There is a commonality to the words used by those who knew and worked with APA Musculoskeletal Physiotherapist Carolyn Page MACP. 

She was a devoted, caring, enthusiastic and passionate physiotherapist who always had time for everyone. 

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.

Current evidence on common treatments for knee osteoarthritis, including the delivery of appropriate first-line care (education, exercise and weight management) and what best practice looks like, will be the focus  of the Tasmanian Branch Symposium, which will be held on 27 May.

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.

Like her father before her, Carole Stacey APAM has a natural affinity for working with children.

Her father Bernard Gook was the minister at St John’s Anglican Church in Darlinghurst in the 1970s and Carole attended a school nearby.

In Part 2 of this series, we looked at the patient interview through a pain sensitivity lens. This process helps determine whether pain sensitivity is less or more likely to be a priority for the physical examination. Now we arrive at the examination itself.

In Part 1 of this series we agreed that pain sensitivity is an important consideration for all physiotherapists in clinical practice.

Pain sensitivity may alter a person’s response to treatment, can help patients make sense of their own conditions, could be used for subgrouping people and might provide insight into a patient’s prognosis.