Being a massive nerd, I found this article incredibly interesting. If you’re a sufferer of chronic pain you will find it interesting too. Chronic pain is a very complex situation. It’s a lot more involved than just the same pain you had for a minor injury hanging around for a long time. For example, there can be changes in the nervous system that involve types of nerve receptors that normally report on things like pressure morphing to become pain receptors. What this means is that when you feel pressure in …

My ongoing quest to become a professional sports star took me to the Dunc Gray Velodrome on Saturday. A few old mates of mine hired the Olympic Velodrome (wasn’t even that expensive) and we did a 1 hour session learning to ride around a cycling track. I could not believe how steep that banked curve is – 42degrees!
I was looking good to become a pro when the coach motioned to me to slow down. I assumed it was because he was worried that my bike was going to disintegrate due …

As you would all no doubt be aware (seeing as I have’t stopped talking about it for the last month or two) I spoke at a seminar in Tasmania last week. After a lot of hard work it went really well. It was a great experience and I learnt a lot, and really enjoyed teaming up with one of my oldest friends, Physiotherapist Toby Watson from North Curl Curl Physiotherapy (previously Brisbane Lions and Tour De France). We had fantastic feedback and have been asked to do a few more …

A new study has come out saying that the best treatment for arthritis is exercise. This makes sense and is something I’ve long believed and I may even have posted about it once before with respect to knee arthritis and tai chi.
The pain associated with arthritis comes from things like the muscles tightening up around the joint (to try to stabilise it), the joint losing mobility and there being less fluid in the joint.
It would make sense then, that exercise would help. Exercise increase your flexibility, your balance, promotes blood flow …

New research has come out questioning the effectiveness of spinal injections. Titled “Time to reconsider steroid injections in the spine?”, the article in the latest edition of the Medical Journal of Australia lists the following points, which I’ll post for your consideration:

The largest of these showed marginal short-term (2-week) improvement in the steroid and local anaesthetic group over the saline group for the primary outcome (leg pain), an effect that was not sustained by 4 weeks.
Short-term relief is a common finding in studies that use local anaesthetic in the active group.
We …

After unsuccessfully attempting to become a professional golfer recently, I thought I’d continue to explore what professional sporting options I still have before I’m past it, and so on the weekend I took to Eastern Creek raceway to do a session in the Formula Ford’s. For those who don’t know (like myself before last weekend) these are the cars Mark Webber drove before he got into Formula 1.
The Aim: I figured I’d just nail a few hot laps and sign on the dotted line with, well, whoever would offer me …

I just read this article on The New York Times website which talked about the rate of misdiagnosis in the medical fraternity. This follows on from a number of earlier articles questioning the necessity of many surgeries. If your condition is not life threatening and especially if it involves your musculoskeletal system don’t be afraid to seek a second opinion before agreeing to surgery or injections.
I’ll leave you with this quote: “In the United States and Canada it is estimated that 50,000 hospital deaths each year could have been prevented …

I just read a great article that ran with the title “The truth about back pain“. It was a breakdown of the success (or otherwise) of various treatment approaches for low back pain, and it’s well worth a read. It outlines the risks associated with injections, painkillers, unnecessary medical scans and surgery. But if you’re short on time, here are a few choice quotes:
“In 2012, an outbreak of fungal meningitis in the US was traced to contaminated epidural steroid injections administered for back pain – more than 700 people had …

The use of paracetamol, such as Panadol, for conditions like arthritis, has come under fire after a panel of medical experts “said they were ‘extremely concerned’ about the links of higher doses to cardiovascular, gastrointestinal and renal adverse events.
An article on Pulse.co.uk outlined the panel’s findings, which included:

warnings about the potential side effects of paracetamol
findings that paracetamol only provides ‘limited benefit’
when used, it should be the ‘lowest effective dose’ for the ‘shortest possible time’
clinicians should be particularly cautious of using it in combination with an oral NSAID (anti-inflammatory)
‘There is more evidence of …

Howdy,
I was lucky enough to be able to get out of town on the weekend and head down to Canberra. A short trip but long enough to remind me that there are some do’s and don’t’s when it comes to driving:
When you first hop in the car, sit up nice and straight and set your rear view mirror and side mirrors. If you notice after a while that the mirror position is no longer suitable, you must have either shifted in your seat or started slumping. Either sit up straight …