A four year study of over 1,500 Australians prescribed opioids for non-cancer pain found that Cannabis use was common, with 24% having used cannabis for pain. The study was conducted by researchers at UNSW Sydney and published in the very reputable Lancet “Public Health” Journal, volume 3, July 2018. Over the four years participants were…
From 1st February 2018 you will no longer be able to buy codeine containing medications over-the-counter at pharmacies. If you have strong or chronic pain and need medication as part of your pain management strategy, you will need to see your general practitioner for a prescription, who may recommend other options including a referral to…
Around 50% of people who live with persistent pain will also have depression and/or anxiety. Mental Health Week takes place from Sunday 9th October to Sunday 15th October this year. The week is an annual event celebrated in Australia and over 100 countries in an effort to raise community awareness and understanding of mental illness,…
This is the advice given by Jude King, Clinical Program Coordinator and Pain Counsellor, to Tradies during Tradies National Health Month in an interview for the Canberra City News. A Safe Work Australia report shows that 35 employees a day, working in the construction industry are injured seriously enough that they need a week or more…
There is evidence that in the past we used to have two sleeps with a period of wakefulness in between rather than the one period of sleep we seems to expect now. Researchers from the Centre for Sleep Research and School of Health and Biomedical Sciences, RMIT University, maintain that throughout history there have been…
Did you know that 25– 31 July is National Pain Week in Australia. National Pain week is an initiative of Chronic Pain Australia and has four main aims: De-stigmatising the experience of chronic pain; Promoting current thinking that explains chronic pain to the wider Australian community; Creating healing relationships between the person in pain and…
A recent study published in the Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA) Internal Medicine, indicates that Mindfulness meditation is a better approach for a good night’s sleep than conventional methods. The study by the University of Southern California, which looked at older adults with insomnia, also found that mindfulness meditation had a positive effect on…
Do you know that sitting can shorten your life? I know that sounds like a bizarre thing to say but it’s true. Eighteen studies over the last 16 years involving over 800,000 people have come up with some startling results. For instance, one study has shown that those people that sit for four hours a…
Winter has arrived and it often comes along with its not so friendly friend – the winter cold. Don’t become a cold and flu statistic! As the name suggests the common cold is very common, with adults generally having between two to four colds each year. The secret to maintaining you vitality this winter is…
Is life stressful for you? How often have you answered a ‘how are you’ question with “I’m flat chat, stressed as, life’s hectic at the moment” answer? Have you noticed how more people are stressed than not? No big deal right? Wrong! Stress doesn’t just affect our mental and emotional health. Our mind and body are…
Many people with chronic pain will also suffer with an irritable bowel leading to diarrhoea or constipation. No wonder really when you consider that the body is putting its energies into coping with the pain rather than normal bodily functions such as digestion, and that pain medications also affect how well our bowels work. According…
Restless leg syndrome is very undiagnosed in the community and can be described as a pattern of regular agitated impulsiveness to move legs (and sometimes arms) to relieve a building painful stress sensation in that limb. It is also associated with periodic leg movement syndrome seen during sleep phrases. There is a strong association between people…
