10th Annual ARMA Lecture 2019

No Health Without Mental Health: Why mental health is all of our business
by Brendon Stubbs

20 November 2019

Our annual lecture 2019 explored the links between MSK and mental health, the implications for how we commission and design services and how we work with individual patients. Everyone has a role to play because mental health is all of our business. Brendon Stubbs is Head of Physiotherapy, South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation trust and NIHR Clinical Lecturer, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London.…

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Pain and physical activity: complex issues need collaborative solutions

CEO update by Sue Brown

One of the things I love about my job is the variety of things I get involved in. The wide scope of what is covered by musculoskeletal health and the variety of ARMA members, partners and stakeholders means no two days are ever the same.  August has been a month to prepare for the exciting variety of activity we have planned including our annual lecture, a roundtable on pain, an event on physical activity and more webinars.…

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Mental health and persistent back and neck pain project

Designing care for people living with both mental health problems and persistent back and neck pain

by Jenna Collins, Marketing and Communications Manager, Q Labs, The Health Foundation

In September 2018, the Q Improvement Lab (part of the Health Foundation) and Mind embarked on a year-long collaboration to understand how care can be improved across mental health and persistent back and neck pain.

The Q Lab and Mind have recently shared the first insights from this work, drawing on the experiences of over 100 collaborators to give an overview of why this challenge warrants attention and promising opportunities to improve care.…

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CEO update: Patients with chronic pain deserve nothing less

by Sue Brown, CEO ARMA

I write this reflecting on my day yesterday, which was unexpectedly dominated by discussions on pain. Pain is, of course, something we all talk about a fair bit in the MSK health world, as it’s one of the shared factors that cuts across all MSK conditions. I’m increasingly realising it is something we don’t always deal with particularly well.

My day yesterday began with reading New Scientist on the train, including an article about UK doctors’ concerns that we will follow the US into an opioid crisis.…

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Improving mental health care for people with long term pain

The Q Improvement Lab brings together organisations and individuals from across the UK to pool what is known about a topic, uncover new insights and develop and test ideas. The Q Lab and Mind have just started a 12-month project focusing on improving care for people with a long-term physical and mental health problem, specifically looking at the experiences of people living with both mental health problems and persistent back and neck pain.

Further details about the project can be found here.…

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September 2018 is International Pain Awareness Month

September 2018 has been declared International Pain Awareness Month by the International Association of Patient organizations (IAPO).

Pain Alliance Europe is trying to organize an event in Brussels, end-September, which would involve all bodies who have organized a pain awareness activity during September. This event will depend on the possibility of getting sponsors and the availability of MEPs and rooms.

More information and toolkits can be downloaded from the September is Pain Awareness Month webpage by the American Chronic Pain Association.

Societal Impact of Pain framing paper and webinar

With the help of their partners and endorsers, Pain Alliance Europe has created a Framing Paper and Joint Statement: policy documents that analyse the existing initiatives and remaining gaps in policy actions to tackle the impact of pain on societies, economies and individuals.

This document was discussed with the participants in attendance to the first webinar of the Thematic Network on the Societal Impact of Pain (SIP), hosted by the European Commission, which took place 25 June 2018. The webinar can be watched again here.…

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Living with persistent pain in Wales – consultation open

The Welsh Government has published its draft ‘Living with persistent pain in Wales guidance’ for consultation and is seeking views on the draft guidance which will replace the Service Development and Commissioning Directive for Chronic Non-Malignant Pain 2008.

The consultation is on the proposed direction of the draft guidance, which includes: living with pain, supported self-management and health service provision.

More information on the consultation, together with the draft guidance, can be downloaded from the gov.wales website.

The consultation ends 14 September 2018.…

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Winners announced for European patient-driven pain grant

The inaugural Brain, Mind and Pain Grant announced its winners in June, naming three innovative, patient-centred projects:

  • Master Your Pain by Groningen University – an e-health platform to help patients with rheumatic pain self-manage their symptoms
  • ASPERGA Association for their prototype auditory aid that aims to reduce sensory pain in people with autism spectrum disorder
  • MyBrainNet by Dystonia Europe – a central platform for neurological brain diseases, providing information to patient groups and patients to help improve their quality of life.


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The Pain Alliance Europe 2018 survey

Pain Alliance Europe are asking for responses to the 2018 edition of the Survey on Chronic Pain, which highlights how pain can affect the work-life of pain patients.

The charities who are members of Pain Alliance Europe (PAE) are inviting people with chronic pain or their carers to fill in this short survey on the effect of their chronic pain on their quality of life, their work situation and about any financial help they receive. The survey starts with some basic questions.…

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