MSK & Arthritis News

ARMA responds to the Government’s Prevention Green Paper

23 July 2019

The Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Alliance, an alliance of prominent health charities, professional and research bodies, welcomed the publication of the Advancing our health: prevention in the 2020s consultation document from the UK Government.

The Green Paper recognises that for the last 30 years, problems with joints, bones and muscles have been the most common cause of years lived with disability in England and the Green Paper’s proposition includes increasing the join-up across mental and physical health services. It includes ensuring businesses are equipped with the knowledge and tools they need for musculoskeletal health, convening a reference group on this.…

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Mental health and MSK: why equal health is everyone’s business

Guest blog by Andy Bell, Deputy Chief Executive, Centre for Mental Health

Having a musculoskeletal condition increases your risk of having a mental health problem, and people with a mental health condition are more likely to have a range of MSK problems. Yet the way services for both are organised and the ways professionals in each are trained offers little recognition of the overlaps between them.

Mental health and MSK conditions share some common traits and challenges. Both are complex and diverse.…

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NICE invites stakeholders for guideline on safe prescribing

NICE are inviting organisations to register as a stakeholder for the guideline: ‘Safe prescribing and withdrawal management of prescribed drugs associated with dependence and withdrawal’.

Registered stakeholders will have the opportunity to comment on the draft scope and guideline during consultation and all comments received from registered stakeholders will be considered and responded to individually. You will also be privy to an embargoed release of the guideline prior to publication in the public domain.

To register as a stakeholder, please complete the online form from the NICE website, and you can find more information about NICE’s guideline work here.

Coventry University’s research survey

Last year, ARMA members helped Glykeria Skamagki, the senior lecturer in Physiotherapy at Coventry University, with the first stage of a study into chronic musculoskeletal conditions and their management at the workplace. The results were very interesting and now to follow-up the researchers are conducting a survey to identify the strategies that older employees use to manage chronic musculoskeletal conditions at the workplace.

The aim is to understand the problems highlighted at the interview stage, explore the opinion of the larger population, and ultimately to help people work better.…

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IMPACT-RMD study questionnaire

IMplementation of Physical Activity into routine Clinical pracTice in Rheumatic Musculoskeletal Disease

The IMPACT-RMD study aims to raise awareness on the importance of physical activity in people with Rheumatic and Musculoskeletal Diseases (RMDs). The goal is to help and support managing healthcare practitioners to understand more about physical activity as well as incorporate/include physical activity advice in clinical consultations.

Physical activity has multiple different benefits for RMDs, including better quality of life, better fitness and sleep, less fatigue and pain while it can also reduce inflammation.…

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Good MSK services must include rheumatology, mental health and pain

Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) is very much on my mind as I write this during RA Awareness Week. Yesterday I attended a roundtable discussing the NHS Long Term Plan (LTP) and RA. Rheumatology doesn’t get a specific mention in the plan, but there is plenty of content on related issues. There is mention of chronic pain, for instance, which is very relevant to ARMA and to RA. Access to integrated pain services is something ARMA members have identified as a priority following the publication of our mental health report last month, and by the time this is published I will have presented at a meeting of the Chronic Pain Policy Coalition.…

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Call for service user involvement in MSK physiotherapy study

A team of researchers and clinicians from the University of East Anglia’s School of Health Sciences and the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust are looking for contributors/partners to help in their next project. The project would involve an application for NIHR Research for Patient Benefit (tier 3) funding.

Their aim is to develop a computerised tool to support physiotherapists and patients working together in a more holistic and patient-centred way. Their intention is to work together to improve the outcomes that are important for patients.…

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PCRMM Society Annual Conference 2019

Primary Care Rheumatology & Musculoskeletal Medicine Society Annual Conference
14-16th November 2019
Park Inn Hotel, York

PCRMM supports GPs and Allied Health Professionals to deliver excellent MSK care within Primary Care. The annual conference has something to appeal to everyone with hands-on injection workshops and small group sessions discussing chronic problems such as osteoporosis. The conference programme consists of expert speakers who use the latest evidence-based guidelines in their day-to-day practice. The conference aims to support GP registrars and clinicians in training in a friendly atmosphere with lots of practical experience.…

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