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About Pain Geeks

Our Why

Reading and learning about pain is complex. It challenges our assumptions. It pushes us beyond protocols and tick-boxes. And let’s be honest, it can sometimes feel lonely. 

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But learning doesn’t have to be something we do in isolation, not as clinicians, and not for our patients.

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Pain Geeks is about coming together to share knowledge, wrestle with tough questions, and grow alongside people who get it. We are here to spark curiosity, build compassionate connections, and stay open to the edges of science and the heart of humanity.

Meet the Team behind Pain Geeks!

Laura Rathbone

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Laura is a clinician, coach, and educator dedicated to sharing the science and philosophy of pain with anyone willing to dive in, from clinicians, patients, and curious minds alike.

Originally trained as a journalist, Laura brings a storyteller’s heart to her work. She later trained as a physiotherapist and completed her MSc in Advanced Neuromusculoskeletal Physiotherapy at King’s College London, where she fell in love with the complexity (and beauty) of pain.

Today, Laura coaches people living with pain, mentors clinicians around the world, teaches on integrated approaches to rehabilitation, and guest lectures at universities in the UK and the Netherlands.

📎 Learn more: www.laurarathbone.com
📸 Instagram: @laura.painspecialist

Christine Petrides

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Christine joined Pain Geeks in May 2021, bringing with her a thoughtful, curious, and wonderfully honest approach to learning. A physiotherapist since 2016, Christine has spent years navigating the ups, downs, and sideways turns of understanding pain and working out her place in this ever-evolving landscape.

She’s known for her willingness to sit with the uncomfortable questions, for stretching her thinking, and for embracing the messiness of learning.

In 2024, Christine moved to Cyprus to reconnect with her roots and now continues her clinical work there.

 

 

📎 Learn more: www.thoughtfulphysio.com
📸 Instagram: @thoughtfulphysio

"Because reading and learning about pain is hard. And doing it alone is even harder."

About Pain Geeks

That’s where Pain Geeks began, from a simple idea: what if we made learning about pain a little easier, and a whole lot more fun?
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On New Year’s Day 2021, somewhere between the embers of celebration and the spark of resolution, Laura set herself a challenge: to share her reading and connect people to both the classical texts and the weird, wonderful corners of emerging pain science.
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What started as a personal project quickly grew into a small, vibrant community of curious, motivated clinicians hungry to read beyond the boundaries, from pain science to philosophy, from the clinic to the humanities.


As the months rolled on, Christine joined Laura, bringing her curiosity, creativity, and knack for thoughtful reflection. Together, they redesigned Pain Geeks into what it is today: a place where community, curiosity, and flexible thinking come together to expand how we understand, and care for, people in pain.

The Origin Story:
From “Roadies” to Pain Geeks

No surprises here, Laura and Christine met as volunteers at a prominent pain course in Amsterdam.
While setting tables for the 200 clinicians attending the course, they struck up a friendship over their shared love of pain science, their frustrations with the current model of care, and their lives, both living abroad in the Netherlands.

A tumbler of wine later, and the rest is history…

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