Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Alliance
Influencing policy and care together for best lifelong musculoskeletal health
The King’s Fund has worked with AHPs from across the UK to consider their contribution to tackling health inequalities. A framework based on the findings, to which the The Institute of Osteopathy has contributed, has now been published. It includes examples of work in health inequalities, including a service provided by osteopaths in South London.
Read the article My role in tackling health inequalities: a framework for allied health professionals on the King’s Fund website.
12-20 October 2021What is Bone and Joint Week?
Next month, Bone and Joint Week aims to help get people thinking about one of the most widespread and pressing health issues of our times – musculoskeletal health. Now more than ever, good musculoskeletal health helps our wellbeing get back on track. As we rebuild our activity and how we work, eat and feel, having the best musculoskeletal health helps us live better.
After more than a year of uncertainly, stress, inactivity, gym and swimming pool closures, weight gain and changed routines, many struggle with their physical and mental health.…
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The NHS England BestMSK Health Collaborative has been making great progress during July. It’s fantastic to see the amount of focus that MSK is getting and the fact that the work is about systems, not individual services. If you haven’t already, I would urge you to sign up to the NHS Futures site so that you can access the resources and see progress. The latest publication is a High Impact Strategy with a series of recommendations spanning primary, secondary and community, and every MSK speciality.…
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Guest blog by Claire Little, PhD researcher at Centre for Epidemiology Versus Arthritis, University of Manchester
People living with arthritis and chronic pain conditions know that pain is a fluctuating and unpredictable symptom 1. This can cause uncertainty and fear about the future severity of pain 2. I am working on a project to build a ‘pain forecast’ that would provide predictions of future pain. Like the weather forecast, or economic forecasts, this aims to produce predictions about pain in the near future.…
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In June 2021 the British Medical Journal online featured an article ‘COVID-19: “Life on hold” for NHS patients needing musculoskeletal care’. The article reported on the effect on the pandemic on people needing musculoskeletal NHS services, tackling NHS backlogs resulting from cancelled primary and secondary care appointments, and the BestMSK Health NHSE programme.
Advanced Musculoskeletal (MSK) practice has been developing for many years, playing an integral part within the delivery of health services nationally. MSK practitioners work in diverse settings including emergency, rheumatology, persistent pain, paediatric and therapies, as well as in primary and community care and in MSK secondary care interface services.
Skills for Health is inviting feedback on a new core capability framework for MSK Advanced Practice and Governance. They are keen to hear from Advanced Practitioners, Advanced Practitioners in training, the wider healthcare team, employers, training providers, patients and carers to ensure the framework reflects what is needed in the sector.…
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Royal Osteoporosis Society supports APPG on Osteoporosis and Bone Health inquiry into Fracture Liaison Service provision
The Royal Osteoporosis Society provides the secretariat to the recently established All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Osteoporosis and Bone Health. The APPG was launched in March 2021 and its first act was to open an inquiry into the postcode lottery for access to Fracture Liaison Services (FLS).
The inquiry is currently well underway. Written evidence submissions were invited throughout June, and two successful oral evidence sessions took place in July.…
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Home Games launched to promote physical activity for people with MSK conditions
The We Are Undefeatable campaign has launched the Home Games – a virtual event and training schedule modelled on a decathlon – for people living with long-term health conditions to take part in each week.
Led by Paralympians Dame Sarah Storey and Lauren Rowles MBE, two teams were taken through 10 weeks of training, culminating in a fun head-to-head competition where participants could see how far they had come.…
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Do you know people who are interested in pursuing a career in osteopathy? The Institute of Osteopathy provides the opportunity to discuss available study options with leading osteopathic educational institutions.
Have you been thinking about pursuing a career in healthcare?
Are you interested in people and how the body works?
Are you passionate about improving people’s overall health and wellness?
If so, then a career in osteopathy could be for you!
Find out all there is to know about becoming an osteopath on the iO’s Choose Osteopathy page.
As you know, the pandemic restrictions have been lifted, but as far as the HMSA group meetings are concerned, HMSA is not ready to risk physical groups as yet, so all local HMSA meetings will still be virtually for a while longer. Given the virtual meetings have given so many more people access to this type of support, even when physical meetings do re-start, they will be combined with virtual meetings, so everyone gets a chance to attend.
The dates for the support groups for August are listed below.…
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