Tag: healthcare

Yoga and Science in Pain Care

by Jody, posted in painscience, science

How might we blend yoga with science to provide pain care to people? A new book just released provides a way forward.

“Our vision is for this book to improve care for people living in pain, whether acute or chronic pain. We believe health care professionals and yoga therapists can enhance care through deeper understanding of pain, science and evidence-informed interventions. We also believe that professionals can enhance their work through integrating yoga concepts, practices and philosophies. As such, this book is meant to bridge yoga, pain science and evidence-informed rehabilitation … and will inform those committed to helping people with this largely undertreated issue that causes so much suffering in the world.” –  Preface, Yoga and Science in Pain Care; Edited by Neil Pearson, Shelly Prosko, Marlysa Sullivan

The first chapter by Joletta Belton is about the “Lived Experience of Pain” highlighting to me the need to listen to, acknowledge and consider first, the person and their experience.

“The authors provide an integrated, in-depth understanding of how yoga therapy can be incorporated within a modern understanding of pain as an experience. The book encompasses perspectives from people living with pain, summarises research progress in the field, debates theories of pain and pain management, considers the many different yoga practices, describes pain biology, self-regulation and examines breath, body awareness, nutrition, emotions and response to pain, and above all, integrates concern for practitioners and people in pain as humans sharing an intangible experience together. The authors write about how yoga therapy can provide a uniting and compassionate approach to helping people learn to live well.”

– Bronwyn Lennox Thompson, PhD, MSc, DipOT, Postgraduate Academic Programme Leader, Pain and Pain Management, Orthopaedic Surgery and Musculoskeletal Medicine, University of Otago, Christchurch, NZ

There are a lot of yoga books on shelves these days. Yoga for this, yoga for that. You name it; it’s being written about. The trouble with this and certainly when talking about pain is the approach is about the condition, the problem, the illness or disease. What’s often left out is the person. Which may be one of the reasons why we fail in helping people.

After all, your pain is not the same as my pain. Not only is the physical aspect different, my body different, my genetics, my structure. Almost more important is the rest of ‘me’ that’s different from ‘you’.

My life history is different from yours. My environment is different from yours. My stressors are probably not your stressors. My understanding of pain probably differs from yours. My expectations, beliefs and thoughts about my pain will be different from yours. My social structures, friends, family, work-life will all be different. So how might we believe we can just apply this ‘fix’ to everyone who experiences pain? It just doesn’t make sense, when you think about it. Particularly when we understand that pain… is… complex.

We, therefore, should look to explore and be curious about all the things that might be contributing to your particular experience of pain. Similarly, individualize the care, tools, techniques and practices with what research tells us might be useful, to change your pain.

You may have had pain for years. Like 30+ years or more. Still, there is an opportunity for change based on what we know about pain and how it works. There is much still to learn but we can change the nervous system, We can change the brain. We can change physiology and most likely all three of these have been changed if your pain has been ongoing.

Pain can change. There is hope. I will keep saying this over and over and over again …

If you’re the type that likes read and learn about this yourself, order a copy of the book, here.

If you’re the type that would like to learn from me in person or in a class setting with others, check out my updated schedule for the fall, here. New classes starting in September!

Additional notes:

Joletta Belton, as noted above, writes a blog “My Cuppa Joe” about the lived experience of pain. Among other things, she is a speaker, educator and advocate for people in pain. You can read her blog, here.

Bronwyn Lennox Thompson also writes a blog “Healthskills: For health professionals supporting chronic pain self management.” An exceptional resource for information, research, and discussion. You can check it out here.

Yoga Classes for Pain Care

by Jody, posted in how to begin, training

My desire for this update is that in some way it might inspire, be of benefit and most importantly, bring hope to you or someone you know who lives with chronic pain.

Approximately 1 in 5 people in Canada suffer from chronic pain, with costs to the Canadian healthcare system between $47 billion and $60 billion a year – more than HIV, cancer and heart disease combined. One might say that my desire, my passion, is in helping people who feel stuck, in despair and without hope in terms of their lived, unique, experience of chronic or persistent pain.

About 5 years ago, I started studying pain. What pain is (or is not), what might contribute to it and what the current evidence and research tells us. My interest began as a result of my own experience with chronic pain, which dates back a few years prior. Well, actually it began about 2010 or 2011, so almost 9 years ago now. 

