This November, I was fortunate to be invited to be a science correspondent at EP3 in Melbourne and hear David Butler, Lorimer Moseley, and Peter O’Sullivan speak about their experiences studying, treating, and teaching about pain. More than that, they told stories.

We are always looking for stories. Stories for our lives, for our work, for our future, for our past. These stories construct our identity, and they change, sometimes very slowly with much force and resistance, and sometimes so quickly and effortlessly that we wonder how the story could have ever been anything but what it is now. Change drives new stories, and stagnation cements them by retelling them over and over so that they become true.

“Patients are calling for story. If all they have is the negative story, that’s what they run with. Changing the way we talk about pain and disability is a very direct way…