Author: Garreth

Northern Musculoskeletal Collaborative Programme launch

Launch Event at Horizon Leeds, 3rd Floor, 2 Brewery Wharf, Leeds, LS10 1JR

23 October 2018, 9.30am – 4.30pm

The Northern Musculoskeletal Collaborative Programme (#MSKnorth) is a regional approach to transformation in elective MSK care.

  • Do you want to improve musculoskeletal services?
  • Do you know what the priorities and opportunities are to improve musculoskeletal care?

The programme launch will be opened by Professor Peter Kay, National Clinical Director for MSK and will feature frontline clinicians who are leading change and transforming MSK services.…

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More people, more active, more often: three perspectives on physical activity and musculoskeletal health

The ARMA annual lecture will be on 21 November on the theme of physical activity. Three speakers will discuss three different perspectives on how to get more people, more active, more often. The event will discuss the roles of statutory, voluntary, private sectors and communities in addressing this important challenge.

  • the CEO of parkrun
  • the physical activity programme manager from Public Health England
  • a musculoskeletal specialist physiotherapist.

Look out for booking details coming soon.

We need you to support ARMA in Bone and Joint Week 2018

12-20 October 2018

12-20 October is a time of important collective campaign activity for ARMA members, with Bone and Joint Week. The theme of campaign is: “Musculoskeletal conditions: The elephant in the room?”

It’s highlighting that musculoskeletal conditions of the bones, joints and muscles are a big problem in the UK; with over 17 million people living with a musculoskeletal condition, more people suffer with disability from musculoskeletal conditions than anything else.

The aim of the campaign is to encourage policy and decision makers to shift mindset and take action to champion good musculoskeletal health of the bones, joints and muscles throughout life.…

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PCR annual conference poster

The Primary Care Rheumatology Society’s annual conference is due to be held 22-24 November 2018 at the Park Inn Hotel in York.

They have put together a poster summarizing the event. Open it here.

Applications are now open and the Programme and Application Form are available via their event page.

The PCRS hope you decide to join them on the day and they look forward to hearing from you.

Call for evidence: PHE and NGC review treatment dependence, discontinuation and withdrawal

Public Health England has commissioned the National Guideline Centre (NGC) to produce an evidence review of the literature on dependence, short term discontinuation and longer term withdrawal symptom from prescribed medicines, and their prevention and treatment.

The NGC is inviting stakeholders to submit research data or reports on two key areas to inform the review:

A) Collations of patients’ experi ences of the harms caused by prescribed medicines and ability to access and engage in treatment specifically relating to dependence, short term discontinuation or longer term withdrawal symptoms from the following prescribed medicines: opioids for chronic pain (excluding end of life /palliative care/cancer pain), benzodiazepines, Z-drugs, gabapentin and pregabalin (excluding epilepsy treatment), and antidepressants.…

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Improving mental health care for people with long term pain

The Q Improvement Lab brings together organisations and individuals from across the UK to pool what is known about a topic, uncover new insights and develop and test ideas. The Q Lab and Mind have just started a 12-month project focusing on improving care for people with a long-term physical and mental health problem, specifically looking at the experiences of people living with both mental health problems and persistent back and neck pain.

Further details about the project can be found here.…

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Global Spine Care Initiative papers

The Global Alliance for Musculoskeletal Health wishes to bring to your attention a series of papers published in a supplement of the European Spine Journal this month. They have been written by the Global Spine Care Initiative (GSCI), a sub group of World Spine Care, which in turn is a project of GMUSC.

This was a 4-year initiative, involving numerous individuals forming a GSCI Secretariat as well as a large delphi group that contributed to different papers in this 16 paper series.…

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EULAR updates hand osteoarthritis management document

On 6 September 2018, The European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) published an update to a set of recommendations for the management of hand osteoarthritis. The recommendations report on new evidence made since a first EULAR report was published in 2007.

See the press release (opens in PDF) for the five overarching principles and ten recommendations that were agreed upon in the EULAR document.

Acupuncture for Osteoarthritis course dates 2019

New dates from the British Medical Acupuncture Society.

03 July 2019 – BMAS House, Northwich (South Manchester)

10 Sept 2019 – NCVO, London N1 9RL

A one-day course on acupuncture as a treatment for osteoarthritis, focussing on the hip, knee and other large joints.  Includes lectures, demonstrations and practical sessions to refresh existing skills to improve your expertise in this field.

This course is for regulated health professionals who use acupuncture in their practice and would like to revise or improve their knowledge and skills in the management of patients with osteoarthritis.…

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Back to school – Educators Guide to the Hypermobile Student

September always kicks off with a huge surge in requests to the Hypermobility Syndromes Association for assistance with children struggling with school. The HMSA produces a booklet called ‘The Educators Guide to the Hypermobile Student‘. This booklet, beneficial for parents and those in education, can help explain the impact of these conditions on the individual in an educational setting. The guide is available from the website shop, hypermobilityshop.org, and is currently at a reduced price.

Students going into secondary school often start having problems because of the environmental change.…

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