Health
Chronic pain with no real reason?
Do you have chronic pain without a specific cause of injury? Do you have pain that has recurred several times over the course of the year, but never resolves completely? Is your pain persisting without ongoing inflammation or tissue damage? Do you have an injury that is not healing at the expected rate of recovery?
Some chronic pain conditions involving the musculoskeletal system do not seem to improve despite massage and stretching.Tight bands of muscle tissue can develop, which may create pain or cause pain by compressing a nerve that in turn causes pain. This type of dysfunction is called neuropathic pain. When the tight bands of muscle cross over a joint, additional issues can arise due to decreased space for joint movement and stiffness. This can cause issues such as bursitis, tendonitis, and arthritis. Along with muscle shortening, tissues often become supersensitive.
Gunn IMS is a total system for the diagnosis and treatment of myofascial pain syndromes (chronic pain involving the musculoskeletal system when there is no clear sign of recent injury). This approach involves assessment of the whole body to determine where pain is stemming from and what other areas need to be addressed to get long term relief. Not all needling is Gunn IMS, although sometimes the terms can be mistakenly interchanged.
Although comparable, Gunn IMS is different from trigger point needling and acupuncture. A practitioner, knowledgeable in anatomy, completes a thorough physical examination of the whole body to find physical signs of neuropathic pain. If you show signs and symptoms indicative of neuropathic pain and there are no barriers to treatment, Gunn IMS needling can be commenced. Treatment involves a dry needling technique using acupuncture needles to loosen tight bands of muscle tissue. Needling of a normal muscle is painless; however, a shortened supersensitive muscle will grasp the needle or cause a cramping sensation. The effect of the needle causes the muscle bands to relax and lengthen, helps draw blood to the area to support healing, and stimulates the nerve to function normally again. The effects of Gunn IMS are often experienced immediately, with improvements in range of motion, muscle tension and/or pain.
If you think you can benefit from Gunn IMS, contact us and we will get you on the right path to recovery! You can find out more information about Gunn IMS and certified practitioners at www.iSTOP.org
A Little About Us:
Pursuit Physiotherapy in Red Deer, promotes balanced, healthy living through dedicated, individualized physical therapy for those in pain, unable to participate fully in their daily activities, wanting to maximize their function for work or sport, and wanting to prevent potential problems.
If it is affecting your quality of life, then we want to help you to optimize your function and minimize your pain.
We are committed to your health and want to encourage you to be too.
From the Fraser Institute
Tragic stories of multiyear waits for patients are now a Canadian news staple. Is it any wonder, therefore, that a new Navigator poll found almost two-thirds of Canadians experienced (either themselves or a family member) unreasonably long for access to health care. The poll also found that 73 per cent of respondents agree the system needs major reform.
This situation shouldn’t surprise anyone. Last year Canadians could expect a 27.7-week delay for non-emergency treatment. Nearly half this time (13.1 weeks) was spent waiting for treatment after seeing a specialist—that’s more than one month longer than what physicians considered reasonable.
And it’s not as though these unreasonable waits are simple inconveniences for patients; they can have serious consequences including continued pain, psychological distress and disability. For many, there are also economic consequences for waiting due to lost productivity or wages (due to difficulty or inability to work) or for Canadians who pay for care in another country.
Canadians are also experiencing longer delays than their European and Australian universal health-care peers. In 2020, Canadians were the least likely (62 per cent) to report receiving non-emergency surgical treatment in under four weeks compared to Germans (99 per cent) and Australians (72 per cent).
What do they do differently? Put simply, they approach universal care in a different way than we do.
In particular, these countries all have a sizeable and well-integrated private sector that helps deliver universal care including surgical care. For example, in 2021, 45 per cent of hospitals in Germany (a plurality) were private for-profit. And 99 per cent of German hospital beds are accessible to those covered under the country’s mandatory insurance scheme. In Australia, governments regularly contract with private hospitals to provide surgical care, with private facilities handling 41 per cent of all hospital services in 2021/22.
These universal health-care countries also tend to fund their hospitals differently.
Governments in Canada primarily fund hospitals through “global budgets.” With a fixed budget set at the beginning of the year, this funding method is unconnected to the level of services provided. Consequently, patients are treated as costs to be minimized.
In contrast, hospitals in most European countries and Australia are funded on the basis of their activity. As a result, because they are paid for services they actually deliver, hospitals are incentivized to provide higher volumes of care.
