Moodjuice!
I had a nice email from James Hardie from Moodjuice website, an NHS Scotland site developed for both health professionals and individuals to access self help resources. For patients, the site starts by saying “Emotional problems are often the mind and body’s way of saying that something needs to be changed in our life” - … Read more
What do people expect when they get referred to a pain management centre?
It can take years for someone to be referred to a pain management service. In fact, in a study of patients accepted into the three week pain management programme at Burwood Pain Management Centre, the average duration of pain was 4 years, give or take some months. No wonder then, that when people in a … Read more
“It’s there and I’m stuck with it” – chronic knee pain after knee joint replacement
I share an office with an Emeritus Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery. He snorted at me one day, and showed me the stats from our national joint register database where I saw that while the main reason given for revision of a total hip joint was dislocation, and pain was the sixth most common reason given; … Read more
Making self-help more helpful
One of the things that appeals about self-managing chronic pain is that it doesn’t require endless appointments. If life is for living, why spend it sitting in a waiting room? (they never have up-to-date magazines anyway!) Our problem as health providers is that we don’t know whether all our great self-help recommendations actually get done … Read more
Opportunity for a conversation
I had a wonderful discussion with another occupational therapist about the profession’s response to the earthquake. ”How”, she asked, “Can occupational therapists from the other end of the country help those in Christchurch?” To further this discussion, I’ve added a new page to my blog for people to contribute their thoughts about how occupational therapists … Read more
After quake aftermath
Once again I’m lead to pondering the different ways my situation has affected me, and what might be helpful to mitigate some of the less frequently mentioned aspects of coping in a disaster. Like many people, I’m still managing with quite limited power, water that is a trickle (not enough pressure to fill a toilet … Read more
Friday in Christchurch
Despite the devastation, there are some wonderful sights in Christchurch right now. This one (above) made me smile today. And this one was taken in Nelson after we had turned back to return to Christchurch last week. Cheerful things, sunflowers, and glorious colour on a rather gloomy and very grim day.
Living well with chronic pain: A grounded theory study
While ‘coping’ with chronic pain has been studied extensively, the people usually studied have been those seeking treatment, and because of this, little is known about how people cope well despite their pain. A large group of people experiencing ongoing pain do not seek treatment, and while there is speculation that factors such as personality … Read more
An ‘occupational’ view of the Christchurch earthquake
The picture – what greeted us as we walked through the front door – and that sparkly stuff on the ground? It’s all my crystal in tiny sharp shards…The wooden thing you can see is the bottom of our sideboard, and to the far right, the doorway. It’s not often I post with a specific … Read more
