Professor Lorimer Moseley 

Administrative Officer (Research): Tracy Jones +61 8 8302 2454
Works - Monday, Thursday & Friday

Lorimer is a clinical and research physiotherapist. He completed his PhD in 2002. He is the only physiotherapist to have been appointed Nuffield Medical Research Fellow at Oxford University, UK (2005-2008). He returned to Australia to take up an NHMRC SRF (2009-13) at Neuroscience Research Australia (NeuRA) and was appointed Professor of Clinical Neurosciences & UniSA's inaugural Chair in Physiotherapy in 2011.

Lorimer finds the human to be very interesting and is chuffed that he is able to spend his working life trying to understand the human a bit better. His research group, situated at two sites - UniSA and Neuroscience Research Australia in Sydney, investigates the role of the brain and mind in chronic pain. Pain is a huge problem - it affects 20% of the population and costs western societies about as much as diabetes and cancer combined. His research group does experiments in humans - both healthy volunteers and people in pain, and clinical intervention studies and clinical trials of treatments for defined chronic pain conditions.

In 2007, Lorimer was judged by the International Association for the Study of Pain to be the outstanding mid-career clinical scientist working in a pain-related field (Ulf Lindblom Award). This is the most prestigious pain-related mid-career award. In 2012, he was shortlisted for the Science Minister's Prize for Life Sciences and won the NHMRC Warren & Marshall Award for the Best innovative and potentially transformative project, of 3800 proposals submitted. He has given over 50 keynote talks at major international meetings including the World Congress of Physical Therapy, the European and American Pain Meetings, and at national meetings in 26 countries. He has written 3 books including Explain Pain (coauthored with David Butler), which has been translated into 4 languages, and he has authored 120 scholarly works. His H-index is 29. He has gained over AU$6.5 million in Category 1 funding.

His work has been discussed in popular media in Europe, Nth America & Australia, including appearances on ABC, BBC, CBC (Canada), NBC (USA), Dutch, Irish, Italian and German radio and over 100 interviews with general science or lay press in 14 countries (eg Science, Scientific American, New Scientist). He has reviewed 150 manuscripts (mean ISI IF= 5.5), and reviews project grants for Australian, British, Spanish, German, Dutch & Italian national research councils. He is Associate Editor for Pain (ISI IF=5.4), European Journal of Pain (IF=3.6) & British Journal of Sports Medicine (IF=2.5). He is International advisor for Manual Therapy (IF=2). He has productive collaborations with researchers in Italy, the Netherlands, Germany & the UK.

Lorimer's research group runs a blog called BodyinMind.org. BiM pushes cutting edge clinical pain science research to over 3500 Facebook followers twice a week, and receives 15000 unique visitors from over 100 countries every month. According to the KLOUT score, BiM is the most influential blog/social media presence in the clinical pain sciences.

Lorimer supervises PhD students at UniSA and his group regularly hosts post-doctoral fellows for 1 - 3 years. Interested scholars and fellows should contact Tracy Jones (tracy.jones@unisa.edu.au) two years ahead of time.

Body In Mind

• Pain Sciences
  Lorimer gives lectures on pain sciences to undergraduate and post-graduate courses

Australian Physiotherapy Association

Association for Psychological Science

American College of Rheumatology

International Association for the Study of Pain

Australian Pain Society

B.App.Sc (Phty) (Hons), The University of Sydney, 1991

Ph.D. (Medicine), The University of Sydney, 2002

Recent Publications (last 5 years)

Catley, MJ., Tabor, A., Wand, BM., Moseley, GL. (2013) Assessing tactile acuity in rheumatology and musculoskeletal medicine - how reliable are two-point discrimination tests at the neck, hand, back and foot? Rheumatology. (accepted for publication)

Walz, AD., Usichenko, T., Moseley, GL., Lotze, M. (2013) Graded Motor Imagery and the Impact on Pain Processing in a Casd of CRPS. The Clinical Journal of Pain: 29(3): 276-279.

Stanton, RT., Lin, CWC., Bray, H., Smeets, R JEM., Taylor, D., Law, RYW., Moseley, GL. (2013) Tactile acuity is disrupted in osteoarthritis but is unrelated to disruptions in motor imagery performance. Rheumatology (available online, DOI: 10.1093/rheumatology/ket139).

Bowering, KJ, O'Connell, NE, Tabor, A, Catley, MJ, Leake, HB, Moseley, GL, Stanton, TR. (2013) The effects of graded motor imagery and its components on chronic pain: a systematic review and meta analysis. The Journal of Pain, 14(1): 3-13.

Wallwork, SB., Butler, DS., Fulton, I., Stewart, H., Darmawan, I., Moseley, GL. (2013) Left/right neck rotation judgments are affected by age, gender, handedness and image rotation. Manual Therapy, 18: 225-230.

