, and ourselves, how to step towards…
This edition of Airing Pain was prompted by the 2022 NICE Guidelines which followed a Public Health England report (2019) looking at medicines associated with dependence and withdrawal. Read transcript This new legislation follows increased concerns in high levels of prescribing. This edition discusses the challenges and opportunities of de-prescribing; and poses a shift in focus towards supported…
What’s around the corner? This edition of Airing Pain platforms four internationally recognised clinicians from the British Pain Society Annual Scientific Meeting Recently healthcare technology and innovation has seen a rapid acceleration, particularly following disruption caused by the Covid 19 pandemic. In this edition we look around the corner and examine the most current technological advances…
This edition of Airing Pain examines how Covid-19 has impacted on the relationship between patient and healthcare professional. In the two or so years of living with Covid-19, the face-to-face relationship between doctors and patients was one of the first casualties. With restrictions relaxed, have we returned to the status quo, or has what was developed at breakneck speed led to new working…
What is mental defeat and does it have an impact on the experiences of those living with pain? In this edition of Airing Pain , Paul Evans interviews the team at the Warwick Study of Mental Defeat in Chronic Pain (WITHIN Project) and research participants, as well as taking part in the study as a participant himself. The study, which runs until May 2023, is investigating how mental defeat can…
How the symptoms of long COVID are being managed using group consultations and the many things long COVID has in common with other long-term conditions. Now that COVID has become a part of our day-to-day lives, so too has long COVID. So, with so much money now being directed towards researching treatments for long COVID, how might this impact the way we treat all manner of chronic conditions? In…
How do you identify illness in young children and coping as a family. This Airing Pain was recorded at the Scottish Network for Arthritis in Children SNAC’s 2022 Family Weekend at Crieff Hydro , which brings together families recently affected by juvenile idiopathic arthritis and some of the country’s leading paediatric rheumatology experts. Issues covered in this programme include: juvenile…
What causes different types of face pain and what treatment is available? In this episode of Airing Pain we cover facial pain in its many forms, what treatments are available and how to cope better with your pain. Funded by The Hospital Saturday Fund . In collaboration with UCLH Royal National ENT & Eastman Dental Hospitals . The way our face feels and how we move it is a massive part of our…
Scotland’s Pain Management Programmes (PMPs) and what support is available after graduating. This edition of Airing Pain has been funded by a grant from the Health and Social Care Alliance Scotland Self Management Fund administered on behalf of the Scottish Government. What do you know about Pain Management Programmes (PMPs)? Do you know how they function? About the positive outcomes they have? Do…
Determining what Shingles really is and why vaccine uptake is so low? This edition of Airing Pain has been funded by a grant from The RS Macdonald Charitable Trust and The Stafford Trust What exactly is Shingles? We often hear it thrown into conversation alongside a virus many of us have already had: Chickenpox. So how are the two linked? Why is one more associated with young people and the other…
Looking into one of the most globally prevalent types of pain, back pain, and exploring different cultural attitudes towards pain. This edition of Airing Pain was created in association with the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) and has been funded by the Plum Trust. Back pain is one of the most common types of pain that people report. It can arise due to any number of…
This edition of Airing Pain has been funded by educational grants from The R. S. Macdonald Charitable Trust and The Stafford Trust. Do you, someone you care for or perhaps your patients, suffer from persistent burning or gnawing pain? Many don’t know that often, neuropathic pain presents as a burning sensation. Persistent pain can impact all areas of our lives. It can stop us from sleeping,…
This edition has been funded by the Women’s Fund for Scotland. The Coronavirus pandemic has been long and isolating for everyone, but particularly for those who experience abuse. The pandemic and subsequent lockdowns have seen an increase in the level and severity of domestic abuse. In this episode of Airing Pain , our host Paul Evans discusses the isolating effects of Covid-19, trauma and how…
This edition has been supported with a grant from Kyowa Kirin donated for this purpose. While opioids are seen as an effective treatment method for acute pain, there is an increasing debate on the efficacy of opioids when treating chronic pain conditions. One of the most common side effects of long-term opioid usage is constipation. Conditions like irritable bowel syndrome are more common in…
This edition has been supported by a grant from The Champ Trust and Foundation Scotland. According to the most recent Scottish Diabetes Survey in 2018, there are an estimated 304,000 people living with a diagnosis of diabetes in Scotland, around 5% of the population. A long-term effect of diabetes can be the development of diabetic neuropathy. This edition of Airing Pain focuses on neuropathic…
