Established in 1990, the Pain Management Research Institute (PMRI) is joint initiative between the Specialty of Pain Medicine at the University of Sydney and Royal North Shore Hospital.
We form a division of the Kolling Institute of Medical Research and are recognised by the NSW Ministry of Health as the lead centre for pain research and education in NSW.
Our multidisciplinary research, teaching and clinical activities aim to improve the treatment of all forms of severe pain by:
Pain is as an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage.
When pain is brief or short-term, it acts as a warning for the body to seek help. However, when pain never goes away, becomes severe and persists month after month despite the causes being treated, it can go on to cause severe physical and psychological problems.
An estimated 1 in 5 Australians suffer from chronic pain, locking many patients in to a cycle of pills, depression and bed rest.
The total associated cost of lost workdays and healthcare adds up to over $34 billion per year, making it one of Australia's most costly healthcare problems.
Usually, but not always, of short duration eg. after surgery, injury, burns or other short-term episodes.
Acute pain can affect the heart, lungs, and other key body systems and can be life threatening. Research at the PMRI aims to improve the treatment of acute pain to prevent life threatening risks, and is developing methods to detect those at risk of progressing from acute pain to severe persistent pain.
Chronic pain describes any type of pain that continually persists for more than 3 months, despite attempts to diagnose and treat an underlying cause.
There are over 300 conditions that may lead to persistent pain, such as "shingles", amputation, severe burns, spinal cord injury, low back or neck injury, surgery of various types, hernia repairs and many other causes.
Evidence from the PMRI and other international groups such as Harvard University, show that without relief, persistent pain can go on to cause severe physical and psychological problems and can sometimes lead to suicide.
In these cases, the pain itself becomes the problem and is recognised as a disease. This is the major theme of PMRI’s basic and clinical research program.
Many different problems in patients with cancer can cause severe pain. Some cancer pain is acute and some is persistent.
There have been improvements in the treatment of cancer pain, however too many adults and children continue to suffer severe unrelieved cancer pain, especially if nerve damage has occurred.
We bring together basic, clinical and translational researchers to run a number of major research programs investigating mechanisms and treatment of severe persistent pain problems.
Research is conducted within a biopsychosocial framework and includes the study of basic pain mechanisms and the development and evaluation of innovative multidisciplinary treatments.
Research developments are quickly translated into our web-based educational programs in pain management, which are offered at a diploma and masters degree level through the University of Sydney.
Our basic laboratories include the Cognitive and Behavioural Research Laboratory, Cellular Physiology of Pain Research Laboratory, Pain Management Human Studies Group and the Spinal Cord Injury Pain Clinical Research Laboratory.
Located on Level 13 of the Kolling Building at Royal North Shore Hospital, our basic research facilities include:
This is the largest and most comprehensive normative data set published to date in pain literature.
It is used to determine the characteristics of different samples for comparison with age, sex, and site-based norms.
The main body pain sites included are:
Access the Motor Accident Authority Report (pdf, 271.4kb) for the full dataset.
The WISE study evaluated the implementation of an early risk screening and psychosocial management intervention instituted for employees with acute soft tissue injuries within a large hospital network in Australia.
The protocol demonstrated great value for the employer (the NSW State Health Department) with savings to date that have amounted to 22 % for the high-risk intervention group over the similar control group, and mean lost work days of 30 vs 64, respectively, over the year following injury.
The intervention is now being implemented as standard practice for all public hospitals in that state. In addition, planning is underway to change the guidelines covering the early management of injured workers generally across the state.
Clinical Professor Chris Vaughan
Head of Cellular Physiology of Pain Laboratory
Principal Hospital Scientist, Royal North Shore Hospital
Clinical Professor, The University of Sydney
Dr Karin Aubrey
Head of Neurobiology of Pain Laboratory
Senior Hospital Scientist and Senior Research Fellow, Northern Clinical School, The University of Sydney
Professor Paul Glare
Chair in Pain Medicine, The University of Sydney
Director, Pain Management Research Institute, The University of Sydney, Royal North Shore Hospital
Professor Michael Nicholas
Director, Pain Education and Pain Management Programs, Pain Management Research Institute, The University of Sydney
Michael J Cousins Pain Management and Research Centre, Royal North Shore Hospital
Associate Professor Paul Wrigley
Head Sensory-Neurophysiology Research Laboratory, Staff Pain Specialist, Royal North Shore Hospital
Conjoint Associate Professor, Northern Clinical School, The University of Sydney
Ms Linda Critchley
Coordinator of Clinical Research
Our postgraduate courses are offered in conjuction with Sydney Medical School's Specialty of Pain Medicine, designed to explore the problem of pain in the community and the role of health professionals in managing and treating a range of pain conditions.
We also offer non-award units of study and run professional development events and short courses for health professionals interested in developing their knowledge further in the field of pain management.
The clinical activities of PMRI staff now provide over 40,000 episodes of patient care each year. We work in close collaboration with the Michael J Cousins Pain Management & Research Centre (PMRC), to treat patients with acute pain, cancer pain, and chronic non-cancer pain with referral from either GP or treating specialists.
The activities of the PMRC include:
If you have acute, chronic or cancer pain and would like to make an appointment you first need to: