Pain Specialists Australia

Pain Specialists Australia Pain is the centre of our world because we know it's the centre of yours. We're a pain control clinic staffed by specialists & leaders in pain management.

12/08/2026

Up to 40% of AFL footballers have been screened positive for hip dysplasia. Many dancers show the same finding.

For years the theory was simple: low hip coverage gives you more flexibility, so you gravitate toward dance.

New longitudinal data from the Netherlands - tracking more than 30,000 children from age 7 through adolescence - is flipping that theory. Some children with no signs of hip dysplasia at age 7 develop it by age 14.

The joint may be shaped by the sport, not the other way around.

Melbourne hip surgeon Mr Jit Balakumar explains why this matters for growing athletes - and what parents and coaches should know.

👇 Full episode linked in the first comment, below.

MEDICAL DISCLAIMER: This content is for general educational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Every child and athlete is different. Please consult a qualified healthcare professional for advice on your specific situation.

30/07/2026

An AFL footballer's dad walked into a hip surgeon's room and said one thing: "I don't want him to have surgery."

His own surgery had ruined his football career. Now his son had a similar condition. And he had seen enough.

Sometimes the parent knows something the medical system doesn't.

Melbourne hip surgeon Mr Jit Balakumar shares a moment that changed how he thinks about talking to families about surgical decisions.

👇 Full episode also linked below.

MEDICAL DISCLAIMER: This content is for general educational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Hip pain has many causes, and every patient is different. Please consult a qualified healthcare professional for advice on your specific situation.

30/07/2026

"What's wrong with you? Everything's normal. Why aren't you getting better?"

If you have hypermobility, you have probably heard those words -- from doctors, from friends, from family.

Melbourne hip surgeon Mr Jit Balakumar speaks openly about what it's like to live with a condition the world does not recognise -- because he has hypermobility himself.

Sometimes the most helpful thing a clinician can do is validate what you already know: your pain is real.

👇 Full episode also linked below.

MEDICAL DISCLAIMER: This content is for general educational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Hypermobility varies significantly from person to person. Please consult a qualified healthcare professional for advice on your specific situation.

22/07/2026

"Your MRI says FAI. But do you actually have it?"

Melbourne hip surgeon Mr Jit Balakumar shares something patients rarely hear — a cam shape on an MRI is not the same as femoroacetabular impingement (FAI).

In this clip from The Pain Diaries Podcast, Jit explains the difference between hip morphology (the shape of the hip) and FAI pathology (which requires the imaging findings to fit the patient's symptoms, history and clinical examination).

If an MRI report has left you more anxious than clear about your hip pain, this one is for you.

👇 Watch the full 60-second clip and Episode 1 — links in the first comment.

MEDICAL DISCLAIMER: This content is for general educational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Hip pain has many causes, and every patient is different. Please consult a qualified healthcare professional for advice on your specific situation.

If you've been told your pain is "just something you'll have to live with", please don't stop looking.Chronic pain can b...
18/07/2026

If you've been told your pain is "just something you'll have to live with", please don't stop looking.

Chronic pain can be exhausting. Especially when you've tried medication, injections, or even surgery, and things haven't fully settled.

One of the treatments we use at Pain Specialists Australia is called radiofrequency ablation. It's a group of minimally invasive procedures that work on the nerves carrying your pain signal, rather than the structure on your scan. That's why they can sometimes help even when your scan looks unremarkable.

There are two main types, and they're genuinely different:
🔹 Radiofrequency neurotomy (RFN), uses gentle heat to interrupt small pain-carrying nerves. Often used for back, neck, sacroiliac and knee pain.
🔹 Pulsed radiofrequency (PRF), uses gentle pulses to calm an irritated nerve without damaging it. Often used for facial pain, headaches, groin pain after surgery, complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS), pain after spinal surgery (persistent spinal pain syndrome (PSPS), previously called FBSS and certain types of nerve pain down the arms or legs.

They use the same machine, but do very different things, and choosing the right one starts with a clear diagnosis.

We've put together a full explainer for anyone who wants to understand more about how this works, whether it might help, and what to expect.

📖 Read the full explainer: https://painspecialistsaustralia.com.au/radiofrequency-ablation

Your pain matters. And sometimes it's worth taking another look.

15/07/2026

Should doctors be treating your X-ray, or treating you?

Melbourne hip surgeon Mr Jit Balakumar shares something most patients never hear from their treating team — severe radiographic hip dysplasia does not always mean surgery is the answer.

In this clip from The Pain Diaries Podcast, he explains why fear of missing something has driven unnecessary hip surgery for years — and why the best outcomes come from treating the patient, not the picture.

If you have been told your hip scans "look bad" but you have no symptoms, this one is for you.

👇 Watch the clip — link in the first comment. Full episode also linked below.

MEDICAL DISCLAIMER: This content is for general educational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Hip pain has many causes, and every patient is different. Please consult a qualified healthcare professional for advice on your specific situation.

PS. there are more episodes with Jit coming soon - pain after hip replacement and EDS and hip pain.

30/06/2026

Your pain injection didn't work?

Before you write off injections entirely, consider this.

If you scan 100 random people off the street, over 50% will show some form of pathology on their scan. Most of them have no pain at all.

So when a practitioner reads your MRI, makes a diagnosis from the scan alone, and injects based on that — they may be treating the wrong thing entirely.

The most common reason a pain injection doesn't work isn't the injection itself.

It's the wrong diagnosis.

The key is correlating the scan with a proper clinical examination. That's usually the difference between an injection that works and one that doesn't.

I break this down in 60 seconds 👇

29/06/2026

How long is too long to wait for spine nerve decompression surgery?

There is a window. Published evidence shows that delaying nerve decompression beyond 6 months from the onset of nerve pain leads to poorer outcomes. The nerve starts to change. It develops what surgeons call a "memory," and once that sets in, neuropathic symptoms are more likely to persist even after surgery.

But go too early and you take on surgical risk you may not need.

Dr Nick Christelis, specialist pain medicine physician (FFPMANZCA) and host of The Pain Diaries Podcast, speaks with A/Prof Aaron Buckland, Melbourne orthopaedic spine surgeon trained at NYU Langone, about the timing dilemma every patient with nerve pain should understand.

25/06/2026

Your knee replacement was "perfect."
The X-ray looks great. Your surgeon is happy. So why does it still hurt?
If your knee still aches, burns, or keeps you awake at night long after a technically successful replacement, here is something important: you are not imagining it.
Up to 1 in 5 people have ongoing pain after a knee replacement. A perfect scan does not rule it out, because sometimes the problem is not the joint at all. It can be the nerves around the knee, or a nervous system that has stayed on high alert long after the surgery healed.
That is a diagnosis, not bad luck. And it changes what you can do about it.
Dr Nick Christelis explains what may really be driving the pain, and why "the hardware looks fine" is not the end of the story.
Full episode linked in the comments.

Address

Level 4, 600 Victoria Street
Richmond, VIC
3121

Opening Hours

Monday 8:30am - 5pm
Tuesday 8:30am - 5pm
Wednesday 8:30am - 5pm
Thursday 8:30am - 5pm
Friday 8:30am - 5pm

Telephone

+611300798682

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