This edition has been supported by a grant from Kyowa Kirin. The opioid crisis reached its peak in the United States in 2017, where addiction and overprescription have led to 218,000 deaths from prescription overdoses between the years of 1999 and 2017. The side effects of opioids can affect the day-to-day activities of people managing long-term or chronic pain, yet society as a whole has yet to…
This editionhas been supported with a grant from The Mirianog Trust donated for this purpose. It was recorded at the end of April 2020, the second month of the UK’s Covid-19 lockdown. All interviews were recorded prior to the crisis. As research for a Covid-19 vaccine is a priority for the scientific community, this edition of Airing Pain focuses on the roles of researchers, and in particular the…
This edition has been partially funded by an educational grant from Grünenthal Limited, donated for this purpose. In April 2019, the Minister for Health and Social Services in Wales launched the guidance document Living with Persistent Pain in Wales . Later, in December, the Chronic Pain Policy Coalition brought together some of Wales’s leading pain experts at the home of the Welsh parliament (or…
This edition has been supported by a grant from The D’Oyly Carte Charitable Trust. Osteoporosis is a largely ignored condition that affects over 3 million people in the UK, with women being more at risk; a condition which, because the symptoms are difficult to notice by patients, is often referred to as the ‘silent disease’. In this edition of Airing Pain , we learn why prevention, assessment and…
This edition has been supported by a grant from the Plum Trust. In September, the British Pain Society’s special interest group on pain management programmes held their annual conference. A workshop entitled ‘Experts by Experience – working together in Pain Management Programmes’ was run in parallel to this. The symposium brought together patient-volunteers and healthcare professionals from four…
In this edition of Airing Pain , Paul Evans looks at the issues concerning pain amongst adolescents, including the impact on parents. First-off, Paul speaks to Dr Jeremy Gauntlet-Gilbert, principal clinical psychologist at the Bath Centre for Pain Services, to talk about the 'end of the road' residential pain management programme the Centre has for young people from across the UK who have not had…
This edition was facilitated by the British Pain Society and recorded at their Annual Scientific Meeting 2019. In this edition of Airing Pain , Paul Evans investigates the potential for patients to play an integral role in research, alongside the professionals. Through discussions with patients John and Mark both of whom are part of research groups, he sheds light on the importance of patients…
In this second instalment in a mini-series on neuropathic pain, Paul Evans delves into the latest scientific developments on the condition and the ways in which the gap between research and treatments could be bridged. Following on from Airing Pain 115 , which concentrated on targeted Pain Management Programmes, this edition discusses the ‘bio’ element on dealing with neuropathic pain. Speaking to…
In this edition of Airing Pain , Paul investigates the ideas behind Pain Management Programmes, and highlights the importance of the patient in shaping their own treatment. Internationally recognised Professor Srinivasa Raja speaks to Paul about the differences between nociceptive and neuropathic pain, as well as the complexities of chronic pain and its management. Consultant Clinical…
This edition of Airing Pain is funded by Foundation Scotland. On 1 April 2019 pregabalin and gabapentin, drugs recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) for the management of neuropathic pain, were re-classified as class-C controlled substances. This change means it is illegal to possess pregabalin and gabapentin without a prescription, and illegal to supply or…
This edition is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council. Chronic pain often exists ways that cannot be seen. Due to the intangible and ambiguous nature of many chronic pain conditions that lack clear-cut causes and treatment, patients feel frustrated when communicating with healthcare professionals, personal networks, and the public at large; they feel ‘invisible’. Lancaster…
This edition is funded by the Plum Foundation. In this edition of Airing Pain , returning contributor Mark Johnson, Director of the Centre for Pain Research at Leeds Beckett University, speaks to Paul about the experimental methods used in their lab to measure how pain is experienced. Professor Johnson emphasises the difficulty in communicating one’s pain, as it is entirely context driven and…
This edition is supported by friends of Pain Concern. Director of CSPC Physiotherapy in Leeds, Alison Rose, specialises in working with high-level athletes, particularly those with complex injury histories. Rose speaks to Paul about her experience with chronic pain as being subjective for both athletes and non-athletes, explaining it as a unique “puzzle” that needs to be put together to find the…
This edition is funded by the Agnes Hunter Trust. According to Cancer Research UK, 50% of all people in England and Wales diagnosed with cancer survive their disease for ten years or more. This edition of Airing Pain looks at what pain management entails for the other 50%; those that live with terminal cancer. Kate Grafton, Lecturer and Professional Lead for Physiotherapy at Leeds Beckett…
This edition has been supported by the Women’s Fund for Scotland. Fibromyalgia (FM) affects around 2% of the UK population, with 80-90% of those being women, and being a widely misunderstood condition its exact causes are unknown. Widespread pain is the major symptom; but people with FM may also experience fatigue, difficulty sleeping, memory problems ('fibro-fog'), muscle stiffness, and many…
