MSK & Arthritis News

Economic Growth and Increased Productivity: Boosting the MSK Health of the Working Nation

Arash AngadjiGuest blog by Dr Arash Angadji, Chief Executive, Orthopaedic Research UK

The nation has a musculoskeletal (MSK) problem. As a society we have tended to focus on MSK issues relating to the ageing population, but the latest figures on the number of people not working in the UK due to long-term sickness (including poor MSK health) highlight how we need to start thinking of poor MSK health as a multi-generational challenge. According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), more than two and a half million people are currently unemployed due to health-related issues, including back and neck pain.…

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Why ICBs must prioritise MSK (and what you can do to help)

by Sue Brown, CEO ARMA

My own local ICS, like many others, has the following ambition in its current strategic plan: “To eradicate the gap in healthy life expectancy between NECN ICS and the rest of the country”. The strategy contains one mention of improving access to MSK services and two local examples of work to achieve this. It’s not enough, and here’s why.

On 1 June, the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) published a report on understanding the drivers of healthy life expectancy.…

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ARMA welcomes Cemplicity

ARMA welcomes new associate member Cemplicity!Cemplicity banner

“Cemplicity is a group of passionate individuals dedicated to moving the world towards a patient-centric health system that is self-sustaining and inclusive. We work side-by-side with care teams to extract insights that can only come from the patient. This insight helps us to better understand how patients are experiencing and responding to care.

“Our healthcare-specific technology, allied with our team’s industry-leading expertise, makes it easy for healthcare organisations to action improvement through patient feedback and make better clinical and operational decisions.…

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Booking is open for Chiro Live 2023

Chiro 2023 logoBook your ticket to the British Chiropractic Association’s annual conference – Saturday 18 November 2023

It is with great pleasure that the British Chiropractic Association (BCA) announces to the MSK community that booking for their annual conference, Chiro Live 2023, is now officially open. The event will take place on Saturday 18 November at The Vox, Birmingham.

Attendees can book their tickets at an early bird rate until Friday 16 June 2023, so if you are interested in attending, click the link below and make use of this fantastic offer today.…

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The role of osteopaths in early DCM diagnosis

The results of a study recently published in the JMIR, has concluded that given that osteopaths are a workforce professionally trained to examine musculoskeletal disease, they could have an important role in accelerating access to timely diagnosis and treatment of Degenerative Cervical Myelopathy (DCM).

DCM presents significant diagnosis and timely treatment challenges. Exploring these challenges, it had been observed that those with suspected or undiagnosed DCM frequently consult osteopaths for care for their symptoms.

To further explore the potential role of osteopaths in enhancing the diagnostic pathway, a survey was conducted among registered UK osteopaths by the charity Myelopathy.org…

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Sign joint letter to end the postcode lottery for FLS care

The Royal Osteoporosis Society (ROS) is asking healthcare professionals to sign a joint letter to be published in the Sunday Express calling for an end to the postcode lottery for Fracture Liaison Services (FLS).

If you are a healthcare professional, you can sign the letter here, and the ROS would be very grateful if you could share it with other healthcare professionals through your organisation.

Fracture Liaison Services are the world standard model for fracture prevention. They allow people who have suffered their first fracture to be identified, diagnosed and treated, in a timely way, with anti-osteoporosis medications which keep bones strong.…

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Community-Powered MSK: ARMA Annual Lecture 2023

More and more of us are living with long-term MSK conditions, putting increasing pressure on our already over-stretched NHS and local services. Is the current model unsustainable? And what does the future of MSK care look like?

These were questions explored in the well-attended 2023 ARMA Annual Lecture. We were delighted to welcome two leading experts in their fields, Adam Lent, Chief Executive of New Local, and Laura Finucane, Consultant Physiotherapist and Clinical Director of Sussex MSK Partnership, who shared their insights with a lively audience.…

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Join a chorus of local voices for MSK

Integrated Care Boards have been in place for almost a year now. Over that year, we have seen the profile and status of MSK health rising at a national level. It is difficult to tell if that profile is reflected at an ICB level. If not, then all the national profile in the world won’t make a difference to people with MSK conditions. That’s why ARMA is making local MSK services a priority with a new project, and we need you to get involved.…

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NRAS SMILE-RA webinars

NRAS will be hosting two webinars on the 25 May and 31 May to explain more about their free online self-management programme SMILE-RA and how it can help health professionals and their patients.

The webinars are free to attend and will cover:

  • Introduction to SMILE-RA.
  • How the programme can help patients and the importance of self-management.
  • How to register for the SMILE-RA programme.
  • What the clinicians and rheumatology health professionals have to say.
  • A Q&A session on the programme.

Visit the SMILE-RA page to sign up.…

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