Gallagher, L., McAuley, J., Moseley, GL. (2013) A randomised controlled trial of using a book of metaphors to reconceptualise pain and decrease catastrophising in people with chronic pain. Clinical Journal of Pain, 29(1): 20-25.

O’Connell, N., Wand, B., Bunce, D., Maskill, D., Marston, L., Cossar, J., DeSouza, L., Moseley, GL. (2013) Transcranial direct current stimulation of the motor cortex in the treatment of chronic non-specific low back pain. A randomised, double-blind exploratory study. Clinical Journal of Pain, 29(1): 26-34.

Mohan, R., Jensen, KB., Petkova, VI., Dey, A., Barnsley, N., Ingvar, M., McAuley, J., Moseley, GL., & Ehrsson, HH. (2012) No pain relief with the rubber hand illusion. PLOS One, 7(12): e52400.

Moseley, GL., Gallace, A., Iannetti, GD. (2012) Spatially-defined modulation of skin temperature and hand ownership of both hands, in people with unilateral complex regional pain syndrome. Brain, 135: 3676-3686.

O'Connell, NE., Cossar, J., Marston, L., Wand, BM., Bunce, D., Moseley, GL., De Souza, LH. (2012) Rethinking Cinical Trials of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation: Participant and Assessor Blinding Is Inadequate at Intensities of 2mA. PLOS One, 7(10): e47514.

Stanton, TR., Lin, C-W C., Smeets, RJEM., Taylor, D., Law, R., Moseley, GL. (2012) Spatially defined distruption of motor imagery performance in people with osteoarthritis. Rheumatology, 51: 1455-1464.

Sambo, CF, Torta, DM, Gallace, A, Liang, M, Moseley, GL, Iannetti, GD. (2012) The temporal order judgement of tactile and nociceptive stimuli is impaired by crossing the hands over the body midline. Pain, In Press (date of acceptance, 18 October 2012)

Parkitny, L., McCauley, JH., Di Pietro, F., Stanton, TR., O'Connell, NE., Marinus, J., Van Hilten, JJ., Moseley, GL. (2012) Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) and persistent inflammation? A systematic review and meta-analysis. Neurology, In press (date of acceptance, 10 August 2012)

Auld, ML, Boyd, RN, Moseley, GL, Ware, RS, Johnston, LM. (2012) Impact of tactile dysfunction on upper-limb motor performance in children with unilateral cerebral palsy. Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, 93: 696-702.

Johnson, S., Hall, J., Barnett, S., Draper, M., Derbyshire, G., Haynes, L., Rooney, C., Cameron, H., Moseley, GL., de C williams, AC., McCabe, C., Goebel, A. (2012) Using graded motor imagery for complex regional pain syndrome in clinical practice: Failure to improve prian. European Journal of Pain, 16: 550-561.

Moseley, GL. (2012) Teaching people about pain: why do we keep beating around the bush? Pain Management, 2(1): 1-3.

Dey, A., Barnsley, N., Mohan, R., McCormick, M., McAuley, J., Moseley, GL. (2012) Are children who play a sport or musical instrument better at motor imagery than children who do not? British Journal of Sports Medicine, 46: 923-926.

Moseley, GL., Flor, H. (2012) Targeting cortical representations in the treatment of chronic pain: A review. Neurorehabilitation and Neural Repair, 26(6): 646-652.

Auld, ML., Ware, RS., Boyd, RN., Moseley, GL., Johnston, LM. (2012) Reproductivity of tactile assessments for children with unilateral cerebral palsy. Physical & Occupational Therapy in Pediatrics, 32(2): 151-166.

Thacker, MA., Moseley, GL. (2012) First-person neuroscience and the understanding of pain. The Medical Journal of Australia, 196(6): 410-411.

Moseley, GL., Gallagher, L., Gallace, A. (2012) Neglect-like tactile dysfunction in chronic back pain. Neurology, 79(4): 327-332.

Giummarra, MJ., Moseley, GL. (2011) Phantom limb pain and bodily awareness: current concepts and future directions. Current Opinion in Anaesthesiology, 24(5): 524-531.

Moseley, GL. (2011) Pain while you are out of your body - a new appraoch to pain relief? European Journal of Pain, 15: 773-774.

O'Connell, NE., Wand, BM., McAuley, J., Marston, L., Moseley, GL. (2011) Interventions for treating pain and disability in adults with complex regional pain syndrome. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 11, Art No: CD009416.

Moseley, GL. (2011) A new direction fo the fear avoidance model? Pain, 152(11): 2447-8.

Barnsley, N., McAuley, J., Mohan, R., Dey, A., Thomas, P., Moseley, GL. (2011) The rubber hand illusion increases histamine reactivity in the real arm. Current Biology, In press(date of acceptance 21 October 2011)

Wand, BM., Tulloch, VM.,George, PJ., Smith, AJ., Goucke, MB., O'Connell, NE., Moseley, GL. (2012) Seeing it helps: movement-related back pain is reduced by visualisation of the back during movement. Clinical Journal of Pain, 28(7): 602-608.

