Editor's Note, Volume 12 Issue 2

D’Arcy Little, MD, CCFP, FCFP, FRCPC Medical Director, JCCC and HealthPlexus.NET

I am pleased to introduce the next issue of the Journal of Current Clinical Care for 2022!

In Part 2 of their article A Practical Guide to Managing Low Back Pain in the Primary Care Setting: Imaging, Diagnostic Interventions and Treatment, Drs. José M. Orenday-Barraza, Maria José Cavagnaro, Leah Hillier, Eric John Crawford, Brandon Hirsch, Ali A. Baaj, Robert A. Ravinsky and Conner Joseph Clay and Leeann Qubain explore effective treatment of low back pain that can be frequently delivered in the primary care setting. Knowledge of common pain generators and recognition of pain patterns based on the history and physical exam helps guide the treatment of LBP without the need for excessive resource utilization. The majority of patients presenting with LBP can be confidently managed with targeted conservative management; when this fails further investigation may be warranted. Part 2 of this review focuses on imaging and diagnosis of LBP, as well as a detailed review of treatment modalities.

The worst of the COVID-19 pandemic is finally behind us and in her article ‘The New Normal?’: Living ‘with COVID’, Dr. Marina Abdel Malak looks at the challenges of learning to ‘live with COVID-19’. The article will provide some answers to such questions as what does living ‘with COVID’ mean? Who should continue wearing masks? Should we change the way we think about infections? Should we wear personal protective equipment all the time? Does it mean leaving the pandemic life behind and returning to what was ‘previously normal?’.

Dr. Michael Gordon, Emeritus Professor of Medicine from the University of Toronto offers two medical narratives. In the first, Dr. Gordon urges us to Read More Novels, Less News due to all the negative news in the current media. The second narrative, The Banning and Burning of Books, looks at cancel culture and at what happens in the digital world when those who disapprove of certain books now have platforms to disseminate their opposition to these books in schools, libraries and bookstores more easily than in centuries past. Both narratives are food for thought and worth reading.

I hope you enjoy this latest edition. Please consider commenting or submitting an article of your own.