Dr. Kieran O´Sullivan & Brian Sørensen on Spinal Health management through the big lens

In this episode i´m joined by my irish colleague Dr. Kieran O´Sullivan. 
Kieran has 23 years of experience as a physiotherapist. He ´s known for his research within the field musculoskeletal pain and especially in persistent spinal pain. He has published more than 240 publications including one from 2022 we did together and which i´m gratefull for helping me with. Kieran is also involved in free online resources such as the www.pain-ed.com with other clinicians and researcher.  An online ressource which I´ve found quite usefull when trying to help people in pain.

Kieran and I talk about spinal health management through the big lens. Since Kieran has researched the field so extensively I thought he would be an excellent person to discuss this subject with.

We cover subjects such as;

Chronic low back pain management and Why there is an increasing burden. Both nationally in Denmark and internationally spinal pain is increasing and one of the top  reason for seeking care.

The Biopscyhosocial model - what happened to the bio. 
Some would argue that we´ve made little progress over the last 25-30 years . Another  reason for that is a perspective that i personnally do support to some degree when you see the lack of research papers  on biological reseacrh compared other parts of the BPS model. We discuss if there could be a point in getting a better understanding of the bio? 

Overmedicalization what it is and what it is not – over-rx and over investigation in one sense, but also neglect/underfunding of chronic conditions/multimorbidity – easier to get access to nsaids, mri, injection than to access supervised exercise rehab, support & advice for sleep, mood, diet etc . But also why we most likely need to do a physical evaluation in order to get a got start to our partnership with the human being seeking our help.

Changes in spinal health. Kieran gives some of his takes on what need to change but also the challenges that comes with it.

The future of Spinal health  management.
What does the future of lbp hold (prevention, diagnosis, treatment) – Kieran gives us both his pessimistic and optimistic takes on this.

As always thanks for listening. Please like, subscribe, share to stay updated for future episodes of The FysioAalborg Pod.
Brian