Posts belonging to Category 'blogs'

The second year exams are but a few weeks away and we’re all getting into the tough revision that we’re got to endure, so it was good to see that no matter how poorly prepared I feel, there are others out there who know even less!

A team at King’s College London found public understanding of basic anatomy has not improved since a similar survey was conducted 40 years ago. Less than 50% of the more than 700 people surveyed could correctly place the heart, BMC Family Practice says.Under one-third could place the lungs in their correct location, but more than 85% got the intestines right.

There are concerns that a poor grasp of anatomy could potentially compromise patient care.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8092930.stm

Much has been made of the latest NICE Guidelines for Treatment of Low Back Pain, particularly in the massage and osteopathy fields. The full guidelines can be found here but to summarise:

The 4 Principles of Management for all Patients are described as:

1. Keep diagnosis under review at all times
2. Promote self-management/advice
3. Offer drug treatments as appropriate
4. Offer a range of alternative treatments including exercise, acupuncture and manual therapy.

Manual therapy is then further identified:

The manual therapies reviewed were spinal manipulation, spinal mobilisation and massage. Collectively these are all manual therapy. Mobilisation and massage are performed by a wide variety of practitioners. Manipulation can be performed by chiropractors and osteopaths, as well as by doctors and physiotherapists who have undergone specialist postgraduate training in manipulation.

So that’s pretty conclusive, patients suffering from low back pain can and should be referred for massage and osteopathy, amongst other treatments. The guidleines recommend up to 9 treatments over up to 12 weeks.

This has got to be good news for both fields of treatment, hasn’t it? The question is, how are we practitioners going to make our presence felt? Should the GPs be actively looking for us or should we target them? And how responsive will GPs be to sending patients off for manual therapy as opposed to physiotherapy or drug treatment?

What do you all think?

So, another year down! Only 3 more to go!

In many ways, Year 2 was a much harder year for me. Outside of the course, there’s been a lot going on which has made it hard to focus on study at the level it deserves. The course content was a lot tougher at times too. I’ve always found neuroanatomy quite challenging and this was a large part of the content for this year. It was only towards the end of the year that it really clicked for me, especially as we looked into pain perception and management.

On a more positive note, this year felt far more involved than the first year which was very much a foundation year. Although the practical element seemed to make up a fairly small part of this year’s modules, it seemed far more aimed at offering a better quality of treatment than just a mechanical method of learning.

Perhaps most pleasingly, I’ve noticed that my massage treatments have become much more confident as the year has progressed. I’m incorporating many of the techniques that we’ve learnt into my treatments and am also taking the case histories in as osteopathic a way as possible! Of course, this is great practice for me too.

So, 3 years to go and I’m really looking forward to Year 3. Finally get a chance to actually treat some clients!!

Rich

P.S. 8 As and 2 B+s across the first 2 years isn’t bad is it? 😉

this is a test message to see if I can update the blog from my phone…