After eight years of clinical practice in sports physiotherapy and pain management, Lorimer undertook his PhD at the University of Sydney. After a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Queensland, he was appointed Nuffield Medical Research Fellow in the Department of Physiology, Anatomy & Genetics and the Oxford Centre for fMRI of the Brain, at the University of Oxford, UK. There he investigated the role of the brain and mind in chronic pain disorders and their treatment.
In 2011, he was appointed Professor of Clinical Neurosciences and Foundation Chair in Physiotherapy at the University of South Australia, where he leads the Body in Mind Research Group. He is at the leading edge internationally in pain theory, research and practice. He has delivered keynote lectures at over 60 major international conferences in 30 countries and public lectures to over 25,000 people across Australia, North America and Europe. His public outreach articles and videos have been read or viewed over 2 million times across 114 countries. He has written 260 scientific articles, five books and numerous book chapters on pain and rehabilitation. Treatments he developed are now cited in clinical guidelines internationally and his contributions to the field have been recognised with honours on every continent. His prizes include the National Health & Medical Research Council Marshall and Warren Award for Innovation and Potential Transformation, and the International Association for the Study of Pain Award for Outstanding Clinical Science in a Pain-related Field.
In 2014 he was made an Honoured Member of the Australian Physiotherapy Association - its highest honour. This year he is leading 25 cyclists on the inaugural Pain Revolution Rural Outreach Tour from Melbourne to Adelaide, delivering public and professional engagements en route, to raise funds for chronic pain education in the Bush.
