Prof Mick Thacker

Mick is a Professor of Pain, Physiotherapy and rehabilitation, his key interests are in Pain including its management, neuroscience and Philosophy. He is also interested in digital health and machine learning and modeling. Prof Thacker was awarded a Fellowship of the Chartered society of Physiotherapy in 2011 in recognition of his influence and work.  He has made an outstanding contribution to the development of the physiotherapy profession, notably in the field of neuroscience. His research and practice have integrated the complex issue of pain sciences into the management of people with painful conditions. The series of books Topical Issues in Pain by Mick Thacker and Louis Gifford, now standard texts for undergraduates, introduced many physiotherapists to the complex, and at the time radical, issues of neuroplastic change in chronic pain. Mick’s research led to many important discoveries, particularly in the development of neuropathic pain. He is the most important and influential figure in pain science in physiotherapy in the UK. His recent work on ‘movement as antigen’ is likely to take physiotherapy into deeper engagement with biopsychosocial practice. Mick has been instrumental in integrating neuroscience into physiotherapy practice. He played a significant role in the physiotherapy pain revolution and has become a world authority on pain mechanisms and their implications for patients. He has  held academic posts at Brunel University, St Georges Medical School, King’s College London, University of South Australia and London South Bank University.