The Australasian College of Sports & Exercise Physicians have had the vision to sponsor the Pain Revolution this year. I was asked to provide a blog and the completed result has been posted on the ACSEP website – “ACSEP @ PRR 2018” and is copied here. The altered title will make sense as you read…
I recently attended an interesting two day symposium organised by the University of Sydney using the following banner: The “harnessing placebo mechanisms” slogan was elaborated on in the stated aims of the symposium as “improving outcomes by augmenting the influence of the therapeutic context”. It has long been my view that perceived responses and measurable…
I love riding my bike in France. One of the reasons is that there is a notable difference in the temperament of the traffic, especially compared with Melbourne, my home town. Now that is not to say that all French drivers are perfect angels, but there seems to be only a small proportion who have…
I had an interesting medical experience in my role as a medico for the Melbourne Football Club aka the ”Demons’ in the AFL (Australian Rules Football) competition in 2007. One of the younger players developed difficulties breathing within a few minutes of the start of the game. Dr Andrew Daff and I were in attendance…
Carrots are a well-known symbol for incentives influencing activity. Dangling a carrot in front of the donkey, there was incentive for forward movement in the indicated direction. Sticks were used painfully at the back end of the donkey simultaneously to accelerate the forward movement. It is a simple concept to analogise the stick with pain in general,…
The easy Donald Trump victory this last week in the US elections was predictable despite the polls that consistently suggested the opposite. It was indeed my intention to write this piece last week before the USA election, but somehow the time wasn’t there and I suppose I figured that it may have been wasted in…
Following on from the first part of this two-part blog, here are some other examples of unhelpful comments. These comments are, at best, thinly evidenced in science and are therefore more accurately described as beliefs that can then become unwanted realities. Suggested alternatives are offered: Common feedback to patients in pain Alternative suggested comments “Your spine is degenerate /…
Furthermore, and more importantly if you are a health professional or in another position of influence, it can become someone else’s reality. For those of you who believe they understand the science of pain, placebo / nocebo effects and (adaptive and maladaptive) neuroplasticity processes you probably don’t need to read on. The title says it all and almost…
A manuscript has just recently been submitted for publication with my contribution and collaboration. I have always been more of a coal face worker, basing my writings on my observations, supported by science and various references, but using a persuasive, metaphorical style. This was my first prolonged exposure to publishing in an academic style together with…
What a lovely, empathic statement. It just isn’t true. No one can truly feel anyone else’s pain. Even those who are so empathic that they feel pain while considering other’s experiences, don’t ACTUALLY feel the OTHER person’s pain. They feel their own pain. Not even this poor fellow, written up in the paper recently, who is…
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