I just read a fascinating paper by Pollatos and colleagues[1] in a recent issue of Pain. This paper evaluated the relationship between interoception (ie, the ability to consciously perceive signals from the body) and pain perception. This study was based on the theory that emotive stimuli initiate changes in physiological and bodily processes and … [Read more...]
Expecting bad things – what are the repercussions?
July 6, 2012 by 19 Comments
I am currently on the train to Wauchope, NSW to visit my husband who is doing a rural medical placement. Now in my head, I decided that train food would be shocking and so when low and behold, I got my meal, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that it was not only edible but quite…delicious? I know! It knocked me for one too. However, this … [Read more...]
My knee is aching so its going to rain
February 7, 2012 by 24 Comments
I remember being amazed by my uncle. He has arthritis in his knees and as a small child I was fascinated by his ‘psychic knees’. And by ‘psychic’ I am really describing the situation where he would look at me and knowingly state, “It’s going to rain…my knees are aching.” And then it would! How did his knees know? What aspects of … [Read more...]
First impressions do count! Especially if you’re stressed.
January 6, 2012 by 8 Comments
We humans are a judgemental lot. We make spontaneous personality trait inferences based on the behaviour of others almost every day. Think about that person that you saw throw rubbish out their car window – you probably immediately thought of that person as selfish or inconsiderate. These first impressions may not always be accurate, but they are … [Read more...]
Findings on imaging for whiplash? It’s a miracle! What does it actually mean?
November 11, 2011 by 9 Comments
Whiplash is one of those conditions that often strikes fear into the hearts of clinicians, mainly because chronic whiplash is very hard to treat. This not helped by the fact that there is scepticism regarding the condition itself due to its lack of objective findings. Whiplash associated disorders (WAD) are largely diagnosed based on mechanism of … [Read more...]
Why are my mirror neurons going crazy? Oh right, it’s because I’m female
October 18, 2011 by Leave a Comment
I’m not going to lie, I struggle with studies that focus on gender differences and tell me that because of my biological make-up, I’m destined to be a certain way or react in a specific manner. Now don’t get me wrong, overall at a population level, I can understand that these gender differences likely do exist, but it’s hard to take at an … [Read more...]
What happens when systematic reviews tell us different things?
September 27, 2011 by 6 Comments
Conventional wisdom tells us that when we want an answer to a clinical question, such as what is the evidence for treatment ‘X’, we should look to systematic reviews because they collate all the available evidence on that topic. Problematically though, sometimes systematic reviews on the same topic don’t all give us the same conclusions. This … [Read more...]
The illusion of external agency – part 1
August 4, 2011 by 4 Comments
So I was reading through some papers and found an oldie but a goody by Gilbert et al[1] that I’d like to share. This paper aimed to experimentally test what the authors call ‘The illusion of external agency’, or in simple terms, the idea that a greater being looks out for your well-being. Now before this turns into a punch-throwing, … [Read more...]
Bizarro World at the World Congress of Physical Therapy
July 8, 2011 by 21 Comments
I have to admit, I’m a massive Seinfeld fan. So my apologies for this blog post title as it reflects my constant need to infuse daily life with Seinfeld references. For those of you not obsessed with Seinfeld, Bizarro World is an alternate reality discussed in the Seinfeld episode, Bizarro Jerry, when Elaine (one of the main characters) meets a … [Read more...]
Subgroups in low back pain – were the assumptions correct?
May 24, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Quick reminder from last post: The aim of our study[1] was to evaluate the assumptions that were made when translating the individual study criteria[2-6] (eg, all the criteria from the original subgrouping studies) into the classification algorithm.To evaluate the impact of these changes made to the individual study criteria, we recruited 250 … [Read more...]
Subgroups in low back pain – a treatment-based classification algorithm
May 19, 2011 by 18 Comments
I always feel a bit embarrassed when I partake in blatant self-promotion; however, as this blog post aims to foster discussion rather than self-promote I hope to ease my guilty conscience. So….I’m here to chat about the main study of my PhD that just came out in the April issue of Physical Therapy.[1] To start off with, I have to acknowledge … [Read more...]
The low back pain forum of magic
April 5, 2011 by 15 Comments
Recently, I attended a conference in Melbourne – the International Low Back Pain Forum for Research in Primary Care. This conference is organised by researchers who are interested in low back pain epidemiological research in – can you guess it? – primary care. Now the cool thing about this conference is that it has no big corporate or … [Read more...]
The Lone Wolf or the Support Group Enthusiast?
January 11, 2011 by 11 Comments
What type of person are you?? When tough times come around – whether it is stress at work, a painful injury, or forced participation in Secret Santa – what do you do? Some people, those lone wolf types, find relief in being alone, taking some time to regroup, and dealing with the problem themselves. Others, aka the support group enthusiasts, … [Read more...]
How To Form A Habit
November 3, 2010 by 5 Comments
We’ve all wondered how to get our patients to change their life habits (to the better of course…in our minds). In fact, the behavioural and physical therapies depend on us being able to convince patients to develop new habits - to bend and straighten their knees a few times before getting up from prolonged sitting perhaps, or to walk up the … [Read more...]
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