EVENT: BACK PAIN

with Peter O'Sullivan

April 25, 2025 – April 26, 2025
April 25, 2025 – April 26, 2025

Back Pain

Timing: 9:30am -5:30pm each day

Back pain is the leading cause of disability. There is compelling evidence that people’s experience of back pain is influenced by a complex of bio-psycho-social factors. There are many unhelpful beliefs about back pain that lead people in pain to become fearful, distressed, protective and avoidant. It is critical that clinicians understand the factors that underpin a person’s back pain, and developing skills to identify and target them allows for effective management.

For people with persistent disabling back pain, clinicians should exclude serious pathology, identify the physical and psychological barriers to recovery, and direct treatment to those barriers.

Cognitive Functional Therapy was developed as a person-centred behavioural approach to individualize the management of disabling low back pain. This approach has evolved from an integration of foundational behavioural psychology and neuroscience within physical therapy practice. It is underpinned by a multidimensional clinical reasoning framework to identify the modifiable and nonmodifiable factors associated with an individual’s pain. It incorporates a person-centred approach to identify and target unhelpful cognitions, emotions, movement and lifestyle behaviours that drive pain and disability. The aim is to coach people with disabling back pain to effectively self-manage their condition. There is growing evidence for the efficacy of Cognitive Functional Therapy for long-term, large reductions in pain and disability in people with disabling low back pain.

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Who can attend?

Any clinician who works with people with low back pain.

During this two-day workshop, Peter will take you on a journey with real patients sharing their own path to recovery. You will visit the following destinations (areas you will understand better):

  • The lived experience of low back pain
  • How to identify specific pathology
  • The many factors that may be associated with back pain once serious pathology has been excluded.
  • The keys to effective person-centred communication
  • How to fine-tune your clinical interview to explore the person’s story, their beliefs, emotions and behavioural responses to pain
  • A contemporary approach to efficient physical examination (including the application of behavioural experiments)
  • Clinical reasoning framework
  • Cognitive Functional Therapy intervention
    • Making sense of pain – person centred understanding of pain and myth busting
    • Exposure with control – building confidence in movement
    • Lifestyle changes – healthy lifestyle
    • Coaching towards self-management including how to manage flareups
  • The current evidence for CFT and current and future challenges

Address: Surrey Memorial Hospital, Vancouver

The course will take place in the state-of-the art lecture theatre at Surrey Memorial Hospital (13750 96 Ave, Surrey BC V3V 1Z2)

The venue is an easy 35-40 minute commute by Skytrain from Vancouver and meter/day parking is available near the hospital.

The conference fee includes morning/afternoon tea/coffee breaks and your choice for boxed lunch with dietary options.


Clinical Sports Medicine (CSM) Course Cancellation Policy:

  1. Up to 21 days before the course date: CSM will refund the full course fee only if you have not accessed the online course content. If the online course content has been accessed, CAD$150 will be deducted from the course refund amount. Your registration may be transferred free of charge and subsequent changes incur an additional administrative fee of CAD$50.
  2. Eight to 20 days before the start of the course – CSM will refund 50% of your course fee if you have not accessed the online course content. If the online course content has been accessed, CAD$150 will be deducted from the reduced course refund amount. Your registration may be transferred for an administrative fee of CAD$200 and subsequent changes (regardless of days before the start of the course) incur an additional administrative fee of CAD$200.
  3. Within seven days of the start of the course – no refund.
  4. In the event of CSM having to cancel the course due to unforeseen circumstances, you will be notified and registrants will receive a full refund of the course fee.
  5. Course places are secured once payment has been successfully processed.

Back Pain

Timing: 9:30am -5:30pm each day

Back pain is the leading cause of disability. There is compelling evidence that people’s experience of back pain is influenced by a complex of bio-psycho-social factors. There are many unhelpful beliefs about back pain that lead people in pain to become fearful, distressed, protective and avoidant. It is critical that clinicians understand the factors that underpin a person’s back pain, and developing skills to identify and target them allows for effective management.

For people with persistent disabling back pain, clinicians should exclude serious pathology, identify the physical and psychological barriers to recovery, and direct treatment to those barriers.

Cognitive Functional Therapy was developed as a person-centred behavioural approach to individualize the management of disabling low back pain. This approach has evolved from an integration of foundational behavioural psychology and neuroscience within physical therapy practice. It is underpinned by a multidimensional clinical reasoning framework to identify the modifiable and nonmodifiable factors associated with an individual’s pain. It incorporates a person-centred approach to identify and target unhelpful cognitions, emotions, movement and lifestyle behaviours that drive pain and disability. The aim is to coach people with disabling back pain to effectively self-manage their condition. There is growing evidence for the efficacy of Cognitive Functional Therapy for long-term, large reductions in pain and disability in people with disabling low back pain.


Ask a question

Please enable JavaScript in your browser to complete this form.


Clinical Sports Medicine (CSM) Course Cancellation Policy:

  1. Up to 21 days before the course date: CSM will refund the full course fee only if you have not accessed the online course content. If the online course content has been accessed, CAD$150 will be deducted from the course refund amount. Your registration may be transferred free of charge and subsequent changes incur an additional administrative fee of CAD$50.
  2. Eight to 20 days before the start of the course – CSM will refund 50% of your course fee if you have not accessed the online course content. If the online course content has been accessed, CAD$150 will be deducted from the reduced course refund amount. Your registration may be transferred for an administrative fee of CAD$200 and subsequent changes (regardless of days before the start of the course) incur an additional administrative fee of CAD$200.
  3. Within seven days of the start of the course – no refund.
  4. In the event of CSM having to cancel the course due to unforeseen circumstances, you will be notified and registrants will receive a full refund of the course fee.
  5. Course places are secured once payment has been successfully processed.

Prof Peter O’Sullivan DipPhysio(Otago), PGradDipMTh, PhD(Curtin), FACP

Peter is a John Curtin Distinguished Professor at the School of Allied Health Sciences at Curtin University and a Specialist Musculoskeletal Physiotherapist where he holds a 0.5 FTE position. He is internationally recognised as a leading clinician, researcher and educator in musculoskeletal pain disorders. With his team, he has developed a novel management approach for people disabling low back pain – called ‘cognitive functional therapy’. This treatment has demonstrated efficacy in numerous clinical trials, including a recent landmark trial published in The Lancet. With his team he has published more than 345 scientific papers, written numerous book chapters and has been keynote speaker at over 120 national and international conferences. Peter also teaches on the Masters of Physiotherapy program and presents Masterclasses in the Graduate Physiotherapy program. Peter also consults at bodylogic.physio where he reviews disabling musculoskeletal pain disorders.

Peter’s passion is to bridge the gap between research and practice – in order to empower researchers, educators and clinicians in the provision of person-centred care to people in pain.

25+

Years of Experience

150+

Conference Keynote Speaker

345+

Research Papers