Dr Joshua Pate

Targeted pain science education for children and families: practical conversations for paediatric podiatry

Pain in children is rarely only a matter of tissue, load, or growth. It is also shaped by beliefs, emotions, family responses, previous healthcare experiences, and the meaning children attach to movement. For paediatric podiatrists, this creates both a challenge and an opportunity: how can we assess and explain pain in ways that are accurate, efficient, reassuring, and useful in everyday practice?

This keynote will explore practical approaches to communication and targeted pain science education for children and families. It will introduce the Concept of Pain Inventory (COPI) as one way to identify what a child or parent already believes about pain, then use that information to guide clearer, more personalised conversations. The session will also consider strengths-based communication, nocebo-aware language, and ways to support children’s confidence, participation, and return to valued activities.

The emphasis will be practical throughout: fewer generic explanations, more targeted questions, and better clinical conversations that help families leave with understanding, confidence, and a plan.
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Dr Joshua Pate

Dr Joshua W. Pate, PhD, is a Senior Lecturer in Physiotherapy at UTS and a Senior Physiotherapist. His research and teaching focus on the way we understand pain, beginning with children but applicable across the lifespan. Josh is fascinated by how reconceptualising pain according to the latest science may change the way pain is treated. As part of his PhD, he developed the Concept of Pain Inventory (COPI), and he is now working on developing and testing educational resources, particularly in schools. Josh has given a TEDx Talk and has worked with TED-Ed to make two online animations with millions of views. He has also co-founded a pain science interview platform, One Thing, and is the author of five children’s books about pain, Zoe and Zak’s Pain Hacks Books 1–5 with Noigroup, as well as a preschooler series about school readiness, Twirl Tries It All, with Ready Set Dance. Josh dreams of generational conceptual and behavioural change regarding the complexity of pain.