arthritis

Leave a comment Posted on June 20, 2015June 19, 2015 Arthritis

High 5 World Arthritis Day Campaign 2015 Announced – #WADHigh5

World Arthritis Day

We are very excited to announce that the World Arthritis Day 2015 campaign, ‘

’ has just been launched. World Arthritis Day provides a great opportunity to bring everyone together to raise awareness of issues affecting people with rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases .

For World Arthritis Day this year, we are asking people to take action and share virtual High 5s on social media, using the hashtag #WADHigh5.

Visit our new campaign website to find out how you can get involved, whether you want to engage in the campaign as an organisation or simply share a High 5 on social media: www.worldarthritisday.org.

‘High 5 for World Arthritis Day’ forms part of the wider 2015-2016 theme: It’s in your hands, take action. This reflects the idea of patient centred care and ‘taking control’ to encourage the active involvement of patients and their families in the design of new care models and in decision-making about individual options for treatment.

High 5 for World Arthritis Day

5 Comments Posted on April 30, 2015February 14, 2017 Arthritis

Ankylosing spondylitis – signs, symptoms and what it is really like to have AS!

ankylosing spondylitis

As many of you know by now May is Arthritis Awareness Month. As part of our support for the month we have decided to highlight a few different arthritic conditions. For those who are interested we have looked at Rheumatoid Arthritis, Lupus and Fibromyalgia in some detail in previous blog posts on PatientTalk.Org.

Today we wish to focus on Ankylosing spondylitis. Primarily it is a spinal condition though it can also affect other parts of the body. There are two objectives to this blog post. Firstly to raise awareness of Ankylosing spondylitis among our readership and the wider community. Secondly to give an opportunity for people with AS to share their experiences and story. Hopefully it will provide useful information and support for those who have just been diagnosed with the condition .

Normally the symptoms develop over a period of time (in fact, several months is common). Typically they include:-

a) Back pain. Interestingly rest seems not to help here but exercise does.
b) Fatigue
c) Pain and swelling often in the arms and legs.

The inflammation can cause the spine to fuse which is referred to as ankylosis. Causes are as yet unconfirmed but it is believed to have a genetic link. Typically in the Uk around 1 in 300 people have been diagnosed with the condition. Interestly around three quarters of those affected are female. And most cases seem to start when the person with AS is in their twenties.

Treatments include

a) Pain Management
b) Exercise – check out our previous blog post on exercise for people in pain!
c) Physiotherapy.

In severe cases of AS surgery is used to help with the fusion of the spine.

So over to you. We would love to hear the voices of people in the Ankylosing spondylitis community. It would be great if you could use the comments box below to share your story. Please feel free to include anything you think may be of interest but you may wish to consider the following questions?

1) At what age did your first symptoms appear?
2) What were those symptoms?
3) How have the symptoms progressed over time?
4) How supportive have you family and friends been?
5) What treatments have you used for AS and how effective have they been?
6) Is there one piece of advice you would give to somebody who has just been diagnosed with Ankylosing spondylitis?

If you can suggest any good blogs, groups and sources of info that would be great as well.

Many thanks in advance for your help!

Leave a comment Posted on April 14, 2015April 14, 2015 Patient Talk

Bowen Awareness Week – What is Bowen Therapy and have you used it?

Bowen therapy

Over the years I have look at a whole range of therapies for various different medical conditions which don’t quite fit into the conventional medical model.

This have ranged from the Paleo diet for multiple sclerosis to the McKenzie Method® for back pain.

According to a press release from Bowen Therapy Professional Association “the Bowen Technique is a drug-free, non-invasive, hands-on therapy which can be administered through light clothing. It has a remarkable record of success in helping clients with a wide range of conditions, including back, neck, shoulder and other acute and chronic muscular pain; stress-related conditions including depression; asthma, hay fever and other respiratory problems; sports injuries, IBS, migraine, fertility, hormonal imbalance and a host of other health issues. It is suitable for people of all ages, from tiny babies with colic to mature clients who suffer from arthritis. There are many personal testimonies of Bowen working when nothing else has helped.

In a typical Bowen treatment, the therapist, using only thumbs and fingers, makes small rolling movements over muscles, tendons and soft tissue at precise points on the body. This subtle but dynamic process releases stress at a very deep level, allowing the body to re-align, address imbalances in functions and chemical composition and , as far as possible, restore homeostasis (physiological equilibrium) within the body. ”

You can check out their web site here http://www.bowen-therapy.co/default.asp

Now as you can see this is quite a list of different conditions which could be treated with Bowen therapy. It is also pretty diverse as well.

So why am I writing this blog. I’m very interesting in hearing if any of my readers have used it and how you have found it. Also if you are a Bowen therapist it would be great to hear what you do and how you do it.

Please feel free to use the comments box below to add anything you think might be of interest to our readers.

Many thanks in advance.

3 Comments Posted on March 20, 2015March 20, 2015 Arthritis, Fibromyalgia

Fibromyalgia and arthritis blogging. What ever happened to the fibro blogging community?

Yes I know an odd question for a blog which covers fibromyalgia and arthritis in some depth.

But let me explain (and ask for your help).

Fibromyalgia blogging

When the wonderful (and wacky) world of weblogging came into my life about 10 years ago it seemed that we could not move for citizen journalists writing on any and every subject that took their fancy. I was told about one blog which covered the history of the headgear of Roman Catholic priests before the Second Vatican Council.

But those days seem to be over especially in the whole area of healthcare and fibro in particular. To some extent this is due to the rise of social media like Twitter. Though I’m not certain how much insight you can get from 140 characters. But it does seem that there are far fewer blogs active than there were five years ago.

The reason I started thinking about this was by accident really.

A couple of days ago a lady called Catherine Manning dropped a link to her excellent blog about fibromyalgia and arthritis called “Old before my Time. You can check it out by clicking the link here.

Now I used to read Ms Manning’s blog on a very regular basis but realised that I’d not done so in a couple of years. Indeed we even published a cross post from her a few years ago. Indeed that applied to a lot of the blogs that I used to follow.

Which brings me to the reason for this post. What should I be reading online and where can I find it?

Please feel free to share the blogs you read (or even better the blogs you write) in the comments box below.

It will give both my readers and myself a great opportunity to find out what is going on out there.

And maybe it will help to prime the pump of the arthritis and fibromyalgia blogging communities.

Thanks very much in advance!