Thanks for joining me. We'll be talking about effective pain management in low and middle-income countries. I had touched base on this topic with Dr. Felipe Reis. He's a physical therapist and a researcher in Brazil, where we discussed initiatives for improving pain education in developing countries. I realized at that moment it was such an important topic that I wanted to reach out across the globe and find other professionals, other physiotherapists and other health professionals that are working on safe and effective pain management in low and middle-income countries. You may think to yourself, “I don't live in a low-income area. I don't live in a country that's developing,” but many of the social determinants of health that we grapple with in Western countries are also problems in developing countries. There's something for all of us to learn about this topic.
As we work our way into this topic and we meet our expert guest, let me share a couple of bullet points with you about what's happening with regard to pain management in low and middle-income countries. The first to note is that musculoskeletal pain disproportionately affects people these countries. About 20% of the general population of those countries experience chronic musculoskeletal pain. This estimate increases by 2 or 4 times among the working populations. It is the leading cause of disability in people between the ages of 50 to 70 years old. It's the second-leading cause in people aged 70 or above. Joining us to discuss pain in low and middle-income countries is Saurab Sharma. He's an assistant professor at Kathmandu University of Medical Sciences in Nepal, and also works at its affiliated hospital as a consultant musculoskeletal physiotherapist.
He is pursuing a PhD in researching pain at the University of Otago in New Zealand and his research aims to improve pain care in low and middle-income countries. Saurab is also providing a free white paper on this topic that you can download. It includes how we can strengthen health systems and respond to the burden of pain in low and middle-income countries and to support healthy aging. To download this free white paper, all you have to do is text the word, 1733 Download, to the number 44222, or you can open up a browser on your computer and type in the URL, www.IntegrativePainScienceInstitute.com/173download. Let's begin and let's meet Saurab Sharma.
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We have a brand new topic. We're discussing how you can use mind-body medicine to treat chronic pain. Mind-body medicine refers to the interaction between the mind the body and the spirit. Specifically, the ways in which physical, emotional, social and spiritual factors together can directly affect health. With the advent of modern medicine and pharmacology, mind-body medicine had been downplayed in the Western world when researchers and practitioners start to see the benefits of combining approaches. We have substantial evidence to support mind-body practices, which focus on the interaction of the mind, the body and behavior to improve both physical as well as mental health.
My expert guest is Matt Erb. He is a Physical Therapist, originally trained at the University of Iowa and based out of Tucson, Arizona. He's a Senior Faculty Member and Clinical Supervisor for The Center for Mind-Body Medicine in Washington D.C. His clinical practice focuses on mind-body integrative care. He's the founder of Embody Your Mind specializing in high-quality teaching, consulting and integrative and mind-body medicine topics. I want to thank Matt for joining us. We cover lots of ground with regards to mind-body medicine and the biopsychosocial model pain. You're going to learn a lot about mind-body medicine and how you can implement it into your practice.
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My expert guest is Dr. James McAuley. He is a Psychologist and Assistant Professor in the School of Medical Sciences, as well as a Senior Research Scientist at Neuroscience Research Australia, which is an independent not-for-profit institute based in Sydney, Australia. James is a leader in brain and nervous system research, including how to best treat many chronic pain syndromes. He has published over 170 scientific articles and lectures at international conferences on the best evidence for the treatment of persistent pain.
On this episode, you'll learn about the latest advances for the treatment of chronic low back pain, where the research is heading, and we’ll bust some myths about common treatments that are currently utilized for low back pain. We’ll discuss if there's evidence to support them in clinical practice. You might be surprised by what he's discovered and what works for the treatment of chronic low back pain. I enjoyed this episode with James. We dived into the research around what works and what does not work for chronic low back pain. Make sure to share this episode with your friends and family and hop on over to iTunes, and give me a five-star review so we can share this important work with your friends and colleagues.
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