Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Alliance
Influencing policy and care together for best lifelong musculoskeletal health
The 2021 NOA Annual Members’ Conference held on 20 October was an opportunity for staff representing the National Orthopaedic Alliance’s member organisations, patient representatives and NOA partners from across the country, including ARMA, to share achievements, address shared challenges and discuss what’s in store for orthopaedics in the future.
Read more about the day and view a highlights video here.
In 2021, the Fit for Life Foundation Awards recognized GoodBoost alongside two other organisations that embody an innovative and impactful approach to improving the health and fitness of older people.
GoodBoost were cited for their creation of personalized exercise tools, and praised for combining their clinical knowledge with technology to create affordable and easy-to-use water-based exercises.
These exercises, associated with Swim England’s Water Wellbeing programme, are to be expanded to more pools across the country after an independent health-economic analysis has shown that each pool delivering Good Boost creates more than £90,000 of health savings through reduced appointments and health procedures.…
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New videos of Facebook Live sessions on psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis and lifestyle now available
The Psoriasis Association is delighted to bring you recordings from the two Facebook Live sessions that we held during Psoriasis Awareness Week 2021. The videos feature information and advice from experts in nutrition and exercise, based on this year’s Psoriasis Awareness Week theme – lifestyle factors that may be important to consider when living with psoriasis or psoriatic arthritis – including diet and exercise.
The first video ‘Pso: Let’s Talk Food’ sees Consultant Dermatologist and nutrition expert, Dr Thiviyani Maruthappu, and Professor of Health Psychology/Behavioural Medicine at Cardiff University, Professor Christine Bundy, examine the evidence for nutrition in psoriasis.…
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SMILE-RA is a unique and engaging e-learning experience for people with RA and their families who want to understand more about RA, its treatments and how to support their loved one. SMILE-RA has a modular approach to learning, so each module is on a particular theme or subject and takes between 20 mins and half an hour to complete.
There is an intuitive interface which makes it easy to use and navigate around. After registering and completing the Foundation module which includes baseline evaluation questions, users can then direct their own learning experience and choose whichever modules are of interest to explore next.…
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After a successful launch last year, Versus Arthritis has exciting news about the next evolution of their free app, “Arthritis Tracker”. Available on Android and iPhone, the symptom and wellbeing tracker can help health professionals make the most of the time they have with patients and quickly get an understanding of some the key issues that a young person is facing, leaving more time to discuss treatment options.
“The app is great – I am actively encouraging young people in my clinic to use it.…
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To mark World Arthritis Day on 12th October, Arthritis Action ran a week-long campaign on social channels to raise awareness of arthritis and highlight the impact a year living with the COVID-19 pandemic has had on people living with long-term pain conditions, like arthritis. This included the launch of a new video, where Arthritis Action members and volunteers Leigh Walmsley and Lucy Morley-Williams share their inspiring stories of living with arthritis during a difficult year marked by the COVID-19 pandemic.…
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The number of people waiting for hospital treatment in England has hit a record high of 5.61 million, as the NHS struggles to clear the growing backlog of cases caused by COVID-19. In a BBC Panorama programme on 27 September, Victoria Derbyshire met some of those on the waiting list and heard about the profound effects it is having on their lives.
The NHS Confederation has published a briefing on Building back inclusively: Radical approaches to tackling the elective backlog.
There is evidence suggesting that waiting lists have grown more rapidly in more deprived areas during the pandemic. There are good reasons to believe that the current approach to elective care, whereby patients are treated in the order they present for care, exacerbates inequalities and worsens health outcomes. The briefing sets out a package of measures, including the politically uncomfortable step of proactively growing the waiting list to address this.…
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We’re holding an online event to launch Bone and Joint Week:
‘What can help MSK health nationally, regionally and locally, now more than ever?’
12 October at 12.30pm-1.45pm
We know that good musculoskeletal health means better wellbeing for individuals and communities, but with the challenges on the system and its workforce, how can we accomplish this? Join us for this fast-moving discussion of key points of what can help. The event marks the start of Bone and Joint Week 2021.…
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“Putting our backs into it…”
With an estimated 540 million people in the world suffering with low back pain at any one time, It remains one of the leading causes of years lived with disability, and the biggest single cause of disability on the planet today.
It will therefore come as no surprise that it is also the largest cause of work absences, accounting for more than 12 million days lost every year in the UK, alone. Back pain presents a major challenge to health systems and employers alike, and costs the NHS and the UK economy billions of pounds every year.…
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