“We have to stop doing the same old thing for pain and start to consider the right treatment at the right time for the right patient.” That was the take home message from Annie O’Conner, co-author of A World of Hurt: A Guide to Classifying Pain, during National University’s Student American Chiropractic Association (SACA) program on March 25 on the Lombard, Ill., campus.

O’Conner, Corporate Director of the Musculoskeletal Practice and Clinical Manager of the River Forest Spine and Sport Center at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, addressed pain mechanism classifications during her presentation.

O’Conner lectures nationally and internationally on musculoskeletal pain classification and intervention, neurodynamic evaluation and treatment, mechanical diagnosis and therapy of spine and extremities, kinetic chain evaluation, and functional manual therapy and exercise prescription. The book, co-authored with Melissa C. Kolski, presents an interpretation of the nature of musculoskeletal pain. It describes a classification system for assessment and treatment of musculoskeletal pain with emphasis on patient education and active exercise.