Slowly integrating people with back pain best

Media release – February 15, 2007

Integrating people with back pain slowly back into society better than staying at home – says expert

A Canadian rehabilitation expert backed by Accident Compensation has just arrived in New Zealand to discuss new ways of helping thousands of New Zealanders with back pain.

Michael Sullivan is a key speaker at the international rehabilitation conference in Rotorua tomorrow and will be outlining his views how to help more people to recover more quickly from back pain.

``It is a very costly issue. You know more money is spent on back pain in North America than on education,’’ Dr Sullivan said today.

Dr Sullivan is professor of psychology and medicine at McGill University in Quebec. He is known for his research on pain and for the development of community-based approaches to the management of pain-related disability.

``I would estimate around 9000 people in New Zealand are out of work because of back pain. That’s a lot of people. About 80 percent are off work for a month to six weeks but the other 20 percent don’t get back to work for a long time, some if ever at all.

``We know that people who return to their usual activities as soon as possible will recover faster than people who remain inactive following injury. It is becoming clearer that people don’t get cured of their musculoskeletal problems. If we keep them out of the work place until they are ‘cured’ we will be waiting a long time.’’

ACC is particularly interested in hearing more about some of Dr Sullivan’s gradual integration systems to help back pain sufferers return to normal life.

Conference organiser Duncan Reid of Auckland said Dr Sullivan’s programmes were part of new global trends in helping people recover from serious injury.

The focus of the conference is improving life for people with injury and illness such as physical and neurological disorders, traumatic brain injury, stroke, multiple sclerosis and arthritis, back and neck injuries, is the focus of the conference.

World experts are outlining overseas trends, ACC staff will promote their new rehabilitation strategy and those who have experienced severe injuries will also speak.

Neuro-imaging, robotics , virtual reality and the role of sport and exercise are key issues for debate among 200 delegates at the three day conference.

This event also marks the formation of a new organisation - the National Rehabilitation Research Institute (NIRR). This collaboration of New Zealand Rehabilitation researchers aims to promote excellence in rehabilitation research.

Founding members of the NIRR include AUT University, the Medical Research Institute of NZ, the Wellington School of Medicine and Health Sciences and Massey University with growing involvement and support of other partners.

The conference will showcase the cutting edge of new developments in rehabilitation and importantly - encourage future collaborative research in rehabilitation.

With an ageing population and people surviving what until relatively recently would have been fatal neurological injuries, rehabilitation is an increasingly important part of health and social provision, Reid said.

ENDS

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