Parkitny, L, McAuley, JH, Walton, D, Pena Costa, LO, Refshauge, KM, Wand, BM, Di Pietro, F, Moseley, GL. (2012) Rasch analysis supports the use of the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scales to measur emood in groups but not in individuals with chronic low back pain. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, In press (date of acceptance 23 May 2011).

Moseley GL, Gallace A, Spence C. (2012) Bodily illusions in health and disease: physiological and clinical perspectives and the concept of a cortical body matrix. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 36(1): 34-46.

Moseley, GL. (2011) Swapping bodies in the brain. Current Biology, 21(15): R583-R585.

Marinus, J., Moseley GL., Birklein, F., Baron, R., Maihofner, C., Kingery, WS. and van Hilten, JJ (2011) Clinical features and pathophysiology of complex regional pain syndrome - current state of the art. Lancet Neurology, 10: 637-648.

Walsh, LD., Moseley, GL., Taylor, JL., Gandevia SC. (2011) Proprioceptive signals contribute to the sense of body ownership. Journal of Physiology, 589(Pt12): 3009-21.

Munts, AG., Mugge, W., Meurs, TS., Schouten, AC., Marinus, J., Moseley, GL., van der Helm, F CT., van Hilten, JJ. (2011) Fixed Dystonia in Complex Regional Pain Syndrome: a Descriptive and Computational Modeling Approach. BMC Neurology, 11:53.

Auld, MA., Boyd, RN., Moseley, GL., Johnston, LM. (2011) Tactile assessment in children with cerebral palsy: a clinimetric review. Physical and Occupational Therapy in Pediatrics, 31(4): 413-39

Gallace, A, Torta DME, Moseley, GL, Iannetti, GD. (2011) The analegesic effect of crossing the arms. Pain, 152(6): 1418-1423.

Rijn, MA, marinus, J, Putter, H, Bosselaar, S, Moseley, GL, van Hilten, JJ. (2011) Spreading of complex regional pain syndrome: not a random process. Journal of Neural Transmission, 118: 1301-1309.

Auld, M, Boyd, R, Moseley, GL, Johnston, L. (2011) Seeing the gaps: a systematic review of visual perception tools for children with hemiplegia. Disability and Rehabilitation, 33(19-20): 1854-65.

MacDonald, D, Moseley, GL & Hodges, PW. (2010) People with recurrent LBP respond differently to trunk loading despite remission from symptoms. Spine, 35(7): 818-824.

Moseley, GL, Thacker, M & Flor, H. (2010) Enhancing the Neurologist’s Role in CRPS. Annals of Neurology, 67(3): 414.

Luomajoki, H & Moseley, GL (2010) Tactile acuity and lumbopelvic motor control in patients with back pain and healthy controls. British Journal of Sports Medicine, [epub 10.1136/bjsm.2009.060731.

Bray, H & Moseley, GL. (2009) Disrupted working body schema of the trunk in people with back pain. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 45(3): 168-173* This was the focus of popular media articles in Germany, Netherlands & the UK.

Moseley, GL & Barnett, C (2009) Motor imagery after flexor tendon repair. Archives of physical medicine and rehabilitation, 90(8): 1443.

Moseley, GL & Wiech, K. (2009) The effect of tactile discrimination training is enhanced when patients watch the reflected image of their unaffected limb during training. Pain, 144(3): 314-9.

MacDonald, D, Moseley, GL & Hodges, PW. (2009) Why do some patients keep hurting their back? Evidence of ongoing back muscle dysfunction during remission from recurrent back pain. Pain, 142(3): 183-188.

Moseley, GL, Birklein, F, van Hilten, J & Marinus, H. (2009) Reply to Hall et al. Arthritis Care & Research, 61(1): 140-141.

Claus, A, Hides, J, Moseley, GL & Hodges, PW. (2009) Different ways to balance the spine: subtle changes in sagittal spinal curves affect regional muscle activity. Spine, 34(6): 208-214.

Moseley, GL, Gallace, A & Spence C (2009) Space-based, but not arm-based, shift in tactile processing in complex regional pain syndrome and its relationship to cooling of the affected limb. Brain, 132: 3142-3151.

Thacker, M, Moseley, GL & Flor, H. (2009) More than pills for neuropathic pain. British Medical Journal, 339: 3502

Moseley, GL. (2009) British Pain Society manoeuvres, Why the desperation? British Medical Journal, 339: 3345.

