Dr McKenzie splits his time
evenly between General Practice (Wakefield Health Centre) and Musculoskeletal Medicine
(Nelson Orthopaedic Group). As such he is in a unique position - dealing with
pain from acute presentations through to chronic management (including Chronic
Pain Assessments).
He is a lecturer for the Otago
University Musculoskeletal Diploma, as well as taking some teaching sessions
for the GP and Musculoskeletal Registrar Programmes.
He is very keen on exercise
as a key component of maintaining a healthy lifestyle and participates in
running, biking, skiing, tennis and kayaking.
Reducing Pain Medication in Acute Pain
The use of medication in acute pain is widespread,
medically recommended and socially accepted, in fact expected.
There are a number of stepwise approaches with the
WHO analgesic “ladder” being the most widely accepted. Although it was
developed for cancer pain, it has been used when treating other pain such as
acute pain.
This talk will mostly be limited to musculoskeletal
pain. It will not be a pharmacology lecture, but will cover the various
medications commonly used, and highlight some key points with regard to each.
Reducing the use of medication is a laudable aim,
but in practice can be difficult to achieve. A holistic view of dealing with
acute pain that de-emphasises medication use will be discussed.
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