Research | ARMA

New arthritis survey: the Impact on Daily Life

Arthritis Action has released the findings from a nation-wide questionnaire-based study looking into the life impacts of arthritis on people of working age in Great Britain. The research, carried out by YouGov, surveyed 2074 people to reveal the effects that the condition can have on personal well-being, life satisfaction, and mental health.

It highlights the true impact of arthritis on the millions of people living with it every day, affecting all aspects of their lives, from their mental health to their family life, work, social activities, and physical health.…

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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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BASK Revision Knee Replacement Priority Setting Partnership

Help us guide future research about problematic knee replacements

The British Association for Surgery of the Knee (BASK) is running a Priority Setting Partnership (PSP) in partnership with the James Lind Alliance (JLA). The aim of this process is to bring patients and carers together with a range of healthcare professionals. We want all groups to highlight uncertainties relating to the assessment, management and rehabilitation of ‘patients with a problematic knee replacement’. We will thereby identify future research questions and ultimately publish a list of ‘top 10 research priorities’.…

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Love Activity, Hate Exercise? from the CSP

The Chartered Society of Physiotherapy launches a summer campaign which aims to tackle the growing issue of physical inactivity across the UK.

‘Love Activity, Hate Exercise?’ addresses the emotional as well as physical barriers millions of people with long-term conditions face in being more physically active.

The campaign is aimed at people aged 40-70 years old that are living with conditions such as arthritis, diabetes and heart disease, after research from the CSP found that more than 30% are completely inactive each week.…

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NIHR research into physiotherapy for musculoskeletal conditions

The MSK physio-themed review is now live.

Moving Forward – Physiotherapy for Musculoskeletal Health and Wellbeing highlights evidence from the National Institute for Health Research and others on why research in this area matters, assessment and matching patients to treatment, restoring musculoskeletal health and maintaining musculoskeletal wellbeing.

It features:

37 published studies
25 ongoing research projects
Questions to ask your physiotherapy musculoskeletal services

You can download this review from the National Institute for Health Research website.

MSK services survey – Please let us know what is happening locally

As part of our Clinical Networks Project, ARMA wants to find out what is happening to improve MSK services across England in order to see how we can best target our support for improvements. Please let us know what is happening in your area by completing this short questionnaire, which should take only five minutes to complete. The information is anonymous and we won’t name individual CCGs or STPs.

The report on the findings will give a national picture of what is happening and help all those working to improve services better target their work.…

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Delay to diagnosis in musculoskeletal disease

Introduction

Across a range of MSK conditions there is evidence of significant delays to diagnosis which result in avoidable morbidity and mortality. GPs have a critical role to play in reducing time to diagnosis. This article looks at the delays, their impact, and the resources available to GPs to support their referral decisions. Our simple message is #ThinkRheum.

Delay to diagnosis

Significant delay from symptom onset to diagnosis has been seen across a range of MSK conditions: an average of 6.4 yeas in Lupus ^[1], 8.5 years in axial spondyloarthrtis (axial SpA) ^[2] and an estimated 10 years in Ehlers-Danos syndromes (EDS).…

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HMSA at European Parliament “Optimising Patient Outcomes” meeting

The HMSA has been out and about quite a bit this month, last week attending the “Optimising Patient Relevant Outcome Measures for sustainable healthcare systems and strong economies” meeting at the European Parliament.

On Wednesday 20 June, Hannah Ensor (HMSA trustee) and Lisa Renaut (HMSA volunteer) visited the European Parliament for this important meeting of the Brain Mind Pain interest group (thanks to Pain Alliance Europe for funding travel expenses.) The talks were both informative and interesting.

Cathalijne van Doorne, from Euro Ataxia, spoke about the practical importance of clinical research and interventions focusing on what would most benefit the patient – which is a big shift from what the clinical priorities might be.…

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Winners announced for European patient-driven pain grant

The inaugural Brain, Mind and Pain Grant announced its winners in June, naming three innovative, patient-centred projects:

Master Your Pain by Groningen University – an e-health platform to help patients with rheumatic pain self-manage their symptoms
ASPERGA Association for their prototype auditory aid that aims to reduce sensory pain in people with autism spectrum disorder
MyBrainNet by Dystonia Europe – a central platform for neurological brain diseases, providing information to patient groups and patients to help improve their quality of life.

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