Do you have an underweight client struggling to eat more due to chronic nausea, vomiting, reflux, bloating or abdominal pain?  Do they feel full after consuming only a small amount of food or report constantly feeling full?  If yes to any of the above, you should have them tested for delayed gastric (stomach) emptying. Delayed […]

Up to 66 – 73% of adults with a spinal cord injury are overweight and 30 – 45% are obese. 1, 2  These rates are almost double what is found in the general UK population, where 38% of adults are overweight and 26% are obese.3  Why the difference?   Body composition changes after a spinal […]

  Abdominal pain is one of the most common gastrointestinal symptoms, with 22-25% of the general population suffering with it at any given point in time.1 Diagnosis can be tricky (especially if the abdominal pain is intermittent or symptoms are vague), because there are so many different conditions which can cause abdominal pain. The top […]

    Imagine a life without being able to smell your favourite food or “taste” the delicious flavours in your favourite dish.  How would that affect the quality of your life? Sadly, smell loss (and to a lesser extent, taste loss) is quite common after any type of brain injury.  The more serious the brain […]

Most traumatic injuries result in unwanted long-term weight gain.  However, an amputated limb presents its own unique challenges when it comes to managing weight.  For those with a lower limb trans-tibial or trans-femoral amputation, 40% will go on to gain at least 10% of their body weight over the next ~2 years and will double […]

  If your clients are scheduled for elective surgery, have you already screened them for malnutrition?   NICE guidelines for Perioperative Care in Adults, states that nutritional screening should be completed for everyone having intermediate or major/complex surgery. 1  Improving someone’s nutritional status before and after surgery, is a modifiable risk factor associated with improved […]

If your clients have type 1 or type 2 diabetes, are their blood glucose levels well managed?  How do you know? Just because someone is under the care of a GP or diabetes team, does not guarantee that the person’s blood glucose levels are well managed.  Sometimes advice isn’t adhered to and/or appointments get missed.  […]

  If you have a client with a Grade 3 or Grade 4 pressure injury and/or other wound which is slow to heal, have they ever been reviewed by a dietitian? This may sound like an unusual or surprising suggestion, but there is a massive link between someone’s nutritional status and their body’s ability to […]

There are three ways to listen to our podcast “The role of a dietitian in injury and rehabilitation — an underused resource” (part of their Wider Issues in Catastrophic Injury series) Click on the links below: Timestamp/Outline 00:02 Introduction  05:09 Role of nutrition & dietitian in rehabilitation  12:27 Muscle mass & muscle loss; protein requirements  […]

Antiseizure medication (sometimes also called antiepileptic or anticonvulsant medication) is commonly prescribed to people after a traumatic injury.  This medication is sometimes used to manage seizures/ epilepsy, but can also be prescribed for other conditions, such as neuropathic pain and/or mood disorders. Commonly prescribed varieties include carbamazepine, lamotrigine, levetiracetam, sodium valproate, pregabalin and gabapentin. Antiseizure […]