MedHealth and IPAR collaborate on studies published in leading journals

MELBOURNE – MedHealth’s Research Hub, together with the IPAR pain management team, has contributed to two recently published journal papers in global journal Frontiers in Pain Research, both exploring innovations in pain science and management. One paper is specific to pain science education for the Defence and Veteran community in Australia.

CEO of MedHealth, Tim Morphy said the journal articles show MedHealth’s commitment to collaboration across industry and research, and strong focus on supporting the Defence and Veteran community with innovative rehabilitation and recovery solutions.

“The MedHealth Research Hub aligns our innovative services with critical thinking and an evidence-base – and that’s exactly what we see with these two papers.

“With both papers published in leading journals, one takes a macro look at how pain education has developed and explores its next evolution.

“The other takes a look at pain science education specific to the Veteran population, exploring how innovations such as virtual reality can be used to support better outcomes for Veterans,” he said.

Published in March 2025 by the University of South Australia research team, with contributions from Aaron Bowes of IPAR (part of MedHealth), the acceptability, feasibility and usability of virtual reality-based pain science education for Veterans experiencing persistent pain was explored.

The findings included:

• Veterans and health professionals rated the program highly for usability and acceptability
• The immersive format of virtual reality made complex pain concepts easier to understand and engage with
• The program was accessible for people with different physical abilities, including those with no familiarity with virtual reality headsets

The other must-read paper was published in May 2025, and was authored by Professor Lorimer Moseley and colleagues, including MedHealth’s Dr Dianne Sheppard who is also affiliated with Monash University. It traces the evolution of pain education and where it needs to go next.

Morphy said, “Our research hub brings together our day-to-day innovation with services such as Re-thinking Recovery virtual reality-based pain education, with the rigour and evidence-base of peer-reviewed studies.

“These studies both contribute to overall industry progression while also assuring the people we support with recovery and wellness, that there is a strong evidence-base for how we work with them to achieve better outcomes.”

The published articles are:

• Mardon AK, Wilson D, Leake HB, Harvie D, Andrade A, Chalmers KJ, Bowes A, Moseley GL. The acceptability, feasibility, and usability of a virtual reality pain education and rehabilitation program for Veterans: a mixed-methods study. Frontiers in Pain Research (Lausanne). 2025; 20(6):1535915. doi: 10.3389/fpain.2025.1535915.You can read the full paper to dive deeper into the insights from Veterans and clinicians via pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40182802/
• Moseley GL, Mardon A, Watson J, Braithwaite F, Wilson MV, Barker T, Lawrence J, Sheppard D, Reneman MF, Stinson J, Ryan CG. From didactic explanations to co-design, sequential art and embodied learning: challenges, criticisms and future directions of patient pain education. Frontiers in Pain Research (Lausanne). 2025;9(6:1536112). doi: 10.3389/fpain.2025.1536112. PMID: 40417376; PMCID: PMC12098622.You can read in full via frontiersin.org/journals/pain-research/articles/10.3389/fpain.2025.1535915/full

About MedHealth Research

Our Research Hub provides the foundation for innovation and excellence at MedHealth.

At the heart of MedHealth’s Research Hub is our ongoing collaboration with Monash and other universities, including Curtin University in Perth WA. Qualified researchers work with MedHealth to drive our Research Hub and establish critical external research collaborations, bringing in subject matter expertise where required.

If you want to know more or explore new ideas and collaborations, you can contact us at research@medhealth.com.au

About IPAR

IPAR is a national workplace rehabilitation services provider. Our work helps people to be safe and productive at work, and in the case of injury or illness, it assists people to recover at work, and to return to health, wellbeing and meaningful employment.

IPAR is proud to partner with Invictus Australia  to further support the health and wellbeing of Veterans and their families.

About Re-thinking Recovery

Re-thinking Recovery is an evidence-based service for people living with persistent pain, delivered by IPAR Pain Coaches and utilises modern pain science education, pain coaching and virtual reality  to help clients re-think pain and retrain their overprotective pain system. It is delivered in metropolitan and regional locations across Australia that are convenient for the person we are supporting.

You can read more at ipar.com.au/re-thinking-recovery