All by myself … don ’ t wanna be

Throughout my career, I’ve been interested in how and why people see clinicians about their pain. I’m intrigued by the journey before, during and afterwards. I’m interested in the social factors influencing choices in healthcare. If I’ve been gardening over the weekend and I wake up Monday with a sore back it’s easy to see a physio here in NZ. That visit is likely paid for by our accident compensation system (24/7 no-fault scheme paid for by taxes and levies). And the jolly joy germ in me thinks “Well at least that means people don’t have to see a doctor first” – but there’s also a tiny cynic in me wondering “what if…?” The ‘what if’ is all about knowing what I know about low back pain trajectories and how little anyone can do to ‘treat’ acute low back pain. It’s about thinking maybe it’s time we took a hard look at what we’re not doing well but seriously need to. And a dollop of “what if we took the market-driven ideology out of healthcare, removed the perverse incentives that create the drive for repeat customers and unnecessary treatments, and gave people more information about how to self-manage?” If you’re not aware about low back pain trajectories, here’s the thing: repeated episodes of low back pain are more common than not. In fact there have been a good number of longitudinal studies investigating trajectories findin...
Source: HealthSkills Weblog - Category: Anesthesiology Authors: Tags: Back pain Chronic pain Coping strategies Interdisciplinary teams Low back pain Occupational therapy Physiotherapy Psychology Research Science in practice Health pain management Therapeutic approaches Source Type: blogs