A year ago I decided to undertake training Neil Pearson offered to various regulated health professionals (doctors, physios, massage therapists, etc.) and yoga teachers, combining pain neuroscience education along with yoga practices and philosophy. The first workshop of the certification process he offered in Ottawa last year, happened to be part of the first module in a certified yoga therapy training program, also here in Ottawa (I subsequently applied to this program as well, and will start the second year of the 2-year IAYT Certified program next week).

Fast forward one year and I’m now certified to teach Pain Care Yoga classes!

WHY DOES THIS MATTER?

Neil trains both medical professionals and others in non-pharmacological pain care in the hopes of bringing knowledge, expertise and evidence-based practices into local communities. He is a physical therapist, a Clinical Assistant Professor at University British Columbia, and a yoga therapist. He has been a consultant with Doctors of British Columbia since 2013, to develop and implement clinical pain management continuing education. He is past Director of Pain BC, and the founding Chair of the Canadian Physiotherapy Pain Science Division.

His goal is “to help people living in pain and to assist others with the same desire to serve. We must shift many paradigms. Our views of pain, the people in pain, and the role and effectiveness of non-pharmacological pain care are mostly outdated.”  

My goal is to help serve this purpose as well, by bringing Pain Care Yoga to local communities.

The good news about pain is that it can be modulated, there is hope, and as Professor Lorimer Moseley (probably the most cited pain researcher globally, based in Australia) now says “recovery is back on the table”.  We know enough now about chronic pain that we can change lives.

In small group classes (or individual sessions), I hope to play my small part towards helping some of the 20% of our population in Canada who live with persistent pain.

Each time I meet with someone, listen to their experience, offer current explanations about pain, help them learn to move in safety with more awareness, attention and ease, it is clear to me WHY THIS MATTERS.

My classes start mid-April in Stittsville, with private sessions also available.

If you’d like details about my Pain Care Yoga Classes click here, or for more information or to register, contact me here.

If you know others who might be interested, please feel free to share this with them, by clicking on any of the share buttons below.

Yes, we are connected

by Jody, posted in tools - movement, training

skeletons

Though I’ve been focusing on the feet these last few weeks, if you’re having problems with your feet you may also want to make some other connections. Yes, similar to what we’ve been exploring there are things you can do physically that will help. But our feet are connected to our leg bones, our leg bones are connected to our hip joint. Our hips are connected to our spine and further it goes, up the whole body.

We tend to look where pain expresses itself… and think we will find the solution there.

Some people may have knee problems and look to ‘fix’ the knee when really what’s happening (or not happening) is at the hips or at the feet. Or elsewhere.

Imagine you have a cast on your ankle and how it might feel when you walk. How your body might compensate. You may end up with a sore back or shoulder muscles as you try to move as best you can with a stiff, unable to bend, ankle. We’re not usually walking around with a cast on, but many people don’t really use a lot of their ankle flexion for a whole host of reasons. Shoes, patterns of movement, previous injury, etc. Pain may be expressed in your back or shoulders when what’s really going on is down at your feet.

People will often say, “yes but I had an x-ray or ultrasound and they found this (insert condition here) is wrong with my feet”. Yes, I’ve been there too. Diagnosed with chronic plantar fasciitis in both feet, osteoarthritis in both big toes. Basically, I was told to wear rocker shoes, orthotics, and live with it.

Orthotics absolutely serve a purpose in many cases but I’m not sure of any other body part we are willing to cast or brace for a lifetime. We might need a collar brace, but not forever. We may need to wear a special boot to help with a foot injury or after surgery. The point is we work hard, physiotherapists and others work hard with us, to remove these external or artificial supports. Our feet and some orthotics, in my opinion, should be no different.

After my own diagnosis and subsequently learning that our body will most often adapt to what’s asked of it, I figured there must be another way. I have put some effort and focus on my feet in many of the ways shown last month but what was happening in my hips (lack of strength and stability) also played a part.

There are often many pieces to the puzzle of long-term, persistent or chronic pain.

For instance, why was it my feet didn’t always hurt? Why only sometimes? Some days?

Paying close attention I came to notice that when under stress, under too much ‘load’, my pain was likely to arise or increase.  If I was out enjoying myself, not a care in the world, doing something fun or even necessary perhaps, I didn’t seem to have pain. But at other times, it most definitely kicked in.

The biggest a-ha for me now is to realize that structural degeneration or tissue damage is likely to show up for me and everyone else at some point (Note: Brinjijki et al 2014 study as shown in the table below). Particularly by the time you’re my age (56). I need not ‘fear’ this, or fear making things worse, but rather utilize all the things I know I can do, that might help with the pain I sometimes experience in my feet.

