BEST SELLING AUTHOR, PHYSICAL THERAPIST, NUTRITIONIST, AND PAIN EDUCATOR
I believe pain care is about much more than treating a medical condition.
Dr. Tatta believes access to pain management is a fundamental human right. The knowledge to alleviate pain and distress should be accessible to all human beings, regardless of race, sex, nationality, ethnicity, language, religion, or any other status. The availability of this knowledge also extends to practitioners so they can effectively deliver care. Nothing short of a liberation movement, improved pain care calls for health equity, disability justice, and social justice. Therefore, pain management should be a front-and-center priority in our healthcare system.
About the Pain Liberation Movement
Pain liberation is a movement that challenges the traditional medical model and empowers people to control their health. The pain liberation movement is guided by a set of principles. These principles improve the lived experience for individuals and populations. Pain liberation happens when people understand the layered pain experience and are able to take action. Here are the guiding principles that shape how I practice and the work I lead.
Principles of Pain Liberation
1. Rights: Pain care is a fundamental human right inherent to all human beings, regardless of race, sex, nationality, ethnicity, language, religion, or any other status.
2. Access: All people should have the knowledge and skills necessary for adequate pain self-management. Access includes the availability of a skilled practitioner.
3. Respect: Through their life experiences, people learn the concept of pain. A person’s report of an experience as pain should be believed and respected.
4. Understanding: All health professionals understand pain as a multidimensional lived human experience that is unique to the individual.
5. Effectiveness: Pain care considers risk factors but ultimately focuses on promoting health, building resilience, and nurturing human growth.
4. Empowerment: People with pain are active partners in their care rather than passive recipients. As the primary agents of change, a practitioner’s job is to provide support and strategies that facilitate pain recovery.
6. Whole Person Health: The evaluation and treatment of pain considers the whole person. It goes beyond organs and body systems to look at ways to empower individuals and populations to improve their health through interconnected biological, behavioral, social, and environmental areas. It recognizes and addresses the impact of lifestyle, culture, trauma, stress, emotions, social roles, and other factors.
8. Collective Knowledge: All health professionals possess the knowledge and skills required to facilitate pain recovery. It includes understanding how biopsychosocial factors intersect with physical health, mental health, substance use, and pain recovery. All factors that influence health, wellness, and disease are taken into consideration, including mind, spirit, and community, as well as the body. Appropriate use of both conventional and alternative methods facilitates the body's innate healing response. This includes physical, integrative, lifestyle, mind-body, and traditional medical treatments..
9. Disability Justice: Pain recovery is part of the disability justice movement. It may include complete symptom reduction; however, the ultimate goal is to engage people in a process that empowers them to achieve wellness and community participation within and beyond the limits of disability. Justice resists ableism, a form of discrimination and social prejudice against people with disabilities.
10. Social Justice: We challenge the stigmatization and marginalization of people living with pain. It includes sociopolitical determinants such as poverty, discrimination, lack of healthcare access, education, social support, and other social inequities. These things affect people’s vulnerability to and capacity for effective pain recovery.
The pain liberation movement calls for a more compassionate and comprehensive understanding of the lived experience of pain. The pain liberation movement is underway and gaining more traction. People are ready and looking for an integrative, person-centered, whole health approach to pain care.
“I created and launched the Integrative Pain Science Institute because there is a profound need to reinvent pain care and reverse chronic disease.
For over 20 years I have helped thousands of patients relieve their pain by treating their body, mind, and spirit …and today I am dedicated to training healthcare practitioners in biopsychosocial skills of care, using lifestyle medicine, health behavior change, and digital therapeutics.
However, I also want to make learning these skills and concepts as simple as possible for practitioners. That’s why I have created a series of on-demand courses that are available 24/7.
You can take the entire curriculum and receive certification – or choose individual courses that meet your most immediate needs.
It is also my intention to provide practical guidance and mentorship that shows you how to implement this innovative model of care into your everyday practice. It’s actually much easier than you might think.
Lastly, I am committed to creating a vibrant online community where practitioners can receive all the support they need in one place from those who share a passion for learning this new paradigm in pain treatment.
I believe strongly that those who embrace this exciting new model of treatment will be in great demand, and will be recognized as industry leaders and innovators.
It’s my sincere hope that you’ll be one of them.”
