world. We all have an amazing relationship that is spreading the value of interprofessional collaboration to all these communities.” Since the Mahalapye and Shoshong clinics opened, more than 1,000 patients have received care from more than a dozen volunteer chiropractors and health-care professionals around the world. The experience of flying across the continent to offer care for those who need it the most is as person-ally rewarding as it is professionally gratifying. Not only are volunteers encouraged to learn as much of the local language as they can, but they have also been faced with interesting and sometimes rare conditions that would pique the interest of most scientific prac-titioners. “The volunteers deal with more unique and inter-esting pathologies in a month than I ever experienced in 10 years of practice,” says Outerbridge. “In our clinics we have seen Paget’s, abdominal aortic aneurisms, Pott’s spine, septic arthritis, DISH (diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis), odontoid fracture, Blount’s diseases, kidney infections, hydro-nephritis, Sprengel’s deformity, neurogenic claudica-tion, situs inversus… and much more.” Proper diagnosis and treatment of these conditions are crucial. Without the availability of spinal care specialists and appropriate model of care, these pa-tients would simply be sent home from the hospital with pain medications. WSC’s team of multidiscipli-nary spinal care specialists is hoping to change this paradigm. “Everything about Scott’s vision resonated with me – evidence-based, sustainable, interprofessional care for those in need,” Outerbridge recalls. “Here was the opportunity to impact so many more people by cre-ating multiple clinics that would be the training ground for so many future chiropractors and possibly influence the future direction of chiropractic and its expansion around the world.” Although actively spearheaded and supported by chiropractors and chiropractic institutions, WSC’s vision of creating greater global access to musculo-skeletal care requires interprofessional collaboration – chiropractors working side-by-side and consulting with other health-care practitioners like surgeons, physiotherapists, rheumatologists, orthopedic special-ists and other spine care specialists. This collaboration not only ensures effective and efficient care for WSC communities but also sets the stage for the chiropractic profession’s integration into the health-care system on a global scale. “By introducing chiropractic to health-care systems that have not incorporated spinal care in any way, we are establishing chiropractic as an integral, fully ac-cepted part of the health-care teams,” Outerbridge says. “Our interprofessional team involves leading sur-geons, physiotherapists and others in the spine care www.canadianchiropractor.ca Burden of disease It is a known fact in the health-care world that low-back pain affects up to 85 per cent of people at one point in their lives. Yet, there has never been any es-tablished model of care for spinal disorders, particu-larly in the developing world, says Haldeman. It’s a realization that motivated the establishment of WSC and its vision of creating a model of care that can be instituted in poor communities and effect meaningful changes to the disability landscape. “We now know, through the Global Burden of Disease, (back pain) is the number one cause of disability,” says Haldeman. In 2012, the Global Burden of Disease report, published in the medical journal The Lancet, recog-nized low back pain as the leading cause of disability worldwide. The report cites spinal disorders as con-tributing more to the global burden of disease than HIV/AIDS, malaria, stroke, lung and breast cancer, diabetes, traffic injuries, lower respiratory infections, Alzheimer’s and depression. In developed countries, such as Canada, access to health care and social services is almost a matter-of-fact. When a worker suffers from musculoskeletal pain, for instance, systems are in place to offer social and health-care assistance to support the worker – and his family – through the recovery process. June 2014 Canadian Chiropractor 29 Photos by Dr. Geoff Outerbridge
Chiropractic + Naturopathic Doctor June 2014: Page 29
