Pain News: Dr Tasha Stanton wins $2M research to study post-surgical knee pain - full interview

Yes! We are celebrating and highlighting the wins in pain research today as Laura Rathbone talks with Dr Tasha Stanton.

Assoc. Professor Tasha Stanton announced last month that her grant application for $2M had been approved and she will now begin a multi-centre research into post-total knee replacement persistent pain.

Dr Stanton is co-director of the IIMPACT group at the University of South Australia and leads the Persistent Pain Research Group at the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute.

Dr Stanton told us "This research will build off previous research that found patients who went on to have significant pain after surgery also showed disrupted body perception, as if they weren't accepting the new knee as their own. We want to test whether sensory-motor training paired with post-surgical rehabilitation is better than our current standard care."

Could integrating body perceptual work prevent people from progressing into post-surgical knee pain?

Dr Stanton also shared with us the struggles that come with the process of applying for large pain research grants "it takes months of work with collaborators and stake holders to get the application right."

She highlights the importance of co-production with patients and experienced clinicians who help to craft the best question that science needs to tackle to support improved pain care in the clinics.

With her background in Physiotherapy, she leads her team with her values for pain research dissemination and whole-person approaches to pain.

Watch the full interview here and let us know your thoughts in the comments