Arthritis News & Musculoskeletal News from ARMA's Members

COVID-19 vaccination and MSK

Principles for COVID-19 Vaccination in Musculoskeletal and Rheumatology for Clinicians

(Version 12, 12 September 2022)

Amendment 12th September 2022: Document updated to include latest JCVI and NHSE guidance regarding autumn boosters using second generation bivalent COVID-19 vaccines and results of VROOM study (see section 23 and section 24 respectively)

Amendment 3^rd April 2022: Document updated to include latest JCVI and NHSE guidance regarding spring 2022 boosters (see section 22)

Amendment 3^rd December 2021: Document updated to include latest JCVI guidance regarding boosters for patients who were eligible for a third primary dose (see end of section 21)

Amendment 13 October 2021: Document updated to include revised BSR wording about third primary dose (section 20).…

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Making Moves with Didy Veldman, leading International Choreographer

Recently, NRAS members who signed up took part in a dance and movement programme for people living with RA with leading International Choreographer, Didy Feldman, over Zoom, with Didy leading from the Royal Ballet School.

Dutch-born Didy Veldman trained as a ballet and contemporary dancer in Amsterdam. She danced professionally for fourteen years and began choreographing in 1987. She has created new works nationally and internationally for Birmingham Royal Ballet, Rambert Dance Company, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montreal, the Royal New Zealand Ballet and the Royal Ballet School in London, to name but a few.…

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The new NRAS Young Persons Project Co-Ordinator

by Debbie Wilson, NRAS

I am the new Young Persons Project Co-Ordinator at NRAS. I come to this role with a very personal experience of JIA. I have had JIA nearly all my life and a few years ago my daughter was diagnosed with it too. Thankfully, due to medical advances, the disease can be easier to manage. Unfortunately, some things have not changed: mainly the lack of understanding and awareness of JIA. There is still the stigma of having JIA and I was quite shocked that my daughter got the same comments I used to get, such as: “my granny has that”; “that’s an old person’s disease”; “you are too young to get arthritis.”…

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Joint Action Christmas appeal

Thank you to everyone for donating to the Joint Action Christmas Appeal this year; currently you and Joint Action donors have raised £8,000!

If you haven’t already and would like to donate to the Joint Action Christmas Appeal and help raise funds for trauma and orthopaedic research, you can donate online via Justgiving.

It’s been a year like no other, and while much of the world’s attention has been focused on COVID-19, the needs of people with musculoskeletal diseases have not gone away and sadly in many cases the need has grown.…

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BOA Position statement on waiting times

Facts and figures from the British Orthopaedic Association on reduced operating times and increasing waiting times during 2020 are available here.

BOA Annual Congress 2021 – SAVE THE DATE

Under the theme of ‘Tackling Infection,’ the 2021 Congress will take place 21-24 September at P&J Live, The Event Complex Aberdeen (TECA). The BOA is currently working on the Congress programme, which will be released in early 2021.

If you or your colleagues are not currently BOA members and are planning to attend the next BOA Annual Congress, they will need to become a BOA member no later than Monday 1st March 23:59 to receive the 100% discount during the members Early Bird period!…

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CEO update: Promoting MSK health

The incidence of MSK conditions, particularly neck and shoulder pain, has gone up during the pandemic. This represents a significant amount of pain that would not have happened without the pandemic changing the way we live and work. Which got me wondering how much of the pre-pandemic MSK conditions would have been preventable.

MSK ill-health represents many thousands of lives impacted and restricted by pain and poor mobility. However great the services we have, prevention is the better option where possible.…

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Introducing the new Young Voices panel

In May last year, NRAS began recruiting young people to a special advisory board to act as the voice of young people living with JIA and RA. The aim was for the board to help inform NRAS on how to develop their services for teenagers, young adults, and parents of children with JIA.

They are an inspirational group of young people and even through the difficult times of living with JIA and RA they have all learnt how to thrive. At the first meeting in June, they decided to name themselves the “Young Voices” to reflect their role in raising awareness of the issues affecting young people living with these chronic conditions. …

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NRAS launch a brand new website

NRAS is very excited to announce their brand new website has gone live. A lot of work has gone into development, implementation and design, ensuring an improvement in how NRAS provides information to their members, supporters and the wider rheumatoid arthritis (RA) community.

The latest NRAS publications, updates and activities can be a huge support for those who need it. A priority for NRAS and an expectation from those they support is an easy-to-navigate, user friendly, informational website. This is the way the Society is found by most people.…

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FSEM Statement on Long Covid clinics

The Faculty of Sport and Exercise Medicine (UK) has published a statement on the role SEM consultants can play in new NHS long Covid rehabilitation clinics being set up in England.

Read the statement here.

Sport and Exercise as the Elixir of Life: A webinar with Sir Muir Gray

Recently, FSEM (UK) and the National Centre for Sport and Exercise Medicine presented an inspiration seminar by Sir Muir Gray on the importance of physical activity.

You can watch the webinar on demand here.

NOA moves forward with OQICAN

The National Orthopaedic Alliance (NOA) is moving forward with plans to create an Orthopaedic Quality Improvement (inc. Clinical Audit) Network. The new network will enable specialist orthopaedic centres to be connected as a primary source of support and expertise in all aspects of quality improvement and clinical audit for orthopaedics. It is being led and coordinated by the NOA as part of its remit to bring together orthopaedic centres around the UK to share best practice and address shared challenges.