Associate Professor David Butler ‘Explaining Pain’

Episode 361 of The Physical Performance Show is an Expert Edition featuring David Butler.

David Butler has been a pivotal Physiotherapist figure in the field of pain management since the mid-1980s, with a career spanning clinical practice, research, and education. As the director of the Neuro Orthopedic Institute (NOI), David leads numerous biopsychosocially-based seminars worldwide, educating both practitioners and patients about pain.

David is the author of several key publications:

• “Mobilisation of the Nervous System“
• “The Sensitive Nervous System“
• “Explain Pain” first published in 2013 and revised the same year
• “Graded Motor Imagery Handbook“
• “The Explain Pain Handbook: Protectometer“
• “Explain Pain Supercharged“
• “The Knee Osteoarthritis Handbook“

An honoured member of the Australian Physiotherapy Association and an adjunct associate professor at the University of South Australia, David has educated over 50,000 health practitioners globally through NOI and his comprehensive materials.

In this episode, David delves into the intricacies of pain, discussing its mechanisms, significance, and impact on our health and well-being.

Listen in as we delve into the following:

• Concept of Pain
• The threat value of pain
• Dims and Sims definition
• Neuro Tags
• Clever talking therapies
• David’s explanation to his patients when performing manual therapy
• Difference between Pain Receptors and Danger Perceptors
• Top Tip
• Physical Challenge

Quotes

“Context is critical”
“Body construction – The body and the brain all sort of one”
“Dims stands for Danger in Me”
“Sims stands for Safety in Me”
“Motion is lotion”
“Neuro tags – it’s essentially a term used to cover processing which occurs in the brain”

Pain Treatment Themes:

• Pain doesn’t necessarily reflect tissue damage
• Many things can create pain
• Many things can help my pain state
• Treatment, it’s better active rather than passive
• Pain can change

3 Levers:

• Increase knowledge
• Moving and loading
• Reset the protection meter

“There are no pain endings and there are no pain pathways”
“Top Tip: Lift expectations of outcome”

To Follow

Linkedin: @David Butler
Insta: @noigroup
Website: @noigroup

Timeline

00:00 Start
01:40 Welcome David
03:30 Concept of Pain
10:45 The threat value of pain
24:10 Dims and Sims definition
31:00 Neuro Tags
40:10 Clever talking therapies
47:20 David’s explanation to his patients when performing manual therapy
54:05 Difference between Pain Receptors and Danger Perceptors
57:30 Top Tip
59:00 Physical Challenge
1:05:19 Finish

Resources:

EP3 Melbourne 2025 Conference (28-30 March)

People Mentioned:

Lorimer Moseley – Professor of Clinical Neurosciences and Foundation Chair in Physiotherapy at the University of South Australia

For questions and comments about this Episode Send to the Show Host @Brad_Beer (Twitter) or @brad_beer(Instagram)