The data are clear. Canadian patients are frustrated with their health-care system and have an appetite for change. We stand to learn from other countries who maintain their universal coverage while delivering health care faster than in Canada.
Author:
Competitive compensation for resident physicians
A new compensation agreement for resident physicians has been reached, which will help to retain and recruit more physicians throughout Alberta.
Alberta’s government, in partnership with Alberta Health Services (AHS), the University of Alberta, University of Calgary and the Professional Association of Resident Physicians of Alberta has reached a four-year agreement that provides competitive and fair-market compensation for physicians in training.
The negotiated agreement provides wage increases of three per cent in each of the first two years, and two per cent in each of the last two years. It also includes market adjustments that put Alberta on par with other western Canadian medical schools.
Ensuring resident physicians receive competitive, fair-market compensation while they train and provide services across the province will help stabilize and strengthen acute health care today while bringing medical students and ultimately more physicians to the province to support the province’s future health needs.
“Alberta’s government is grateful for all the hard work resident physicians put in as they complete their training. We are pleased to see that a new agreement has been reached and look forward to more physicians calling Alberta home.”
“We are extremely grateful to all of our resident physicians, who play a vital role in caring for Albertans and supporting our front-line physicians and health care teams. This agreement will help us recruit medical students and encourage them to practise in this province.”
Rural and Remote Family Medicine Resident Physician Bursary Pilot Program
The agreement builds on actions Alberta’s government is taking to make the province a more attractive place for medical students and resident physicians to study and practise. On Oct. 3, Alberta’s government announced measures to improve health care in rural and remote communities through the new Rural and Remote Family Medicine Resident Physician Bursary Pilot Program. The bursary program is part of the province’s Rural Health Action Plan.
The pilot program will provide up to $8 million annually for the next two years to medical students in their final year of an undergraduate medical program when they are matched with a family medicine residency program at the University of Alberta or University of Calgary, or to residents currently completing a family medicine residency at either university regardless of their year of study. In return, bursary recipients will commit to delivering comprehensive patient care in eligible communities for three years after completing their residency.
“With this agreement, Alberta strengthens its position as an attractive destination for resident physicians across Canada. By enhancing compensation, training and working conditions, we ensure Alberta recruits and retains the brightest medical talent to serve our communities and shape the future of health care.”
“The University of Alberta is pleased collaborations with our partners have resulted in an agreement that reflects the critical impact resident physicians make in our health care system so all Albertans receive the care they need.”
“Remuneration, respect, retention and recruitment of rural generalists are key to elevating rural hospitals to becoming rural centres of excellence. With this agreement and bursary pilot program, the Alberta government is recognizing rural health as being different, requiring separate and unique solutions for our communities that are mutually beneficial in enhancing the health of rural Albertans.”
Quick facts
- Resident physicians have graduated medical school but are completing post-graduate training in a residency program to obtain their licence to practise. With residency programs requiring an additional two to seven years of post-graduate training, most resident physicians spend more than 10 years training to become fully licensed physicians and surgeons.
- The Professional Association of Resident Physicians of Alberta represents more than 1,660 resident physicians in Alberta.
- The current agreement between AHS, the University of Alberta, University of Calgary and the association ended on June 30, 2024.
- The resident physician agreement is funded by Alberta Health through a grant to AHS and the universities.
Related information
Related news
- Improving health care in rural and remote Alberta (Oct. 3, 2024)
The FOIA Lady Pleads the Fifth
John Kerry and the Circuitous Assault on Free Speech
TikTok partners with WHO to train influencers, ‘combat misinformation’
Will We Fall For The Same Old PCR Tricks Again?
-
COVID-192 days agoDr. Trozzi expresses optimism after day in court appealing to overturn ban on his medical license
-
Energy2 days agoTMX Pipeline a Success Story – Despite All the Green Battles Against It
-
Daily Caller2 days agoNearly One Million Foreign Nationals Flocked To US For Asylum In 2023, Shattering All-Time Record
-
Education1 day agoFired Alberta Professor Largely Vindicated
-
Alberta2 days ago“It’s Canada’s Time to Shine” – CNRL’s $6.5 Billion Chevron Deal Extends Oil Sands Buying Spree
-
National1 day agoJudge slams Trudeau, media for false claims about deaths, ‘secret burials’ at residential schools
-
Alberta1 day ago
Alberta aggressively recruiting resident physicians from across Canada
-
Alberta21 hours agoLawyers ask Alberta court to allow businesses to seek damages from gov’t for COVID shutdown