The issue of opioid addiction has been prominent in the media over recent years. Opioid medications are strong, potentially addictive prescription drugs used for severe pain and following surgery. But how effective are they really? Might they sometimes be doing the opposite, and increasing pain?

Restrictions on gyms, fitness classes and leisure centres are lifting, and most people are eagerly returning to their pre-COVID exercise routines. After such a prolonged break, jumping straight back into exercise can lead to injuries and overuse conditions, particularly in the older adult population. This blog outlines some basic rules to help you return to exercise safely.

Dr Nikki Cummings, principal dietician from Optimal Intake, spoke with Dr Mark Hurworth about her approach to good nutrition - improving our relationship with food and shifting the focus to what we put into our bodies rather than cutting foods out. Nikki advocates that ditching the scales completely might be the way to go. “It is very hard to improve someone’s relationship with food when their only measure is weight loss; all they will end up doing is restricting their intake”.

Watch this highly informative and thought-provoking discussion between Mark Hurworth (Orthopaedic Surgeon) and Ian Dowley (Senior Physiotherapist) about how the decision to operate or not to operate is made. The increasing availability of higher quality radiological imaging often causes a “knowledge explosion” - these images show every little change and irregularity in our bodies. But what is relevant? What is ‘normal’ age-related change and what is actually related to our symptoms? Do these ‘issues’ that have been identified actually need to be surgically ‘fixed’? In a radiological report the complex technical jargon or even the sheer volume of information can be scary and threatening for the patient.

In the 2014-2015 Australian Health Survey, 55.5% of adults between 18 and 64 participated in the recommended amount of weekly exercise. Which means that nearly half of us are not doing enough to get all of the benefits of exercise. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has collated research from around the world to define the recommended minimum guidelines for physical activity in adults from the age of 18.

Dr Demaio discusses lifestyle factors that are shown to help us ‘Wrinkle Well’ across each decade of our adult lives.

The CHECK cohort study findings indicate that when knee or hip OA is painful, it is the overall severity of the symptoms which increase the likelihood of having a joint replacement, rather than the rate at which these symptoms increase over time. As OA symptoms appear to remain reasonably stable over time, it may be beneficial to postpone primary joint replacement surgery to lower the future risks of revision surgery.

Mark Hurworth (Orthopedic Surgeon) and Ian Dowley (Senior Physiotherapist) discuss ‘The Anxious Tendon’ - Approaching tendinopathy treatment as a anxiety disorder of a tendon.