Earlier this week, my business partner and myself were lucky enough to take part in a tutorial for 4th year medical students from UBC. This tutorial took place in the same medical building that one of our clinics is in, the Gordon & Leslie Diamond Health Care Centre, as UBC operates out of the second floor and has teaching opportunities throughout the building.
Medical School prepares their doctors to be very effective at screening assessments, looking out for serious spinal pathologies, such as cancer, vascular conditions, fractures, etc... Assessment of the non-specific mechanical back pain, which makes up almost 70% of these cases, is not so well covered. During the tutorial we went over a very straight forward case study, answering questions as we went along. Following the case study we were able to share our treatment approach and techniques with the group. This was fun for me and hopefully beneficial for the students.
Some of the main points we discussed:
- the importance of a full biomechanical assessment
- the importance of appropriate exercise for long term success
- nutritional concerns
- core stabilization
- manual therapy
- intramuscular needling
- psychosocial apsects involved in chronic pain
- the lack of evidence for many of the modalities historically used
- how physiotherapy specialization typically occurs post grad.
- how to look up Physiotherapists in BC via our PABC directory
These interdisciplinary tutorials are something that I will try to be a part of every year.
Harry
