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Promoting OT to improve outcomes in chronic pain Katrina Liddiard, Academic at Edith Cowan University
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or people with chronic pain, a multidisciplinary approach can achieve better quality-of-life outcomes (Vartiainen et al., 2019). This should include occupational therapists, who can help restore, or establish, meaningful occupation for the more than 3.24 million Australians whose lives and livelihoods have been significantly disrupted by chronic pain (Breivik et al., 2006; Dueñas et al., 2016; Economics, 2019). Occupational therapy is well placed to expand its scope and scale within primary care settings (Jordan, 2019), particularly in chronic pain management. While people with chronic pain can expect better outcomes with timely referral to occupational therapy services , this will only
occur if other healthcare providers know what occupational therapy can achieve. We must therefore actively promote, not just explain, occupational therapy. The role of occupational therapy is not always well-understood. Chronic pain is a current health crisis, and the incidence may increase following the Covid-19 pandemic (Clauw et al., 2020), so it is vital that occupational therapists speak up about the role they can play in chronic pain management. There has been a recent expansion of physiotherapists and psychologists addressing aspects of chronic pain that occupational therapists could often carry
out more instinctively and effectively. This is not to diminish the important role those professions play, but simply to question whether we, as a profession, could do more to educate other health professionals about our unique knowledge and contribution in the chronic pain field. A recent multidisciplinary, professional development session highlighted the need to better communicate the benefits of occupational therapy. Two experienced, non-occupational therapy professionals reflected with surprise and fascination on their Aha! moment when a client they had been treating for many months suddenly improved dramatically – emotionally, physically and cognitively – when he returned to horse riding (a passion he had before an injury). Of course, the occupational therapists in the audience nodded politely, while screaming internally: “Of course he did! That’s what meaningful occupation can do!” Many general practitioners (GPs) – often the first point of contact for people with chronic pain – are also unaware of occupational therapy’s unique perspective in chronic pain management. During 2020, a Western Australia training day called “Managing Pain: A Team Approach” was established for GPs. The line-up of presenters on the first occasion included an addiction specialist, anaesthetist, pharmacist, psychologist, physiotherapist and psychiatrist, but no occupational therapist. The psychiatrist spoke strongly about the huge benefit he had seen when his patients attended
Attendees at “Managing Pain: A Team Approach”, November 2021, (left to right) Wey Chan, Katrina Liddiard (presenter), Kym Beanland, Gemma Porter, Elenita Ford and Catherine Yates. 18 otaus.com.au
