Lizzy Quinn is a Musculoskeletal Physiotherapist with 20 years experience focusing on people with spinal pain. Australian Health Journal spoke with Lizzy on the complexities of persistent lower back pain in women.
Lower back pain in women in their 30s, 40s, and 50s is complex to treat due to the combination of physical and emotional factors, and health professionals need to stay updated on best practices and science to provide the best recovery platform for patients. These women typically have busy lives, pressures, and expectations.
The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) website states, ‘Mental and behavioural conditions commonly co-occur with musculoskeletal conditions. Compared with people without musculoskeletal conditions, for people aged 45 and over with mental and behavioural conditions were 1.9 times as likely in people with back problems, 1.6 times as likely in people with arthritis and 1.5 times as likely in people with osteoporosis’.
Lizzy believes women with persistent lower back pain need treatment that considers their emotional and physical pain due to the complexity of their lives. Women with lower back pain often try various treatments without realising the impact of their emotional state on their symptoms, making long-term recovery difficult.
Changes in the spine as we age are normal, but the language used in MRI reports can make it concerning for patients, without a healthcare professional providing a through explanation of some of the terms.
Lizzy states, “MRI findings generally provide little information on how to recover from lower back pain, and only a small number of people actually need imaging straight away. For the majority, it won’t change their treatment.”
Getting a lower back MRI may lead to unnecessary worry as normal age-related changes are often misinterpreted as serious issues.
As far as the body is concerned, the brain cannot tell the difference between physical pain and emotional pain, making lower back pain complex to treat.
Lower back pain may be driven by tissue sensitivity and hyper-sensitisation in the brain, rather than just joint issues.
Emotional distress can reactivate sensitisation in the brain, that can cause persistent lower back pain, especially when combined with emotional distress. Sensitised pain centres in the brain, can prolong lower back pain even after physical healing.
Educating patients about the complexity of lower back pain is important, but GPs have limited time to do so, making it challenging for them to convey the message to their clients.
Without this awareness, patients will fail to understand the main drivers of lower back pain that are vital for long term recovery.
-
Paramedics seek team-based primary health care pilots
The Chief Executive Officer of The Australasian College of Paramedicine, John Bruning spoke with Australian Health Journal about the following:
New models of care proposed for paramedics
Paramedicine pilot program in the pre-budget submission
Scope of how paramedics can support General Practice, and guidelines on safety and quality
Current limitations experienced by paramedics needing to be addressed by Government
Other health priorities hopefully addressed in Federal Budget.In the lead up to the Australian Federal Budget in May 2023, Australian Health Journal reached out to peak health industry bodies to hear about their priorities, either noted in pre-budget submissions lodged with Federal Government in January 2023 or in recent forums such as the Strengthening Medicare Taskforce.
-
Being Part of the New Health Frontier
In November last year, the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Health, Aged Care and Sport delivered its bipartisan report “The New Frontier: Delivering better health for all Australians” on the approval processes for new drugs and novel medical technologies in Australia.
Australian Health Journal spoke to some of the industry bodies who were part of the Inquiry, for their comments on the process, the report and hopes in the recommendations being implemented.
-
Allied Health Building Leadership Experience in Tasmania
A notable program run by Hospitals South is the ABLE program, or Allied Health Building Leadership Experience. This program was created to address the challenge of allied health professionals being seen as a single entity, rather than as individual disciplines, when it comes to leadership and management opportunities. The program is delivered entirely internally, with seminars presented by senior staff and mentorship opportunities for participants to become more effective representatives of allied health in meetings and working groups.
