Communication between Health Care Professionals and the Multidisciplinary Focus

Due to the prevalence of musculoskeletal pain and the increasing burden this is placing on society, an increased interest in possible treatment remedies of musculoskeletal pain is evident. The “news section” in a recent British Medical Journal reported that “complementary medicine is booming worldwide”. This is mainly the result of patient satisfaction, costeffectiveness of some of these complementary treatments, and recent scientific evidence justifying the results of certain of these therapies in specific clinical cases. Unfortunately, there are wide variations among countries and within the professions themselves in the way in which they are practised. Further, this increased acceptance does not indicate that communication between professions such as general practitioners, chiropractors and osteopaths is satisfactory.