Bone and Joint Week 2017

Bone and Joint Week 2017 runs from 12th-20th October

Musculoskeletal conditions affect nearly everyone at some point in their life; they are the biggest cause of disability in the UK, impacting more individuals than any other disease group. Musculoskeletal conditions can affect people of all ages, including children. If not treated appropriately, musculoskeletal conditions can hinder daily activities such as working, walking, climbing stairs, cooking and personal hygiene.

Taking action to improve the way we deal with the health of bones, joints and muscles is important at a national, local and individual level so that we can tackle the enormous impact of musculoskeletal conditions on people and society. Doing so helps people live well, independently and actively.

During this annually occurring event there are dedicated days to highlight major rheumatic and musculoskeletal conditions.

12 October: World Arthritis Day

16 October: World Spine Day

19 October: World Paediatric Bone & Joint Day

20 October: World Osteoporosis Day

Follow the campaign on twitter at @WeAreARMA and #BoneandJointWeek2017.

The Bone & Joint Decade, the Global Alliance for Musculoskeletal Health, gives an overarching theme for the week as well as encouraging active support of the individual days.

NHS England and ARMA published a blog from Professor Anthony Woolf, ARMA chairman to mark the start of Bone and Joint Week.

ARMA published a series of press releases about bone and joint week.

Bone and Joint Week 2017 is part of an international campaign to improve musculoskeletal health.

Round-up of campaigns during Bone and Joint Week 2017

A number of ARMA members are running campaigns during the week:

Arthritis Action: Arthritis Action are celebrating World Arthritis Day 2017 https://www.arthritisaction.org.uk/wad17/

Arthritis Action’s Activity on World Arthritis Day https://www.arthritisaction.org.uk/arthritis-actions-activity-on-world-arthritis-day/

You can read about Charlotte’s Story https://www.arthritisaction.org.uk/living-with-arthritis/charlotte/

Acupuncture Association of Chartered Physiotherapists:        

  • Sent out a press release including information on musculoskeletal health and its impact nationally, locally and individually and how acupuncture with physiotherapy can help treat and manage these conditions.
  • they included information about Bone and Joint Week within their October E-Newsletter, distributed to 6,000 members and are using social media to publicise the campaign.     

Arthritis Research UK:Nation’s joint problem’ campaign raises awareness of the true impact of arthritis on the individual and society.

Chartered Society of Physiotherapy: The Chartered Society of Physiotherapy is launching a Rehab Matters campaign this autumn. Community rehabilitation transforms lives and enables recovery for millions each year, reducing the number of people becoming needlessly disabled and prevented from leading active lives – from stroke survivors and people living with and beyond cancer, to hip fracture patients and people with long- term conditions like arthritis, coronary and lung disease. Currently too many patients have long waits for rehabilitation after leaving hospital, 50% of people who have had a hip fracture are not offered rehab when they leave hospital and if they are, most wait for over four weeks. Find out more from the CSP’s physiotherapy primary care summary briefing page.

College of Podiatry: The Patient’s Perspective – Ten Podiatry and Patient Stories, making a difference to the lives of podiatry patients.

EULAR: The World Arthritis Day is supported by EULAR, and their theme is “Don’t Delay, Connect Today!”. This campaign aims to raise awareness of the importance of early diagnosis in preventing further damage to those living with RMDs, and to encourage timely access to evidence-based treatment. 
You can get involved by liking and sharing posts on our FacebookInstagram and Twitter (#ConnectToday).

Find out more at www.worldarthritisday.org/get-involved.

Fibromyalgia UK: See Fibromyalgia awareness week.

LUPUS UK:

“LUPUS: The Joints and Muscles” Factsheet
“LUPUS: Bone Health & Osteoporosis” Factsheet
“Exercising with Lupus” Blog Article
“Pain Management” Blog Article
“Exercising with Lupus” Video

NASS is delighted to launch the third in their series of videos about ankylosing spondylitis Managing Your AS. The video focuses on the importance of exercise for AS and the use of medication in managing the condition. This follows on from their two previous releases What is AS? and Ankylosing Spondylitis – Not just back pain.
NASS is asking that supporters share these videos with family and friends to help them to understand how AS affects their lives, and to generally raise awareness.

National Osteoporosis Society: See their campaign: A message to my younger self.

National Rheumatoid Arthritis Society: See www.nras.org.uk

NHS England: A blog from ARMA Chair Anthony Woolf was published, and they are supporting ARMA on social media.