Joe Tatta, PT, DPT, CNS – Bio
Dr. Joe Tatta is a global leader in integrative pain care and an advocate for the safe and effective treatment of chronic pain. He is the Founder of the Integrative Pain Science Institute, a cutting-edge health company reinventing pain care through evidence-based treatment, research, and professional development. For 25 years he has supported people living with pain and helped practitioners deliver more effective pain management. His research and career achievements include scalable practice models centered on lifestyle medicine, health behavior change, and digital therapeutics. He is a Doctor of Physical Therapy, a Board-Certified Nutrition Specialist, and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy trainer. Dr. Tatta is the author of two bestselling books Radical Relief and Heal Your Pain Now and host of The Healing Pain Podcast.
ACADEMIC QUALIFICATIONS
Doctor of Physical Therapy
Arcadia University
Glenside, Pennsylvania
Human Nutrition and Functional Medicine Graduate Education
University of Western States
Portland, Oregon
Bachelor of Science- Physical Therapy
State University of New York Health Science Center
New York, New York
LICENSURE AND CERTIFICATIONS
Licensed Doctor of Physical Therapy
Orthopedic Certified Specialist
American Board of Physical Therapy Specialties
Board-Certified Nutrition Specialist
Certified Mindfulness Meditation Instructor
PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIP
American Physical Therapy Association
New York Physical Therapy Association
Orthopedic Section American Physical Therapy Association
Private Practice Section American Physical Therapy Association
Pain Special Interest Group American Physical Therapy Association
International Association for the Study of Pain
Institute for Functional Medicine
Association for Contextual and Behavioral Science
Chair PT SIG Association for Contextual and Behavioral Science
Board for Certified Nutrition Specialists
CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS, LECTURES & WRITING
Tatta, J. (2019). Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Chronic Pain. Guest Speaker at the Medical School of South Carolina Doctor of Occupational Therapy and Doctor of Physical Therapy Programs.
Tatta, J. (2019). Nutrition + PT: A Winning Combo for Your Patients and Profits! Seminar presented at the Annual Conference of the Private Practice Section of the American Physical Therapy Association.
Tatta, J. (2019). Nutrition education and the hand therapist’s role. Seminar presented at the Annual Conference of the Association for American Society of Hand Therapists.
Tatta, J. (2019). How to Use Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) to inform hand therapists treatment of patients with chronic pain and disability. Seminar presented at the Annual Conference of the Association for American Society of Hand Therapist.
Tatta, J. (2018). PT + Nutrition: The Perfect Combo to Help You Stand Out. Seminar presented for the Annual Conference- National Student Conclave, American Physical Therapy Association.
Tatta, J. (2017). Nutrition Screening in Physical Therapy Practice. Virtual seminar training presented to the Private Practice Section of the American Physical Therapy Association.
Tatta, J. (2017). Nutrition Screening in Physical Therapy Practice. Seminar presented to the New York Physical Therapy Association chapter meeting.
Tatta, J. (2016). Nutritional Influences on Musculoskeletal Pain and Inflammation. Seminar presented for Annual Conference- PT Next Conference and Exposition, American Physical Therapy Association.
Tatta, J. (2016). How to Treat and Reverse Autoimmunity. Seminar Presented at the Annual Conference for the Integrative Women’s Health Institute.
Tatta, J. (2016). Heal Your Pain Now; The Revolutionary Program to Reset Your Brain and Body for a Pain-free Life. Boston, Massachusetts, Da Capo Press.
Tatta, J. (2014) Nutrition, Inflammation & Musculoskeletal Pain; Implications for the Physical Therapist. Doctoral thesis paper – doctoral program in physical therapy. Arcadia University
Tatta, J (1997) Functional outcomes after gastroc–soleus muscle injection with botulinum toxin A in children with cerebral palsy. Thesis paper bachelors of physical therapy. State University of New York Health Science Center.
The Integrative Pain Science Institute teaches a framework and technologies that address biopsychosocial factors, in addition to traditional biomedical aspects of pain care.
You can learn them right here online at your pace, and at your convenience – 24/7.
It is now widely accepted that lifestyle, cognition, movement, context, and social factors all influence the development and resolution of chronic pain. All these factors must be considered during treatment.
However, learning these skills doesn’t require you to participate in years of advanced continuing education.
Instead, you can learn the skills you need in a lot less time than you may think …all in one place.
The Integrative Pain Science Institute invites you to be part of a vibrant online community through which you can receive multidisciplinary training and certification.
You’ll learn from respected peer-level experts who make the science simple. They also provide practical insights on how to incorporate these innovative treatment principles into your practice.