  • Strengthening
  • Stretching
  • Keeping my feet soft, supple, agile
  • Adding load, good stress, to keep the bones healthy
  • Wearing appropriate footwear; allowing for space, mobility, flexibility
  • Keeping my overall ‘weight’ in a manageable range
  • Knowing that my levels of stress, fatigue, diet and a range of other factors may also play a part.

degenerative spine issues

In the month of November, we’ll explore our HIPS (Yes, I switched my focus this month from shoulders to hips. We’ll get to shoulders in December). This is where load and/or gravitational forces are primarily distributed through the body so how well we manage this, matters.

Along the way, I’ll throw in a few morsels about chronic pain that might help you make sense of your own personal experience with persistent pain in the hips, or elsewhere.

I hope you’ll join me.

 

Great programs but why the disconnect?

by Jody, posted in exercise

disconnectAfter receiving basic information about the University of Ottawa Heart Institute’s Heart Wise Exercise program, presented at my yoga therapy training, I wanted to go back to learn more so paid them a visit earlier this week. Theirs is a program that helps to connect patients who have been through initial rehab programs after diagnosis, illness, surgery from heart disease, to community-based exercise programs and fitness professionals. It served primarily Ottawa but over the years has expanded in/around Ontario and a little into Quebec.

I mentioned a program in Alberta that I’d found on the internet a year or so ago. In Alberta the Prescription to Get Active Program allows you to visit your doctor, receive a ‘prescription to get active’ and then find a facility in your community offering all kinds of activities from walking, strength training, yoga, cycling, swimming, dancing, etc. The ‘prescription’ allows for free access (often a series like a 10-pass visit, free month, etc.) to get you started.

I often reference the excellent program the province of BC provides to health care providers and those living with chronic pain. The Pain BC program is one of the of the best (well, the only one of its kind I know of) in Canada in terms of information, resources and programs.

It’s too bad all these programs are rather piecemeal and for the most part unknown across Canada, rather than being coordinated. I give great credit to the people and work done to provide them.  It’s just our government or overriding systems that seem to be unable to provide the coordination, or funding or whatever might be needed so everyone can access them.

Regardless, for my Canadian friends and followers, feel free to check them out!

Links above, but for easy reference click on any of these links:

That never-ending pain in the a**

by Jody, posted in news

hip-painfulI originally posted this on the Yoga and Movement Research Community Facebook group earlier in the week and then realized I should probably do so for my own readers.

Hip pain, SI joint pain, osteoarthritis of the hip, scoliosis, etc. often come up for discussion as a topic of pain and injury and there’s new research that may be helpful to others experiencing these conditions or symptoms.

“Gluteal tendinopathy, often referred to as greater trochanteric bursitis or greater trochanteric pain syndrome, has a prevalence of 10-25% and is experienced by one in four women aged over 50 years. The disorder presents as pain and tenderness over the greater trochanter and often interferes with sleep and physical function. The level of disability and quality of life is equivalent to that of severe hip osteoarthritis, and effective management strategies are required.”

I’ve just been listening to a podcast, which led me to the guest’s (Tom Goom, physiotherapist) blog post, which led me to a new (May 2018) study he references, which then led me to some other information about hormones.

First, I find it interesting, that gluteal tendinopathy has commonly been misdiagnosed.

“GT typically presents as pain over the greater trochanter (the bony lump felt at the side of your hip). Symptoms may spread into the outside of the thigh and knee. It is commonly misdiagnosed as hip joint pathology, ITBS, sciatica or as being referred from the lumbar spine. GT is a good example of how clinical knowledge has progressed in recent years. Initially it was thought of as inflammation of the trochanteric bursa – a fluid filled sac that sits over the trochanter. However as research developed we realised 2 rather important things. The bursa may not be the issue and there isn’t really any inflammation. Later the condition was termed Greater Trochanteric Pain Syndrome (GTPS) but further research has enabled us to be more specific with the diagnosis. Bird et al. (2001) examined MRI findings of patients with GTPS, they found that nearly all patients had evidence of Gluteus Medius Tendinopathy. Swelling of the bursa was present in just 8% of cases and did not occur in the absence of gluteal tendinopathy.

The primary pathology of Gluteal Tendinopathy is most likely an insertional tendinopathy of the Gluteus Medius and/ or Gluteus Minimus tendons and enlargement of the associated bursa.”

