Research Webinars

Dr. David Walton described the clinical use and interpretation of the MultiDimensional Symptom Index (MSI), a new patient-reported tool that uses a customized scoring matrix to integrate the impact and frequency of 10 different symptoms types relevant to people with musculoskeletal pain. The MSI can be used for creating profiles of a pain experience, screening for other clinical conditions like depression or risk of chronic pain, for estimating the relative contribution of somatic and non-somatic (central) mechanisms of a patient's pain, and for evaluating response to treatment across the different symptoms. If your treatment has an effect on any pain-related symptom, the MSI will likely find it. The MSI including user manual and link to an online interpretation web app can all be accessed for free from here: https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/ptpub/80/

Dr. Alison Rushton described the creation and current status of the SPINA spinal rehabilitation registry. This is the world’s first international rehabilitation-specific registry and database collecting a wide range of information from people with spinal pain including demographics, pain and disability scores, emotional, social, and clinical data, and information on care pathways. It is a longitudinal registry that places ownership of data in the hands of the registrants. The entered data can be accessed by the users themselves to create a ‘SPINA Synopsis’ that displays their health progress, and by approved researchers who can use the data for advanced statistical modeling to better understand the experiences of and influences on spinal pain, rehabilitation, and recovery. More information or ways to get involved can be found at https://uwo.ca/fhs/canspine/spina-registry/index.html.

Dr. Jackie Marsh described recent work on economic evaluations for understanding the value of different health interventions, including rehabilitation. These types of analyses rely upon valid, quantifiable outcomes including direct and indirect healthcare costs and quality adjusted life years. Healthcare cost data can include direct medical healthcare services, non-medical costs such as travel and out-of-pocket expenses associated with healthcare, and the value of time and productivity losses. Utility scores, a preference-based outcome measure of an individual’s health state, are used to weight the length of time spent in a given health state, by their quality of life, to generate an outcome called a quality-adjusted life year. Further details and ways to get involved can be found at https://uwo.ca/fhs/pt/about/faculty/marsh_j.html. 

Dr. Joy MacDermid described the development and clinical utility of the new 10-item Neck Disability (ND10) outcome measure. Dr. MacDermid describes the journey of how the new measure was developed, tested, and how it can now be implemented in practice. The ND10 can be accessed free of charge along with a user and interpretation manual at https://www.sjhc.london.on.ca/research/outcome-measures.

Greg Alcock PT described his experiences as a clinical leader at the Fowler-Kennedy Sports Medicine Clinic in London Ontario, a leading sports injury and rehabilitation centre. Greg provided a balanced view of the value of outcomes measurement in clinical practice, highlighting both the barriers and facilitators of doing so. Where he and his team have successfully overcome the barriers, Greg provides some insights in the interest of helping others learn from those experiences.