This is a high level course on Pain Science, teaching the neuroscience of chronic pain and how diet and lifestyle pushes our chemistry towards a pro-inflammatory dominance that drives chronic inflammatory diseases such as chronic pain.

• What is the "Neuro-immune system"?

• What are the Immune cells and thier mediators?

• What is the effect of various cytokines, lipid mediators, and growth factors on nociplastic pain?

• What happens when the "endogenous resolution system" fails?

• How do specialized pro-resolving mediators work to resolve neuroinflammation?

• What are the effects of neuroinflammation when it crosses the Blood Brain Barrier?

• What is the difference between symptomatic vs. asymptomatic disc degeneration?

• How can we shift our chemistry towards pro-resolution?

• And SO MUCH MORE.....

This course is divided into 5 Modules and over 6 hours of content.

• Module 1:Covers basic neuroanatomy of nociception along with the neurophysiological changes that lead to central sensitization. We recap the basics of the sensory system, discuss the descending inhibitory pathways, and discuss peripheral and central sensitization.

• Module 2:Dives in to the meat of the course as we cover the neuro-immune system. Here we will teach students about the neuroimmunology of chronic pain, including the immune cells and mediators that either drive ongoing nociception or lead to resolution. We discuss the importance of a balanced and regulated immune system in order to resolve inflammatory issues. You will learn about the "endogenous resolution system"and how immune cell polarization shifts the balance towards pro-resolution in a regulated immune system.

• Module 3:This module breaks down lumbar discogenic pain and how chemistry determines symptomatic vs. asymptomatic disc degeneration, symptom severity, and why some patients resolve completely while others develop chronic pain.

• Module 4:Finally, we dive in to the evolutionary origin of our chemistry and how our modern lifestyles are in conflict with the chemistry that drives our homeostatic mechanisms. This leads to many "mismatch diseases"like osteoarthritis, heart disease, diabetes, and chronic pain.

• Module 5:The final module will recap and summarize all that we've learned in the course.