Second, a study published in the BMJ (May 2010) shows its both education AND exercise which results in greater improvement at both 8 and 52 weeks (as compared to corticosteroid injections or ‘wait and see’ approach) in Gluteal tendinopathy. Again, how education is an important piece of the pain puzzle. Most often people experiencing pain do better with both education and movement, according to current research.

Third, right at the end of the podcast, Tom briefly mentions how hormones may play at part. Interesting again, as this is very common presentation for women who would be experiencing menopause. As noted above, 1 in 4 women over the age of 50 (myself included 🙂 )

In this systematic review and meta-analysis of 102 studies, published in the British Medical Bulletin, Jan 2016 they conclude “the role of hormones in tendinopathies is still controversial.”

However,

“The continuous modulation of female sex hormones during the menstrual cycle affects the composition of tendon collagen, because the connective tissues express receptors for both estrogen and progesterone. This leads to a clinically relevant condition in relation to physical training and musculoskeletal performance of female athletes.” 

Key points for me through all this is that education is a key component so “the patient” has some control. Our current systems typically leave out self-efficacy or agency of a person and rather encourages a dependence, passivity and ‘have someone else fix it’ situation. Knowing you have some understanding and influence over your health rather than the usual doubt, uncertainty and fear can go a long way.  Though this does involve engagement, commitment and doing the work.

On the topic of hormones, well let’s hope that future researchers will see the need to account for such differences rather than using only males for most health-related studies. I understand it’s difficult to do given the cyclic nature, but surely it makes a difference.

If you’re interested in this, suffer from on-going pain in your a**, or are curious about how hormones may play a part I encourage you to read further. Or, you can always comment below to discuss.

  1. Running Physio blog post: New study is a LEAP forward. He’s written a few over the last month, you may want to check out.
  2. BMJ (June 2018): Education plus exercise versus corticosteroid injection use versus a wait and see approach on global outcome and pain from gluteal tendinopathy: prospective, single blinded, randomised clinical trial.
  3. British Medical Bulletin (Jan 2016): Hormones and tendinopathies: the current evidence

Low Back Pain: GAPS between Guidelines and Practice

by Jody, posted in news

bettingrealitycheck

Continuing with the second of three papers recently published in The Lancet regarding Low Back Pain. What guidelines are already in place, what’s actually occurring in practice and suggested solutions going forward.

What’s striking to me is the

clear evidence of substantial gaps between evidence and practice, that are pervasive

A few years after delving into this, I am still scratching my head how far behind we are in our medical and clinical practice given the evidence. Yet, I’m hopeful that as more and more of this gets into the public domain, much-needed momentum will begin to close the GAP. Particularly with the crisis we find ourselves in, the growing epidemic of opioid use which is literally, killing people.

What are the treatment guideline GAPS, as outlined in the paper?

Below are

study results of clinical practice and highlights the disparity between ten guideline recommendations and the reality of current health care.

Guideline Message: Low back pain should be managed in primary care.

Practice: in high-income, low-income, and middle-income settings, people with low back pain present to emergency departments or to a medical specialist.

Guideline Message: Provide education and advice.

Practice: in high-income, low-income, and middle-income settings this aspect of care is rarely provided.

Guideline Message: Remain active and stay at work.

Practice: in high-income, low-income, and middle-income settings, many clinicians and patients advocate rest and absence from work.

Guideline message: imaging should only occur if the clinician suspects a specific condition that would require different management to non-specific low back pain.

Practice: although such specific causes of low back pain are rare, in high-income, low-income, and middle-income settings, imaging rates are high.

Guideline message: first choice of therapy should be non-pharmacological.

Practice: surveys of care show that this approach is usually not followed.

Guideline message: most guidelines advise against electrical physical modalities (eg, short-wave diathermy, traction).

Practice: worldwide these ineffective treatments are still used by the professionals who administer physical therapies.

Guideline message: due to unclear evidence of efficacy and concerns of harm, the use of opioid analgesic medicines is now discouraged.

Practice: these medicines have been overused in some, but not all, high-income countries; low-income and middle-income countries seem to have very low rates of use.

Guideline message: interventional procedures and surgery have a very limited role, if any, in the management of low back pain.

Practice: these approaches are widely used in high-income countries, little evidence on their use is available for low-income and middle-income settings.

Guideline message: exercise is recommended for chronic low back pain.

Practice: clinician treatment preferences and health-care constraints limit uptake.

Guideline message: a biopsychosocial framework should guide management of low back pain.

Practice: the psychosocial aspects of low back pain are poorly managed in high-income, low-income, and middle-income settings.

