MSK & Arthritis News

NRAS Stress Matters survey

At the National Rheumatoid Arthritis Society (NRAS), research helps develop and deliver services to best meet the needs of all those living with inflammatory arthritis. NRAS is planning to develop resources with practical information about managing stress levels. The ‘Stress Matters’ project is an NRAS initiative that aims to develop a better understanding on the topic and develop appropriate resources for people living with inflammatory arthritis (IA).

To kick off the project NRAS has developed a survey to gather your lived experiences of how stress impacts your arthritis as well as your insights into what sort of support, if any, you’ve found or have been offered, that helps.…

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PERFORM Service Provider Advisory Group

Opportunity for involvement in research

The PERFORM research programme is looking at ways to support people with two or more long-term conditions to improve their quality of life. The first part of the study involves working with patients and with service providers to develop a novel multimorbidity exercise-based rehabilitation programme.

To help them develop a programme of support, the researchers want to form a Service Provider Advisory Group consisting of service providers who deliver or manage services for people with long-term conditions.…

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AI in Orthopaedics conference

AI in Orthopaedics, 27 September 2022, London

Orthopaedic Research UK are organising the first national conference dedicated to the role of AI within orthopaedics.

It’s designed to cut through the hype and focus on practical ways in which AI, underpinned by Big Data, can be used to benefit patients and the NHS. Speakers will include senior clinicians, researchers and technologists actively involved in AI projects within orthopaedics, plus NHS leaders and policy makers and include George Freeman (MP) and Ming Tan (NHSE).…

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Consortium to transform leisure facilities into MSK hubs

Good Boost introduces a UK health pilot aiming to explore how the untapped potential of leisure facilities could save millions from painful MSK conditions and billions for NHS.

  • Good Boost, ukactive, Orthopaedic Research UK, ESCAPE-pain and Arthritis Action have formed a health and fitness consortium to research transforming leisure facilities into MSK hubs
  • The project will design, develop and deploy a ‘blueprint’ that includes upskilled leisure teams, AI technology and new patient pathways that aim to improve MSK outcomes and reduce NHS waiting lists
  • UKRI provides £1.4m funding to consortium as part of Healthy Ageing Challenge
  • 20 million people in UK have MSK conditions, costing the NHS £5bn a year

A new health and fitness consortium has launched a two-year research project to investigate how to transform leisure facilities into musculoskeletal (MSK) hubs which can be accessed in every community.…

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NRAS Wellbeing Courses

wellbeing scheduleNRAS launched their Wellbeing Courses in May and owing to their success the next set are now being released.

The NRAS Wellbeing Courses starting within the next month are: 

  • Tripudio: Gentle form of exercise performed to different genres of music. 
  • Yoga: Breathing exercises to help support day-to-day exercises, designed to help create a little mobility and strength throughout the entire body.
  • Tapping for Pain Management: Gently tap the various acupressure points with techniques aiming to relax the mind and body. 

The courses consist of either two or five/six weeks in length, meeting once a week online.…

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Arthritis: the impact on daily life

Arthritis Action launches report on working aged people with arthritis

Arthritis Action has launched new research with YouGov to explore the experiences of people of working age in Great Britain who live with osteoarthritis or rheumatoid arthritis. YouGov carried out an online survey of 2,120 people aged 25 to 65 living with the conditions, comparing the results to a similar survey conducted by YouGov (for Arthritis Action), in 2018 to see how their situations have changed since the pandemic.

The results gave a good picture of people’s concerns, the impact of arthritis on their daily lives, and how they felt they could be helped further by employers and support services.…

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NRAS JIA Awareness Week

13-17 June 2022

Less than a month to go – NRAS is running their first ever JIA Awareness Week. The campaign is all about #SameJIADifferentDay as it can be very frustrating for children, young people and even adults with JIA to keep explaining that JIA is a fluctuating condition, and some days are good, and some are bad. No two days are the same living with JIA.

Please do get involved throughout the week, by:

  • Share, like, retweet #SameJIADifferentDay posts, it makes a big difference
  • You can add a social media frame to your profile: NRAS has a ’JIA Awareness Week’ one and a ‘Wear Purple for JIA’ one.
…

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‘Medicines in RA’ – new module launching in SMILE soon

SMILE-RA is a unique and engaging e-learning experience for people with RA and their families who want to understand more about RA, and its treatments. SMILE-RA has a modular approach to learning, so each module is on a particular theme or subject and takes between 20 mins and half an hour to complete.

There is an intuitive interface that makes it easy to use and navigate your way around. After registering and completing the Foundation module which includes baseline evaluation questions, you can then direct your own learning experience and choose whichever modules are of interest to explore next.…

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NOA Excellence in Orthopaedics Awards launches – nominations open

The National Orthoapedic Alliance (NOA) recently launched the NOA Excellence in Orthopaedics Awards. The awards recognise NOA member organisations, projects and teams that have distinguished themselves through exemplary contributions, influence and commitment to transforming services across orthopaedics – both clinically and non-clinically.

2022 will be the inaugural year for the awards which will take place on the evening of 19 October 2022 following the NOA Annual Members’ Conference. Find out more on the NOA website. If you’re from an NOA member organisation, you can nominate now. …

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Tiny Magic Moments: how treating my RMD has influenced my hopes for the future

By Anna Wilson – EULAR Edgar Stene Prize essay competition, runner-up in the UK national competition

After almost nine years of increasing intensity, the pain throughout my body was becoming unbearable. I vividly remember arriving at my doctor’s appointment that day to receive my blood test results, my fingers tightly clutching a list of symptoms.

“I know it sounds like I’m a hypochondriac,” I began awkwardly, “but I get inflamed eyes, rib cage pain, lower back spasms and stabbing in my hips that is so bad I struggle to walk in the morning.…

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