youngpainhealth: a digital platform supporting and co-designed by young people with chronic musculoskeletal pain
Published: 22 August 2023
Article submitted by: youngpainhealth
Young people’s ability to effectively study, work, socialise, stay physically active and enjoy their lives is made more difficult when they live with chronic pain. As young people transition from adolescence through to young adulthood, they are especially vulnerable to mental health conditions, such as depression and anxiety. These experiences are even more likely when they have persistent pain.
Kim’s story is one of many that highlight the common challenges experienced by young Australians living with chronic musculoskeletal pain in their day to day lives. Pain affects nearly every aspect of life, negatively impacting physical, psychological and social wellbeing.
Kim is 19 years old, studying and lives with chronic low back pain and sciatica: “I have lower back pain and sciatica all the time,” Kim says. “It’s not nice to live with but I sort of put up with it. It’s a bit of a miserable outlook at the moment. I’m not wanting to go out a lot of the time because I’m in pain and being on pain [meds] like opiate pain killers is a bit of a scary thing because I thought I was getting dependent at one stage so I had to stop. I just don’t know what to do now. Like, I’m at my wits’ end.”
In previous research, young Australians’ experiences of living with chronic musculoskeletal pain, their interactions with health services and their needs and preferences for pain management, including through digital technologies, were captured. What was clear from this research is that health services for musculoskeletal pain care are currently fragmented, inaccessible and unaffordable for many. Young people seeking care often don’t get the right care at the right time and from the right team.
To bridge this gap, a team of clinical interdisciplinary pain experts and clinical researchers collaborated with young Australians living with chronic musculoskeletal pain to co-design youngpainhealth.
youngpainhealth is a freely accessible digital platform that shares other young people’s experiences and insights into living with chronic musculoskeletal pain, offering credible, evidence-based, age-appropriate content and resources to support their self-management and clinical co-care. youngpainhealth reflects contemporary evidence for musculoskeletal pain and health policy priorities.
youngpainhealth was launched in May 2023. Features include:
- Best practice care and recommendations for common musculoskeletal conditions (low back pain, neck pain, chronic widespread pain, juvenile idiopathic arthritis, complex regional pain syndrome);
- Condition-specific fact sheets highlighting recommended care and high/low value care;
- Young people’s unique pain stories, their tips and insights;
- Holistic self-management strategies, both non-pharmacologic and pharmacologic; and
- Downloadable resources, videos and podcasts.
youngpainhealth was funded through a grant from WA Health with in-kind support from Curtin University. youngpainhealth is currently being extended with funding from an NHMRC Medical Research Future Fund 5-year grant. The team, led by Curtin University researchers, is building a health informatics infrastructure into youngpainhealth to offer young people personalised AI-enabled pain care in their day to day lives.
The youngpainhealth project was led by Professor Helen Slater and Professor Andrew Briggs with support from Dr Nardia Klem (of Curtin University) and clinical experts from across Australia and Canada.
Last reviewed: September 2023