As you can see, what’s recommended is not what’s being offered to people for treatment.

Though first line care is meant to be non-pharmacological,

a study from the USA showed that only about half of people with chronic low back pain are prescribed exercise. In Australian primary care and in the emergency department setting in Canada, the most common treatment is prescribed medication.

Then, there are the rates of imaging, even though it has a limited role to play (see previous post).

39% in Norway, 54% in the USA, 56% in Italy as three examples, presenting patients to emergency rooms are given imaging.

Even worse, opioids. Though data for effects of opioids for acute low back pain are sparse,

one study showed that they were prescribed for around 60% of emergency department presentations for low back pain in the USA.

And,

More than half the total number of people taking opioids long-term have low back pain though NO randomized controlled trial evidence is available about long-term effects. Well, we can see some of the short-term effects taking place across our countries at the moment.

In terms of surgery, which has “a limited role for low back pain”,

studies from the USA, Australia and the Netherlands show frequent use of spinal fusion.

So the waste to our healthcare system is apparent, but the bigger cost is what’s happening to the people who are provided these treatments that have shown to have little success. They seem stuck in what seems a never-ending loop of pain.

Key messages:

“Guidelines recommend self-management, physical and psychological therapies, and some forms of complementary medicine, and place less emphasis on pharmacological and surgical treatments, routine use of imaging and investigations is not recommended.

Little prevention research exists, with the only known effective interventions for secondary prevention being exercise, combined with education, and exercise alone.”

Where do we go from here?

“Promising solutions include focused implementation of best practice, the redesign of clinical pathways, integrated health and occupational care, changes to payment systems and legislation, and public health and prevention strategies.”

Current guidelines need to be utilized which we clearly see, they are not.  There needs to be better integrated education of health-care professionals including a change to the clinical-care model. Revamping the “current models of health-care reimbursement, which reward volume rather than quality”. Integration of health-care and occupation interventions so we can get people back to work and back to their lives. Changes to compensation and disability policies. Finally, public health interventions to change public’s beliefs and behaviors.

Which brings us to the last of the 3 papers, Low back pain: a call for action, up next on the blog.

Low Back Pain – Extremely common, complex in nature and most often, not treated effectively

by Jody, posted in news

ape

Last week I wrote briefly about a recently published paper in the Lancet, picked up by the news in the UK, here, here, here, and here. Today, I’ve seen an article in the USA. So, far, one report that I can find, in Canadian news.  One headline from Monash University in Australia goes so far to say:

Global burden of low back pain – a consequence of medical negligence and misinformation

As mentioned, I said I would break down why I believe this is so important. The first paper (three in the series) is “What low back pain is and why we need to pay attention”.

Why should all of this matter to you? Why do you need to pay attention?

The median 1-year period prevalence globally in the adult population is around 37%, so chances are you or someone you know is affected.

And, what’s even more important, is

the way we have been treating people isn’t working.

“Low back pain (LBP) is now the number one cause of disability globally.”

There are a LOT of people who experience chronic or persistent low back pain.  On a purely personal note, I would say it is the most prevalent ‘problem’ people tell me about when they turn up at my yoga classes.

“Rarely can a specific cause of low back pain be identified; thus, most low back pain is termed non-specific. Low back pain is characterized by a range of biophysical, psychological, and social dimensions that impair function, societal participation, and personal financial prosperity.”

In other words, it’s complex.

Of course, there is always a need to rule out those cases where there is specific causes.

“but, this is for less than 1% of those presenting with LBP. Known causes may include vertebral fracture, axial spondyloarthritis, malignancy, infection, or cauda equine syndrome (very rare).”

So if any of these are suspected by presenting symptoms, a clinician is well advised to do testing, imaging, etc. for what are often referred to as ‘red flags’.

If these are ruled out or if you’re not suspect for these specific causes, what then?

“Most adults will have low back pain at some point.  It peaks in mid-life and is more common in women, than in men.”

“Low back pain that is accompanied by activity limitation increases with age.”

“Most episodes of low back pain are short-lasting with little or no consequence…”

“But recurrent episodes are common and low back pain is increasingly understood as a long-lasting condition with a variable course rather than episodes of unrelated occurrences.”

It’s highest in working age groups so the effect to the workforce is impacted. People unable to work, earn income, the possibility of early retirement. “In the USA, LBP accounts for more lost workdays than any other occupational musculoskeletal condition”.

