"This is hard to cope with": the lived experience and coping strategies adopted amongst Australian women with pelvic girdle pain in pregnancy.

Background: Women with pregnancy-related pelvic girdle pain (PPGP) report diminished ability to perform physical activities and experience higher rates of mood disorders, such as anxiety and depression, than pregnant women without PPGP. Despite these physical and psychological impacts, little is known about the lived experiences of PPGP amongst Australian women and the ways in which they cope. Situated within biographical disruption and social support theories, this study sought to gain a conceptual understanding of the experience and impact of PPGP on daily life, and how women cope with this condition during pregnancy.

Recognising ethnocultural diversity in chronic pain assessment: validation of the Pictorial Representation of Illness and Self Measure (PRISM) for use with culturally diverse communities.

Background: A comprehensive and accurate assessment of pain is critical for successful pain management. However, there is a lack of reliable and valid assessment tools for exploring multidimensional aspects of the chronic pain experience in culturally and linguistically diverse communities. This study investigates the reliability and validity of the Pictorial Representation of Illness and Self Measure + (PRISM+) for evaluating pain-related suffering and the sociocultural context of chronic pain within culturally and linguistically diverse patient cohorts.

How do Australian women cope with pelvic girdle pain during pregnancy? A qualitative study protocol.

Introduction: Pelvic girdle pain is commonly experienced during pregnancy and results in significant physical, psychosocial and work-related challenges. Few studies have investigated the lived experiences of pregnant women with pelvic girdle pain and their coping strategies. There is a need to develop a greater understanding of this prevalent condition among Australian women.

Integrating culturally informed approaches into physiotherapy assessment and treatment of chronic pain: a pilot randomised controlled trial.

Objective: To evaluate patient engagement with, and the feasibility of, a novel, culturally adapted physiotherapy pain management approach.

Design: A participant-blinded and assessor-blinded pilot randomised controlled trial.

Setting: Outpatient physiotherapy departments at two public hospitals and one district pain clinic.

The Intersections of Chronic Noncancer Pain: Culturally Diverse Perspectives on Disease Burden.

Objective: This study highlights the burden of chronic non-cancer-related pain from the perspectives of three culturally and linguistically diverse communities, using an intersectionality analysis. Specifically, we identify how multiple social identities intersect to account for the unequal distribution of the burden of chronic pain.

Design And Methods: Six focus groups of 41 culturally and linguistically diverse participants (Mandaean, Assyrian, and Vietnamese) living with chronic noncancer pain were conducted in South-West Sydney, Australia, between February and July 2015.

Disruption of cortical synaptic homeostasis in individuals with chronic low back pain.

Objective: Homeostatic plasticity mechanisms regulate synaptic plasticity in the human brain. Impaired homeostatic plasticity may contribute to maladaptive synaptic plasticity and symptom persistence in chronic musculoskeletal pain.

Methods: We examined homeostatic plasticity in fifty individuals with chronic low back pain (cLBP) and twenty-five pain-free controls.

An exploration of the experience of pain among culturally diverse migrant communities.

To explore the ethnocultural influences on the chronic pain experience in three culturally and linguistically diverse communities in Australia. Six focus groups were conducted with 34 women and 7 men (ages 36-74 years) who self-identified as Mandaean, Assyrian or Vietnamese. A purposive sample of community-dwelling adults living with chronic pain (daily pain >3 months) was recruited from community organizations.

Integrating culturally informed approaches into the physiotherapy assessment and treatment of chronic pain: protocol for a pilot randomised controlled trial.

Introduction: There is strong evidence that biopsychosocial approaches are efficacious in the management of chronic pain. However, implementation of these approaches in clinical practice is known not to account for the beliefs and values of culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) patients. This limitation in translation of research contributes to the disparities in outcomes for CALD patients with chronic pain adding to the socioeconomic burden of this prevalent condition.

Reduced Short- and Long-Latency Afferent Inhibition Following Acute Muscle Pain: A Potential Role in the Recovery of Motor Output.

