Garreth | Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Alliance

Versus Arthritis UK General Election Manifesto

Please read, support and share the Versus Arthritis 2024 General Election Manifesto calling on the next UK Government to take arthritis seriously.

For too long, arthritis has been dismissed and ignored, but with your help Versus Arthritis can start to change that. Arthritis impacts the lives of over 10 million people in the UK. It can impact a person’s ability to work, look after family or live well. Arthritis must no longer be dismissed by people in positions of power.

The Versus Arthritis manifesto is based on 5 key priorities for the next UK Government, which are:

Each of these five priorities has three specific key deliverables which we believe will make a significant difference to the lives of people living with arthritis.…

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Early bird tickets for Chiro Live 2024

Book your ticket to the British Chiropractic Association’s annual conference – Saturday 12 October 2024.

It is with great pleasure that the British Chiropractic Association (BCA) announces to the MSK community that booking for their annual conference, Chiro Live 2024, is now officially open. The event will take place on Saturday 12 October 2024 at the Hilton at St George’s Park in Burton upon Trent, home to all 23 England national football teams.

Book your conference ticket here.

To make things even better, the BCA is running an early bird ticket offer until 7 July 2024, where you can save 10% on all conference ticket types.…

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BCA’s Westminster Roundtable

The British Chiropractic Association held a roundtable at Westminster, London, in April 2024 as part of Chiropractic Awareness Week and the BCA’s “Celebration of Chiropractic”. The event marked a momentous occasion as it was the first time in 30 years the profession hosted a roundtable at the House of Lords, Westminster, London. The purpose of which was to advance the BCA’s member-driven agenda to make chiropractic more integral to UK healthcare.

The United Kingdom, as with many developed and developing nations, is grappling with a rapidly escalating musculoskeletal (MSK) health crisis, significantly straining the National Health Service (NHS) and impairing workforce productivity.…

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New ORUK Research Funding Opportunities

Orthopaedic Research (ORUK) is one of the most significant funders of orthopaedic and MSK research in the UK. MSK researchers should check out these latest funding opportunities from ORUK.

Early Career Research fellowship: Up to £55K for 1 year or £110K across 2 years is available to support the brightest and best clinical/nonclinical talents interested in advancing MSK research in the UK. Application deadline: 24th June for initial expression of interest.

Furlong Fund: Investment of up to £100K in startups and supporting entrepreneurs accelerate innovative and commercially viable ideas to solve the unmet needs of society around bone, joint and muscle wellbeing.…

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Waiting for what?

by Sue Brown, CEO ARMA

We all know that people are waiting too long for a variety of MSK treatment in the NHS. We all know that the NHS is working hard to tackle waiting times with some success. However, the patient’s experience of waiting and the NHS understanding can be very different things. If the NHS is to deal with waiting lists well, then I would argue it needs to understand what waiting means to patients.

The GIRFT rheumatology Further Faster programme invited me to speak about this to their meeting last night.…

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The Arthritis Revolution in Cheltenham

Gloucestershire Arthritis Trust (GAT) is part of the “Arthritis Revolution” in Cheltenham.

Welcome to the “Arthritis Revolution” that is happening in patient care at Cheltenham General Hospital. The revolutionary approach is aimed at getting between 800 and 1,000 patients a year home much quicker after hip or knee replacement surgery.

Challenged by NHS England in mid-2023 to reduce the Length of Stay for knee and hip replacement surgery from an average of more than 100 hours to a new target of 65 hours, a multidisciplinary team from 13 medical disciplines managed to achieve an average, for all patients, of just 31 hours.…

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Free online peer support

The National Axial Spondyloarthritis Society (NASS) run free online monthly meetups, where people with axial SpA can meet others with the same condition to share advice and get support.

The topics vary each month and focus on practical ways to support self-management, alongside medical care. The meetups are part of the ‘Your SpAce’ programme and healthcare professionals can order free promotional materials to easily signpost their patients.

NASS at the EULAR Congress

The National Axial Spondyloarthritis Society (NASS) will be at EULAR Congress to present on their supported self-management for people living with axial SpA.

Programme Manager Zoë Clark will present in the session ‘Exploring self-management: definitions and life’ on Saturday, 15 June 2024 at 11.45am.

If you’re attending EULAR and would like to meet to discuss the NASS Supported Self-management Programme, please get in touch with Zoë at zoe@nass.co.uk.

New venue for SOMM Foundation in MSK Medicine

The Society of Musculoskeletal Medicine (SOMM) has added a new host to its venue portfolio – Perth Royal Infirmary.

The hospital will host the SOMM Foundation in Musculoskeletal Medicine Module, Unit 1 in October/November 2024.

This 4-day Unit covers the cervical spine, shoulder, elbow and wrist/hand. The unit is highly practical and combines this with theory lectures, clinical reasoning, and a review of functional anatomy. Read more

Due to demand, an additional THEORY AND PRACTICE OF INJECTION THERAPY module has been added to the course programme this year, in Liverpool this September. …

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Engaging with NASS, my national RMD organisation…

…how it enriched and changed the quality of my life.

Guest blog from EULAR Edgar Stene Prize essay competition entrant, Geoff Lindsay.

I’ve lived with axial Spa for 50 years.

November 1973. I’m 24. Every time I put on my tight bell-bottom Levi jeans I got bad pain in my left hip. Am I going crazy? How can wearing jeans give me a pain so bad I can hardly walk? Walking up stairs is very painful. Stepping up a kerb is a task I would limp another twenty metres to avoid.…

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