Then there’s a person’s identity. Consequences such as loss of independence, ability to fulfill expected social roles can be impacted. Common themes of worry and fear are identified, along with hopelessness, the strain on families, social withdrawal, job loss, and there’s the navigating through continual healthcare encounters.

Most studies underestimate the total costs of LBP, but the economic impact is comparable to other high-cost conditions like cardiovascular disease, cancer, mental health and autoimmune diseases.

Most cases are resolved within 6 weeks, however, there are risk factors for recurring episodes. For people with other chronic conditions like asthma, headaches, diabetes. Those with poor mental health are at increased risk, etc. As one example, a study of Canada’s population with 9909 participants, found that “pain-free individuals with depression were more likely to develop LBP within 2 years than were those people without depression”.

Lifestyle factors are also at play. Smoking, obesity and low levels of physical activity are associated, although independent associations remain uncertain.

Which brings us back to it being complex. There are multiple contributors, “including psychological factors, social, biophysical, comorbidities and pain processing mechanisms.”

We can see the complexity when there is a continual increase of those affected, an increase in our health care expenditures and by the recent opioid crisis that is literally taking people’s lives.

It also seems whatever we’ve been doing in terms of treatment doesn’t seem to be working.

Why is that and what needs to be changed?

Tune in next week… where we’ll get to the second paper, “Prevention and treatment of low back pain: evidence, challenges, and promising directions.”

Note:   For those interested, all references/studies can be found in the Lancet paper, here.

Back Pain – There is Good News

by Jody, posted in Uncategorized

relieve-back-pain

The bad news is you may have or know someone that is experiencing chronic or persistent back pain. The good news is, there is a way forward.

Yesterday, three important papers about back pain published in the Lancet (one of the world’s oldest and best known general medical journals) were referenced in the The Guardian, The Telegraph, the BBC News and the Daily Mail . So current evidence-based information, at last, making its way to the public domain.

In briefly reviewing the papers (published March 21, 2018), the key points for me are these:

“Low back pain is now the leading cause of disability worldwide.

“Prevention of the onset and persistence of disability associated with low back pain requires recognition that the disability is inseparable from the social and economic context of people’s lives and is entwined with personal and cultural beliefs about back pain.”

“Most low back pain is unrelated to specific identifiable spinal abnormalities,”

“Globally, gaps between evidence and practice exist, with limited use of recommended first-line treatments and inappropriately high use of imaging, rest, opioids, spinal injections, and surgery. Doing more of the same will not reduce back-related disability or its long-term consequences.”

“Recommendations include use of a biopsychosocial framework to guide management with initial nonpharmacological treatment, including education that supports self-management and resumption of normal activities and exercise,…”

Thank goodness this is getting the attention it deserves so it can help people who need it most. And that’s a LOT OF PEOPLE.

Why now, finally? I think it’s gaining traction due to spiraling health care costs along with the opioid crisis that is so prevalent.

Over the next while I’m going to break down and comment upon some of the points and principles presented in the papers, as many form the basis of my work.  In the meantime, if you care to read the papers yourself they can be found here.

Lorimer Moseley, one of the world’s top researchers on pain continues to make the related point that people need an understanding of what pain is and what it isn’t, as he does with a touch of humor in his TEDx Talk in 2011.  Professor Moseley is most known, however, for publishing 260+ papers on pain science and his continued work as Professor of Clinical Neurosciences and Chair of Physiotherapy at the University of South Australia. And one of many leading the charge globally in what he calls a Pain Revolution.

A huge paradigm shift is required as understandably, information about what works to treat back pain and what doesn’t is confusing.  It seems counter-intuitive to ask people who are in pain to ‘just move more”. As the latest interviews I’ve listened in to with Lorimer, he states that with what we’ve learned ‘recovery is, back on the table’.  There is hope. As I mentioned earlier, there is a way forward.

I talk about this all the time with family and friends … who often have a hard time believing what I describe as it is a change from what we have believed for most of our lifetime. 

But, if we really truly want to get people out of this pain cycle (and I will say most any pain cycle) we need to help with the understanding of what the evidence shows and how to best work with it. This will also require huge shifts in our public policy, etc. as stated in the Lancet papers.

“These potential solutions include focused strategies to implement best practice, the redesign of clinical pathways, integrated health and occupational interventions to reduce work disability, changes in compensation and disability claims policies, and public health and prevention strategies.”

So come along for the ride if you or anyone you know is experiencing chronic or persistent low back pain (or any pain, really).  With 1 in 5 experiencing chronic pain of some kind, unfortunately, you won’t have to look too far.