PHYSIOTHERAPY RESEARCH FOUNDATION Melissa Trudinger talks to Seeding Grant recipient Dr Emre Ilhan about his study looking at whether common screening tools for neuropathic pain can be validated for use in children.

$11,718 PRF Seeding Grant

At the Australian Pain Society’s 43rd Annual Scientific Meeting in April, I was honoured to present at the ‘Pain in the Media’ plenary about the value and potential of social media in research and clinical practice.

We all experience pain.

It is a companion, sometimes a constant one.

As Marcia Meldrum put it, pain is our ‘oldest medical problem’.

Physiotherapy as a disciple is devoted to understanding patients’ pain and how to alleviate, manage and prevent it.

Across all the areas in which physiotherapists work, pain is the common factor.

The impact of chronic pain is felt not only by the person experiencing it, but by those around them.

What if kids learnt about the amazing science of pain at school?

Let’s start with four mind-blowing facts.

In the 18 months since it began, Paediatric Pain Care SA has been working to change children’s lived experiences of pain through a gold standard model of care. 

Pain sensitivity management isn’t easy but it’s important to get it right.

The approach a physiotherapist takes to managing pain sensitivity has a significant impact on their patient’s understanding of their own condition and on the effectiveness of any treatments prescribed.

1. Physical activity is beneficial with or without cardiovascular disease

Physical activity confers significant health benefits.

Parts 2 and 3 of this series focused on the assessment of pain sensitivity. Once the assessment is complete, we need to consider the findings.

Here we discuss the whole-person perspective, followed by making sense of pain features.

We then present a simple method for prioritising pain sensitivity in treatment planning.

The problem of low back pain

Low back pain is the leading cause of disability burden in Australia (GBD 2015 Disease and Injury Incidence and Prevalence Collaborators 2016), costing the Australian health system $4.8 billion annually (Arthritis and Osteoporosis Victoria 2013).

As discussed in the April issue of InMotion, the APA is partnering with academic institutions on research projects that advance knowledge in the field of physiotherapy and contribute to the evidence base underpinning our advocacy efforts.

This month we will look at three more research project partnerships.