August 05, 2013
Path back from injury slow
Otago University researchers have found that many Māori who are seriously injured are still in pain three months later.
Lead researcher Emma Wyeth says the analysis of Māori who made claims to ACC highlight the need to improve injury prevention strategies for Māori, because injuries can have long-term impacts on health and well-being.
She says almost half the 566 Māori in the sample, which was part of a larger study of almost 3000 injured New Zealanders, experienced problems with mobility.
Dr Wyeth says many people seem to think they can fix, or recover from, an injury quite quickly, but the research shows that most Māori are having problems three months after the event.
She says Māori don’t necessarily need to be hospitalised after injury to experience poor outcomes.
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