Tag: coronavirus-covid19

Chronic Pain and the pandemic

Recently, Pain Alliance Europe conducted a 6-week short survey on Covid-19 and chronic pain in twelve languages to see the current situation of chronic pain patients in Europe.

The survey showed initial results that during the pandemic 15% of people worried and feared taking prescribed medication. There was also impact on self-management plans – of those people who had a plan, 29% indicate they are not able to continue with their care plan. From all countries, the respondents in the UK reported the highest impact of pain interfering with their normal functionality.…

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COVID-19 and older people

The Centre for Ageing Better and The Physiological Society have produced a report: A National COVID-19 Resilience Programme.

The report says that home confinement in older people may cause: (i) cardio respiratory and metabolic deconditioning, (ii) insulin resistance, (iii) muscle loss and (iv) increased fat mass. In addition, social isolation may be worsened.

The report makes recommendations including a tailored exercise programme and broad interventions to support increased activity levels; optimising nutrition and embedding behaviour change.

Read the report here [opens in PDF]

Helping to straighten the long and winding road

NASS was pleased to work with Dr Helena Marzo-Ortega of Leeds Teaching Hospitals and Simon Whalley from M&F Health to produce a comment piece for The Lancet Rheumatology earlier this month. The article concluded that the Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in significant disruption for people living with axial SpA (AS) and the healthcare teams providing the vital NHS services they rely on.

The article shines a light on the difficulties that people living with axial SpA (AS) have had accessing vital services, as well as highlighting the innovative steps that healthcare teams have taken to offer people support during the crisis as well as calling for greater collaboration between policy makers and health care providers to safeguard essential care for people with axial SpA (AS).…

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Guest blog: A rollercoaster year in MSK

by Andrew Bennett, National Clinical Director for Musculoskeletal Conditions NHS England and NHS Improvement

It’s been a year since I was fortunate to attend the annual ARMA lecture at the canal museum in London and enjoyed a fantastic talk by Brendan Stubbs about physical activity and mental health. New to the role of National Clinical Director for MSK, this was the first time I met Sue Brown the CEO of ARMA, as well as number of other colleagues from the MSK world.…

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Making decisions about shielding

Making decisions about shielding – based on guidance issued 22 September for England

This document is based on guidance for England. The principles of assessing your own risk and the risk of different activities is the same wherever you live. If you live in Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland, check your national guidance and advice for people who are clinically extremely vulnerable – see links below.

Just over 2 million people in England were advised earlier this year that they needed to shield because they are extremely vulnerable to the COVID-19 virus.…

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Understanding shielding – a briefing for clinicians

The information in this briefing is based on the collated experiences of many of those shielding and information from patient helplines about the enquiries they were receiving earlier this year. For more information about the experiences of people with MSK conditions during lockdown, please see the report ‘MSK Lived Experience Themes of What Matters.’

Earlier this year, over 2 million people including some with musculoskeletal conditions, received a letter advising them to “shield” by remaining in their homes for 12 weeks.…

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Holding onto the positive

by Sue Brown, CEO ARMA

Things feel very precarious and uncertain as everywhere in the UK takes measures to control the spread of Covid-19. With the various tiered systems, the firebreak in Wales and the four-week lockdown in England, we all know that this is going to be a difficult winter, especially for people working in the NHS and those who need healthcare. ARMA will continue to support our members through whatever the winter holds and to champion the importance of MSK services.…

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What We Need Now

A new report from National Voices What matters to people for health and care, during COVID-19 and beyond is based on the work throughout the first phase of the pandemic to capture the experiences of people with ongoing health and care needs, through OurCOVIDVoices. The report makes a series of recommendations for those designing services and those delivering services which will be very relevant to MSK services, as well as suggestions for what system leaders can do.

Derived from people’s experiences, the report creates “I statements” such as ‘I am listened to’ and ‘what I say is acted on’, ‘I am supported to understand risks and uncertainties in my life.’…

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Survey on the effects of COVID-19 and lockdown

Around half of those with arthritis report increased pain during the pandemic
With over half finding it more difficult to access healthcare

During the COVID-19 pandemic, 42% of people living with arthritis reported that their pain has increased [1] according to a survey by UK Charity Arthritis Action looking at the effects of COVID-19 and lockdown on the daily lives of people with arthritis. Considering there are over 10 million people living with some form of arthritis in the UK [i] this would equate to over 4 million people experiencing increased arthritis pain during the ongoing pandemic.…

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