A local GP surgery has launched new series of joint and back pain webinars to try to reach more people in pain and free up more appointment times.
“20 per cent of GP work is muscular skeletal problems,” explains Dr Abdul Mukadam, director of Akerman Medical Practice on Patmos Road in Myatts Fields. “This way we can pass more information to a lot more people.
“We only see people who feel in pain and want to see a doctor, but there’s a lot of people who don’t want to go to a doctor. We’re just seeing the peak of the iceberg.
“There’s a lot of unmet need, and since lockdown we’ve seen a significant increase.
“We want people to feel ‘I don’t need to suffer. I can do something different. This is going to help me’.”
Webinars cover basic anatomy, common injuries, exercises people can do at home, and offer participants a chance to ask questions.
“It would be too perfect if there was just one advice for all,” says Adrien Lucci, the practice’s first contact physiotherapist. “Everything has to be progressed, you could start with exercises two to three times a week and increase progressively … everything in the body has to be trained.
“If you want to become a doctor you don’t start in high school – you go to med school first.”
Lucci said he wanted to help reduce the levels of stress people felt and demystify the idea that the ‘world stops’ when you’re in pain and encourage people to keep active.
“He also cautioned against Googling problems.
“What we found on the internet goes straight to the worst-case scenario – but it’s just a small percentage.”
The webinars run on Zoom on the third Wednesday of every month, from 5 to 6pm and, so far, have looked at back and shoulder pain.
“We’ll keep going until we cover all the body,” adds practice manager Shaju Panickar.
The webinars are open to anyone registered with the practice and the next webinar, on knee pain, will be held tomorrow – Wednesday 19 May.
To register with the practice visit its website
