Doctor reboots military mindset on pain

Every time a veteran pain patient discharges themselves from care, Australian Army veteran and GP Dr Kieran McCarthy (pictured) and his team feel like they have won a major victory.    

‘It’s all about helping to build the skills and strategies to manage their pain and improve their physical and mental health so they can focus on what’s important to them.   

‘This may include returning to work, being able to exercise or completing daily activities. Any gain is a positive gain.’   

The former special operations doctor, who cared for wounded soldiers at the 2nd Commando Regiment over 5 operational deployments, co-founded GO2 Health. 

The service includes veteran-friendly general practice and allied health, mental health support, pain management as well as offering rehabilitation and exercise programs to help increase movement, mobility and strength across the musculoskeletal system.  

Kieran says the service helps veterans to reboot their military mindset on pain and to move forward in positive ways in civilian life.         

‘The military community is made up of people who have been trained as high-performance elite athletes to go to war.  

‘Being in the military is a massive part of their identity and it forms their beliefs, values, thoughts and behaviours, including how they react to pain. 

‘We are here to help them shift unhelpful pain patterns and to reboot their resilience to tackle life’s challenges.’ 

After completing a program, Australian Army veteran Scott now looks forward to the future and no longer sees himself as ‘broken forever.’  

‘I was always worried that doing anything would make the pain worse.   

‘The program re-enforced that pain does not always equal damage, and I can train my body to become resilient and strong again.’ 

Scott lives with severe pain in his mid to lower back and joints from his 5 years' service and his post-military career as a roofer.  

‘The job and training in the Army are hard on your body. And then I continued to wreck my body in construction.’    

Scott has had a tough time both mentally and physically in the past few years and was determined to turn his life around without using medication to numb the pain.  

‘I got into substance abuse because of that and didn’t want to do it again.’ 

Scott is ‘off the tools’ for the moment while he undergoes further programs on his lower back, hip and lower leg. 

‘I was able to deadlift and do squats for the first time in 5 years. Huge shout out to the Exercise Physiology team, Dr Danny, the physio and osteo for their help and support.’ 

Scott’s immediate plans are to get back to work, play sport again, particularly rugby union, and to take up some new hobbies.  

‘I want to take it slowly and to keep building on what I’ve done so far.’  

If you, or someone you know is a veteran or the immediate family of a veteran, they can access free mental health and wellbeing support. 24 hours a day, every day of the year.  

☎️ 1800 011 046