National Spinal Injury Conference takeaways
Our OT’s, Kate Shepherd and Mike Ikwuagwu, attended the Irwin Mitchell National Spinal Cord Injury conference in Manchester on 3rd October and were inspired by the speakers. We asked them what their main takeaways were and how they plan to put them into practice.
Professor Sam Eldabe shared that..
Chronic stress can bring about changes to pain centres in the brain. Chronic stress generally leads to hyperalgesia i.e. an exacerbation of pain.
“Even after controlling for higher rates of depression, suicide, and opioid use, chronic pain is associated with a lower life expectancy.”
Mike aims to address a clients chronic pain by working closely with the MDT and looking to address stressors directly where possible as well as applying calming techniques and tracking the clients experience of pain and stress to support a better outcome.
Dr Parashar Ramanuj said ….. A meaningful life and a happy life are not linear. Meaning that we need to give meaning back to an individual through our occupations, whether that’s through activities, vocational rehab or voluntary work.
This is something Kate will be putting into practice through ensuring that the client is at the heart and that their wishes, goals and priorities are highlighted and addressed. This could be ‘I want to drive’ and so instead of working on cooking and budgeting which people may think is more important to her, the aim would be to address transfers or access to a car and driving independently. This gives her meaning and thus improves her mood and helps her towards a happy life. This is the heart of OT work and we should be more conscious of this in our practice.
Inequalities in Accessing Health Services
Kate was sad to lean about the issues clients encounter accessing services and will have more awareness of SCI clients or anyone using a wheelchair when accessing services. It was highlighted that most hospitals and services don’t have any equipment to accommodate clients with disabilities, as some machines need people to stand, most GP’s don’t have height adjustable beds or hoists for full examinations, so there is a high risk that identifying diagnosis can be delayed.
Both Mike and Kate were shocked to learn that 4/5ths of spinal cord injury individuals, will never access a specialist centre. There is a lack of resources and equipment to accommodate those with SCI’s in general hospitals, and charities are reaching to hospitals to help improve care of those with SCI. They are looking at developing a paralysed bowel campaign for those who come into hospital with an SCI. This will ensure that bowel management legislation is in place at all hospitals, including the equipment and skills required to manage the bowels of an individual with a SCI – as this was rated at the biggest medical worry for all SCI clients going into hospital.