Building Function

On today’s podcast we talk to Jessica Allan, a fellow exercise physiologist out of Christchurch who is currently undertaking some important exercise-based research in cancer populations with her colleague, Dr Linda Buss.

We discuss Jessica’s studies and experiences as an EP in her homeland of New Zealand and from her time in Western Australia, and the differences between the two. We also delve into some of Jessica’s research projects, including her current Exercise Oncology feasibility study with the University of Canterbury and Christchurch Hospital and her previous research on Cancer Cachexia. 

Relevant references: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fphys.2022.836804/full

Additional links: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6694/14/10/2512/htm

On today’s podcast we talk to the inimitable Dr Jonny Lo about all-things surfing and his background in medicine and technology, as well as discussing the recent CancerAid Study!

Dr Jonny Lo has had an incredible career to date and brings a wealth of experience to the Building Function podcast. We discuss the rationale and significance of the recent CancerAid Study, what exactly the CancerAid program entails, and also shed light on some of the outcomes of the program on symptoms, quality of life and work-related outcomes. We hope you enjoy! 

Relevant references:

http://canceraid.com

https://apps.apple.com/au/app/canceraid/id1138574844

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=au.com.canceraid&hl=en_AU&gl=US

“There’s an issue with the software, not the hardware”

On today’s podcast we talk to fellow Specialised Health Exercise Physiologist Jennifer Smallridge about all things invisible illnesses! These include but are not limited to conditions such as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia, Ehlers-Danlos syndrome and specifically on todays podcast, POTS, or Postural Orthostatic Tachicardia Syndrome. 

Jen has an abundance of experience working with these target populations out of Melbourne, through her work with Specialised Health, as well as her work in private practice and through the University of Melbourne. We delve into POTS and discuss common symptoms, some causes of POTS, exercise do’s and don’ts and some other strategies that can be helpful in the management of POTS, including Heart Rate Variability. We also touch on the interaction between Long-Covid on POTS conditions, and talk about some real-world examples of POTS patients.

Relevant references: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcvm.2022.860198/full

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6289756/

Additional links:

https://educationinnutrition.com.au/presentations/view/postural-orthostatic-tachycardia-syndrome-pots-oi

www.connectionmedicine.co

Anjelo Ratnachandra is the founder of Beyond Pain and an award-winning practitioner who established one of the first private chronic pain physiotherapy services in Australia. Anjelo and his team based in Melbourne help patients with chronic pain conditions to overcome their challenges and build their function and nowadays Anjelo has become popular not only as a practitioner but also for running his own workshops where he trains other health practitioners in his novel approaches to chronic pain therapy. 

In the new post-pandemic world, Anjelo and his team have become experts at continuing to deliver their novel approach to chronic pain therapy via telehealth and in this episode Anjelo shares some of the secrets to his success so other practitioners, and chronic pain sufferers, can continue to receive treatment and avoid making their difficult journey even longer.

Enjoy!

Today, our NZ-based EP Tessa Nielsen takes the mike to interview a good friend of hers - Api Taiapa - who works as an organisational psychologist in the Air Force in Blenheim, NZ. 

Api gives us some great insight into his favourite areas of psychology, maintaining our mental health and how organisations can better support mental health in the fast-paced world we live in. They talk about how exercise compliments mental health, and conversely, how our psychology can impact on our sports performance. And of course, it's all brought back to the space we work in - how it applies in the return to work space, and what employers can be doing for their employees who have taken time off work due to mental health reasons.

We hope you enjoy it!

Links: 
- The Happiness Lab Podcast: https://www.happinesslab.fm/
- Chatter book: https://www.amazon.com/Chatter-Voice-Head-Matters-Harness-ebook/dp/B087PL8YVQ/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2BG5V48TAH40O&keywords=chatter&qid=1646678449&s=digital-text&sprefix=chatw%2Cdigital-text%2C1196&sr=1-1

Georgia Devine is a Melbourne based Exercise Physiologist working within the Specialised Health team, however, Georgia is one of those remarkable individuals who manages to go ahead and continue studying and so is currently working her way through her Masters of Psychology. 

For that reason we thought Georgia would be a great one to chat to in regards to Burnout, what it is and what you can do to avoid it.

Enjoy!

In this episode, we were lucky enough to rope in Carmyn Barnes to come and have a chat with us about her experience working in the field of Exercise Physiology in New Zealand!

Carmyn studied and worked as an Exercise Physiologist (known as a biokineticist) in South Africa, before crossing the globe to end up in New Zealand. Coming from a country where EP's are well known and well embedded into the health care system, to a country where most people have never heard of Exercise Physiology, was quite a shock to the system for Carmyn! The South African Biokineticist ecosystem is about 20 years ahead of New Zealand, so the Kiwis have some catching up to do!

Luckily, thanks to the work of Carmyn and others working in the profession, things have progressed a lot over the past few years. We are hopeful that Exercise Physiology will follow in the footsteps of both Australia and SA, and continue to gain momentum and awareness in New Zealand over the years to come.

References: https://www.specialisedhealth.nz/blog/ep-for-chronic-health-conditions 

This was an absolute pleasure of a conversation that was immensely enjoyable for me and i'm sure you'll love it too.

Brad McGregor is a lifetime learner and passionate teacher of all topics related to fitness, strength, conditioning and exercise physiology.

Brad is one of the most highly sought after Exercise Physiologists in Brisbane and when plying his trade with our company, Specialised Health, his frequent referrers would happily place their patients on Brad's month long waiting list just to ensure they were able to access his services.

Whilst he's of course a brilliant EP, Brad also had the great skill of being able to clearly and effectively teach others how to ply the trade and it's this part of Brad's skillset that we dig into in great depth in this episode as Brad not only shares his secrets to being a successful educator but also his tips on how to optimise your own learning.

Enjoy!

In this episode we discuss our novel approach to fatigue management which involves helping patients to track various biometric factors such as step count, heart rate and our "hero" metric, Heart Rate Variability, in order to better quantify the loads being placed on their body and using this information to tailor their activity plans more specifically.

We discuss the updated NICE guidelines as well as the previous methods of fatigue management, how we adapted the use of HRV from athletic populations into the clinical space and some of the challenges we encounter along the way.

Enjoy!

Whether it's related to the pandemic or whether we were already trending this way, the incidence of mental health conditions is on the rise. In the general public, there is more awareness of what the symptoms of mental ill-health are, there are more people sourcing treatment and there's less stigma attached to those who are seeking help. But if the general public is improving in all aspects surrounding mental health, why aren't workplaces?

A recent survey found 74% of people with a mental health condition felt they were treated differently at work as a result of their condition, 46% felt their supervisor thought they were exaggerating or faking their illness and only 37.5% felt their employer made an effort to find suitable employment for them.

Given these stats, we as Exercise Physiologists working with patients with mental illnesses felt we had to discuss this topic a little deeper.

Enjoy!