APA | Chronic health and disability

Chronic health and disability

A man sitting in an armchair leans forward clutching his knee as if in pain.

INMOTION 01 Sep, 2022

World Physiotherapy Day looks at osteoarthritis

Osteoarthritis is the most common form of arthritis and the focus of this year’s World Physiotherapy Day as we celebrate how much physiotherapists can help.

World Physiotherapy Day is held each year on 8 September to recognise the work that physiotherapists do for their patients and communities.

The day was founded in 1996 by the international World Physiotherapy organisation, with the aim of fostering unity and solidarity among practitioners globally.

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Graphic image of a brain sparkling electrically in an outlined head.

INMOTION 01 Sep, 2022

Physiotherapy and central vestibulopathy

Katrina Williams and Christina Cooper from the APA Neurology national group present five discussion points about central vestibulopathy and vestibular rehabilitation treatment options for physiotherapists.

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An illustration menagerie of different people, medical and health.

INMOTION 01 Sep, 2022

The role of physio in long covid

More than two years after the COVID-19 pandemic emerged, health systems around the world are grappling with its sequel, long COVID, a chronic condition with similarities to chronic fatigue that has affected millions of people globally. Here, InMotion looks at long COVID and the role of physiotherapists in treating it.

What exactly is long COVID?

Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, doctors and patients noticed that some people were left with lingering symptoms long after the infection had passed. It wasn’t only the severely ill patients, either.

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An elderly man with a walking stick walks by a river.

INMOTION 22 Aug, 2022

Home-based and centre-based exercise after stroke

Lucas Nascimento and colleagues from Brazil recently conducted a systematic review to compare the effects of home-based and centre-based exercises after stroke.

Why did you decide to undertake this review? Had the topic been addressed in earlier reviews?

During the current COVID-19 pandemic, many patients who had a stroke could not maintain routine physiotherapy in rehabilitation centres.

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A woman wearing a shirt rubs her shoulder as if it hurts.

INMOTION 22 Aug, 2022

Treating the shoulder and the individual

Jeremy Lewis’s course reframes musculoskeletal healthcare, embracing a biopsychosocial approach to the shoulder and to patients throughout the community.

What drew you to focus on shoulder pathology?

There’s a line in a John Lennon song that quotes ‘Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans’.

My original plan was to research foot biomechanics and their impact locally and throughout the kinetic chain.

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A cartoon flower drawn on a mustard yellow background

INMOTION 18 Aug, 2022

A whole life left to live

A stroke is a devastating diagnosis at any age, bringing with it the prospect of many months of intensive rehabilitation and the real possibility of permanent disabilities. But for younger people with life stretching out in front of them, physiotherapy can assist them to regain control over who they are and what they can do.

We think of stroke as something that mostly affects older people. In reality, stroke affects people of all ages.

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A mouth shouting the words Physio Pitchfest 2022

INMOTION 18 Aug, 2022

These physios are pitch perfect

The Physiotherapy Research Foundation’s innovation competition PitchFest, held online in April, drew on a pool of six finalists to award two prizes: the Judges’ Award and the People’s Choice Award. Here, the winners talk about their ideas.

Streamlining the falls review process

SummaRise: Intelligent Falls Management System is an app developed by Perth-based physiotherapist Daniel Hug APAM to assist aged care staff with assessing and managing falls. It was recently awarded the PitchFest Judges’ Award worth $15,000.

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INMOTION 18 Aug, 2022

Joining forces for healthcare reform

A new federal government gives us the opportunity to talk about physiotherapy with new ministers, assistant ministers, department heads, crossbenchers and other external stakeholders.

We developed a strategy and launched a campaign in June this year to establish partnerships and promote patient pathway reform as detailed in our framework for action, Physiotherapy: A Path to Better Care.

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Medical staff fit ventilating equipment to a patient's face.

INMOTION 27 Jul, 2022

Breathlessness in the ICU setting

South Australian physiotherapist Leigh Rushworth was awarded a Physiotherapy Research Foundation Seeding Grant in 2021 to investigate the prevalence and management of breathlessness in intensive care patients. He talks to us here about the project.

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An elderly man clutches his lower back as if in pain.

INMOTION 26 Jul, 2022

Mind power helps ease chronic back pain

Team leaders Professor Paulo Ferreira and Emma Ho, whose work was recently published in the British Medical Journal, discuss how their research can inform treatment decisions for practitioners and patients.

Adults with chronic non-specific low back pain (LBP) not only experience physical disability but can also suffer psychological distress in the form of anxiety, depression and fear avoidance.

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