Moseley, GL & Brugger, P. (2009) The interdependence of movement and anatomy persists when amputees learn a physiologically impossible movement of their phantom limb. Proceedings National Academy of Sciences USA (track 2 – direct submission), 106(4): 18798-18802 *This paper was discussed as a highlight in Neuroscience/Psychology in Nature 462(5), 15 and generated over 40 interviews from USA, Canada, Europe & Australia, including NewScientist, ABC News.

Claus A, Hides J, Moseley GL, Hodges P., (2009) Is ‘ideal’ sitting posture real? Measurement of spinal curves in four sitting postures. Manual Therapy, 14(4): 404-408.

Van Damme, S, Gallace, A, Spence, C, Crombez, G & Moseley, GL. (2009) Does the sight of physical threat induce a tactile processing bias? Modality-specific attentional facilitation induced by viewing threatening pictures. Brain Research, 1253: 100-106.

Moseley, GL. (2008) Pain, brain imaging and physiotherapy -opportunity is knocking. Manual Therapy 13(6) 475-77.

Moseley, GL, Gallace, A & Spence, C. (2008) Topical Review: Mirror Therapy: Is it all it is cracked up to be? Pain, 138(1) 7-10.

Moseley, GL, Parsons, T & Spence, CJ (2008) Visual distortion modulates pain and swelling evoked by movement. Current Biology, 18(22): R1047-1048 *This paper generated over 30 interviews and gained popular and lay scientific coverage in Europe, North America and Australia.

Moseley, GL (2008) I can’t find it! Distorted body image and tactile dysfunction in patients with back pain. Pain, 140(1) 239-243.

Moseley, GL, Olthof, N, Wijers, M, Venema, A, Don, S, Gallace, A & Spence, CJ (2008) Psychologically induced cooling of a specific body-part caused by the illusory ownership of an artificial counterpart. Proceedings National Academy of Sciences USA (track 2), 105,35 13169-73 *This paper generated over 50 interviews and gained popular and lay scientific coverage in Europe, North America, Asia & Australia.

Moseley, GL (2008) Reconceptualising placebo. British Medical Journal, 336:1086.

Moseley, GL, Zalucki, N, Weich, K (2008) Tactile discrimination, but not tactile stimulation alone, reduces chronic limb pain. Pain, 137(3): 600-608.

Moseley, GL, Zalucki, N, Birklein, F, Marinus, J, van Hilten, J, Luomajoki, H (2008) Thinking about movement hurts. Evidence that motor imagery increases pain and swelling in people with chronic upper limb pain. Arthritis Care & Research, 59(5): 623-31.

Simmonds, MJ, Moseley, GL & Vlaeyen, J. (2007) Editorial: Pain, mind and movement: An expanded, updated and integrated conceptualisation. Clinical Journal of Pain Special, Issue 24(4): 279-8.

Moseley, GL. (2007) Conceptualising pain according to its underlying biology. Physical Therapy Reviews, 12: 169-178.

Lotze, M & Moseley, GL. (2007) Distorted body image and pain. Current Rheumatology Reports 9 488-96 * selected by American Academy of Pain Management as 2007 Research Highlight.

Acerra, NE, Souvlis, T & Moseley, GL (2007) Stroke, complex regional pain syndrome and phantom limb pain: Can commonalities direct future management? Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine, 39 (2) 109-14.

Moseley, GL & Arntz, A (2007) The context of a noxious stimulus affects the pain it evokes. Pain, 133(1-3): 64-71.

Kramer, HH, Seddigh, S, Moseley, GL & Birklein, F (2007) Dysynchiria is not a common feature of neuropathic pain. European Journal of Pain, 12(1): 128-31.

Claus, A, Hides, J, Moseley, GL & Hodges, P (2007) Sitting versus standing: Does the intradiscal pressure cause disc degeneration or low back pain? Journal of Electromyography and Kinesiology, 18(4) 550-58.

Moseley, GL (2007) Using visual illusion to reduce at-level neuropathic pain in paraplegia. Pain, 130: 294-8.

McCormack, K, Hudson, M, Zalucki, N, Moseley, GL (2007) Does faulty proprioceptive information disrupt motor imagery? Australian Journal of Physiotherapy, 53: 41-5.

Moseley, GL. (2007) Painful yarns. Metaphors and stories to explain the biology of pain. Dancing Giraffe Press, Canberra, Australia.

Butler, DS & Moseley, GL. (2007) Explicando el Dolor (Spanish translation of Explain Pain). NOI group publications, Adelaide, Australia. (126pp).

Keefe, FJ & Moseley, GL. Chronic pain. In: Brain Neuroimaging of Behavioral Disorders. Sweet & Sohen Editors. ****

Jones, LS & Moseley, GL. (2007) Pain, pain measurement and management. In Kumar, S (Ed.) Ergonomics for rehabilitation professionals. Taylor & Francis Group – CRC Press.

I am able to provide media comment in the following areas of expertise:

Discipline:

• Pain