Objective: Corticomotor output is reduced in response to acute muscle pain, yet the mechanisms that underpin this effect remain unclear. Here the authors investigate the effect of acute muscle pain on short-latency afferent inhibition, long-latency afferent inhibition, and long-interval intra-cortical inhibition to determine whether these mechanisms could plausibly contribute to reduced motor output in pain.

Design: Observational same subject pre-post test design.

Graft tensioning practices in anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction amongst orthopaedic surgeons in Australia: a national survey.

Purpose: The application of graft tension during anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction is considered an important feature of ACLR. However, wide variation exists in relation to graft tensioning practice limiting the ability to determine the best approach. Thus, the primary aim of this study was to describe current clinical practice amongst Australian orthopaedic surgeons with respect to graft tensioning and explore influencing factors.

Novel adaptations in motor cortical maps: the relation to persistent elbow pain.

Introduction: Unilateral elbow pain results in sensorimotor dysfunction that is frequently bilateral, affects local and remote upper limb muscles, and persists beyond resolution of local tendon symptoms. These characteristics suggest supraspinal involvement. Here, we investigated 1) the excitability and organization of the M1 representation of the wrist extensor muscles and 2) the relation between M1 changes and clinical outcomes in lateral epicondylalgia (LE) (n = 11) and healthy control subjects (n = 11).

The effect of electrical stimulation on corticospinal excitability is dependent on application duration: a same subject pre-post test design.

Background: In humans, corticospinal excitability is known to increase following motor electrical stimulation (ES) designed to mimic a voluntary contraction. However, whether the effect is equivalent with different application durations and whether similar effects are apparent for short and long applications is unknown. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the duration of peripheral motor ES influenced its effect on corticospinal excitability.

Initial graft tension and the effect on postoperative patient functional outcomes in anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction.

Purpose: The aim of this review was to investigate the effect of initial graft tension on patient-specific functional outcomes after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction and determine whether a particular tension is associated with superior functional outcome.

Methods: We performed a systematic review of prospective randomized trials with a National Health and Medical Research Council Australia level of evidence of III or higher published between 1950 and July 2012. Studies using a semitendinosus-gracilis or bone-patellar tendon-bone autograft that reported graft tension and postoperative functional outcomes were included.

Primary sensory and motor cortex excitability are co-modulated in response to peripheral electrical nerve stimulation.

Peripheral electrical stimulation (PES) is a common clinical technique known to induce changes in corticomotor excitability; PES applied to induce a tetanic motor contraction increases, and PES at sub-motor threshold (sensory) intensities decreases, corticomotor excitability. Understanding of the mechanisms underlying these opposite changes in corticomotor excitability remains elusive. Modulation of primary sensory cortex (S1) excitability could underlie altered corticomotor excitability with PES.

Characteristics of student preparedness for clinical learning: clinical educator perspectives using the Delphi approach.

Background: During clinical placements, clinical educators facilitate student learning. Previous research has defined the skills, attitudes and practices that pertain to an ideal clinical educator. However, less attention has been paid to the role of student readiness in terms of foundational knowledge and attitudes at the commencement of practice education.

Interaction between simultaneously applied neuromodulatory interventions in humans.

Background: Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a neuromodulatory technique with the potential to enhance the efficacy of traditional therapies such as neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES). Yet, concurrent application of tDCS/NMES may also activate homeostatic mechanisms that block or reverse effects on corticomotor excitability. It is unknown how tDCS and NMES interact in the human primary motor cortex (M1) and whether effects are summative (increase corticomotor excitability beyond that of tDCS or NMES applied alone) or competitive (block or reduce corticomotor excitability effects of tDCS or NMES applied alone).

Priming the brain to learn: the future of therapy?

Neuromodulatory techniques with the ability to alter cortical excitability are gaining interest for their potential to enhance the brain's sensitivity to traditional therapies. Neuromodulatory techniques that prime the brain prior to manual or exercise therapy hold therapeutic promise for enhancing clinical outcomes in musculoskeletal and neurological conditions. The integration of these techniques into physiotherapy practice represents an exciting opportunity for the therapists of the future.