PodChatLive is the monthly live show for the ongoing professional growth and development of Podiatry practitioners as well as other health professionals who can be thinking about the plethora of issues which the show covers. It is managed by Craig Payne from Melbourne, Australia and Ian Griffiths from England, United Kingdom. The livestream goes out live on Facebook and then is later submitted to YouTube. Each live show includes a different individual or number of guests to debate a unique area of interest each time. Queries are answered live by the hosts and guests during the live on Facebook. There is also a PodCast version of every stream available on iTunes and Spotify and the various other usual podcast providers. They’ve created a substantial following which is certainly growing. The livestream could be thought to be one of the ways in which podiatrists might get no cost professional development credits.
In episode 8, they discussed the developments in the pain sciences and the the nature of pain with the physiotherapist and pain instructor, Mike Stewart. The idea became clear that it is very important for all of us to understand pain much better than we have historically and podiatrists must develop the competencies to be able to efficiently communicate this to their patients. The chat determined that pain is really a individual experience. It is an creation of the brain as a result of actual or perceived threat which has the purpose of safeguarding us and getting us to modify our actions. Pain is contextual and it is affected by a number of factors. Mike Stewart is a physical therapist that functions as a Spinal Clinical Specialist for East Kent Hospitals University Foundation National Health Service Trust in the United Kingdom. He works full-time as a clinician with over fifteen years of experience dealing with complicated, persistent pain disorders. Furthermore, he is a dedicated practice-based teacher dedicated to delivering evidence-based training to a wide variety of health professionals, including podiatry practitioners. Mike is currently carrying out an MSc in Clinical Education at the University of Brighton in the United Kingdom. Mike operates the Know Pain training worldwide.