Author: Garreth

Guest blog: Rethinking activity and movement in care homes

by Catherine Holmes, National Service Improvement Manager, Anchor

I was thrilled to read Sue Brown’s (CEO, ARMA) September blog and the proposed plan for an event on physical activity. The importance and benefits of staying active is already widely accepted and understood in terms of maintaining joint movement, bone and muscle strength and this is especially important for residents living in care homes. The challenge for care is to create opportunities for people with a wide variety and often multiple and complex health needs such as musculoskeletal, limited or a lack of mobility and living with dementia to keep engaged and active.…

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BOA Instructional Course

BOA Instructional Course

The BOA Instructional Course was established to help trauma and orthopaedic (T&O) surgeons to establish strong foundations for practice and assessment. We provide the opportunity for a number of Case Based Discussions (CBDs) across a range of topics but also to network and attend lectures delivered by expert clinicians. This one-day programme runs two parallel streams and provides curriculum-driven clinical updates and critical condition assessment opportunities aimed at T&O trainees and SAS surgeons. For more information please click here.…

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New chair-based exercises for people with arthritis

Arthritis Action has launched a new webpage featuring arthritis-friendly exercises using animated images (GIFs). These chair-based strength and conditioning exercises were developed in partnership with wellbeing organisation Oomph!,  mobilising different parts of the body.

The exercises were designed with the aim to recondition and build mobility and confidence in people who have not been keeping active. The can be viewed on the Arthritis Action website.

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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We are undefeatable campaign

A new campaign, We are Undefeatable, launched on 2 September from Sport England and associated partners including Versus Arthritis.

The campaign aims to help people with health conditions find ways to get active. With a long term condition you are two times more likely to be inactive. Physical activity plays a powerful role, it can help manage 20 or more conditions and reduce the risk of many health conditions by up to 40%.

Sport England are challenging the existing narrative and working with partners to challenge the status quo.…

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How can we ensure general practice is fit for the future?

by Duleep Allirajah, Assistant Director of Policy and Campaigns, RCGP

As any patient who struggled to book a GP appointment will know only too well, general practice in the UK is under immense strain. Demand for appointments is rising and GPs are seeing more patients with complex needs. At the same time, practices are closing, workloads are reaching unsafe levels and burnt-out GPs are quitting the profession. That is why the Royal College of General Practitioners decided the time was right to publish Fit for the Future, our vision for the revitalisation of general practice.…

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Conversation starters for MSD workplace discussions

A new resource on MSDs for workplaces – ‘Conversation Starters for workplace discussions on musculoskeletal disorders’ – is now available online from the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA).

This is an Occupational safety and health (OSH) resource for running workplace group discussions on MSDs and their prevention. Each activity includes an MSD scenario and a series of questions to facilitate discussion.

The discussion activities also cover raising MSD issues promptly with your employer, and how to speak with your employer/employee about an individual MSD problem, including an RMD – see conversation starters 9 to 12.…

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Core Skills in MSK Care workshops

The Versus Arthritis Core Skills in Musculoskeletal Care one day Workshop has been developed for primary care health professionals to improve knowledge, skills and confidence in delivering high quality care to patients with musculoskeletal conditions. The workshops are largely split into three sections: Spine, lower limb and upper limb, with an overview of a range of musculoskeletal conditions. The workshop is hands-on and focuses on patient assessment and examination, diagnosis and support. See the workshop in action here.

The remaining workshop dates for 2019 are:

Wednesday 25 September – London
Wednesday 23 October – Leeds
Tuesday 26 November – London
Tuesday 10 December – Glasgow

For more information or to book your place please visit www.coreskillsinmsk.co.uk…

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EULAR Physical Activity recommendations

EULAR has published a new lay summary: EULAR recommendations for physical activity in people with inflammatory arthritis and osteoarthritis

EULAR is disseminating the lay versions of the recommendations to patient organisations and healthcare professionals to support patients and carers in managing their condition.

For more lay summaries of EULAR recommendations, go to the EULAR website.

Research into reality – reporting on innovations

by Liz Lawrence, Head of Health Service Improvement, Versus Arthritis

Versus Arthritis has a rich research heritage and has funded some great research that has advanced practice including ESCAPE-pain or ‘Enabling Self-management and Coping with Arthritis Pain through Exercise’. This is a six-week rehabilitation programme for people aged 45+ with persistent hip and/or knee osteoarthritis. ESCAPE-pain involves group education and exercise delivered over twelve sessions. The ESCAPE-pain programme was originally developed by Professor Mike Hurley [1] with funding from Arthritis Research UK (now Versus Arthritis).…

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