MSK & Arthritis News

New webinar: Cauda equina syndrome

What everyone working with back pain needs to know about Cauda equina syndrome

Friday 21 February 2020, 12.30pm

Cauda equina syndrome (CES) is a rare condition that affects the nerves in the spine supplying the bladder, bowel and sexual function. Identification and subsequent urgent action is required to avoid permanent damage to these essential organs. Delays in diagnosis can have devastating and life changing consequences for patients and result in high cost negligence claims.

This webinar will be of interest to any health professional treating patients with low back pain, particularly those seeing this patient group in pre-surgical settings.…

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General Election 2019 arthritis pledges

Versus Arthritis would like to thank everyone who supported their aims during the election campaign:

  • Almost 2,000 people asked their candidates to pledge to champion the needs of people with arthritis;
  • 6,000 emails were sent to candidates across the four nations;
  • Hundreds of candidates tweeted and emailed their support.

People can still add their voice by sending a message to the MP in their constituency about what it’s like to live with arthritis and why they need to take action. Visit the General Election page on the VA website.

NICE guideline on digital and mobile health interventions

NICE is developing a guideline on Behaviour change: digital and mobile health interventions and ARMA has been invited to register as a stakeholder.

If your organisation would like to register as a stakeholder for this guideline, please complete the online registration form which can be accessed via the topic webpage.

Organisations registered as stakeholders can comment on the draft scope and draft guideline, and contribute in other ways. Registered stakeholders will have the opportunity to comment on the draft guideline during consultation and all comments received from registered stakeholders will be considered and responded to individually.…

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PCRMM welcomes Lucy Douglas as the new President

You may have noticed that the PCR Society is now PCRMM – Primary Care Rheumatology & Musculoskeletal Medicine Society. The Society feels that this new name encompasses all of the conditions covered and will encourage more GPs, physios and AHPs to both join the Society and attend the conferences.

The PCRMM is pleased to welcome Lucy Douglas as the new President of the PCRMM. Elected at the recent AGM, she is a GP with a special interest in MSK, primary care rheumatology, and MSK ultrasound, currently working in East Lancashire and West Yorkshire.…

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NASS Aspiring to Excellence programme begins

In early December the initial cohort of the multi-year service improvement programme Aspiring to Excellence met for their first day of shared learning. The cohort, made up of members of the six teams awarded a place on the programme, began the process of planning for their department’s improvement aims.

The group will meet four times a year for three years and be given expert support to help catalyse across-the-board improvements in the availability of services and quality of care available for axial SpA patients.…

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Social prescribing in osteopathic practice

Osteopaths can, and do, make a positive impact on the public’s health. We are focused on prevention and the maintenance of health and wellbeing – so it’s natural that we are considered part of a wider health workforce that can make every contact count.

Shirley Cramer, the CEO of Royal Society Public Health, shares her view of the role of osteopaths in social prescribing as the iO’s opening keynote speaker at iO Convention 2019. Watch the session here:

MSK health – not just doctors and nurses

CEO update by Sue Brown, ARMA

The general election is now in full swing. In amongst the Brexit debate, the NHS has been getting quite a bit of attention, albeit somewhat narrow in focus. I hope that after the election, whoever is in government, this debate will widen so that we can talk about health, not just the NHS, about more than hospitals, doctors and nurses.

One other thing an election brings is restrictions on what government bodies are allowed to do.…

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Latest Productive Healthy Ageing Profile

Public Health England has published the Productive Healthy Ageing Profile data update for November 2019.

This tool provides data on a wide range of topics relevant to healthy ageing. Indicators can be examined at local, regional or national level.

The aim of this tool is to support PHE productive healthy ageing policy and inform public health leads and the wider public health system about relevant key issues.

Many indicators are also now available for the latest local authority and clinical commissioning group geographies.  

Annual ARMA Lecture 2019

20 November 2019

Introduced by Sue Brown ARMA CEO and Liam O’Toole, CEO, Versus Arthritis who partnered with ARMA for this flagship lecture, the two presenters Sue Patey and Dr Brendon Stubbs, delivered speeches to an attentive audience of patients, public health, health education and NHS officials.

Sue Patey, who has arthritis, spoke about the impact arthritis had on getting dressed, eating and on her mental health in a moving, honest speech.

Dr Brendon Stubbs is Head of Physiotherapy, South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, and NIHR Clinical Lecturer at Kings College London.…

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Guest blog: The fight against fragility fractures

by Ellie Davies, Acting Project Manager, Falls and Fragility Fracture Audit Programme (FFFAP)

The challenge:

520,000 cases of fragility fracture occur every year amongst those (primarily over-50s) suffering with the bone-weakening disease known as osteoporosis. That is 520,000 broken bones caused by as little as slipping in the shower, stepping off a curb even. This is not only a huge economic burden on the NHS, approximately £5.25 billion, but an epidemic that has lasting physical and emotional repercussions for sufferers. It is upsetting to learn that 42% of older people say that osteoporosis has made them feel more socially isolated.…

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