NEWSLETTER - arthritisact.org.au · Without you, our highly successful WWX Program – our flagship...

Highlights

From the CEO ....................... p2

Honours awards ..................... p3

Shapemaster offer .................. p4

WWX report .......................... p5

Tai Chi classes ......................... p6

World Osteo Day .................. p7

Strength & Balance

classes ....................................... p8

Knees & Arthroscopic

surgery ...................................... p9

Long term conditions

schedule .................................... p11

Calendar of events ................. p12

NEWSLETTER

Summer 2015 VOLUME 18, ISSUE 4

Including

Osteoporosis

ACT

Changes to Our Newsletter

This edition of the Arthritis ACT newsletter will be

last newsletter produced in its current format.

From February 2016 a glossy National newsletter which includes four (4) pages of local content will

replace the quarterly Arthritis ACT newsletter.

The National newsletter will be distributed by post at

least twice a year.

In addition to the National newsletter, Arthritis ACT will be producing a monthly e-newsletter for its

members.

Members are encouraged to receive the e-newsletter, so if you have an email address and currently receive the newsletter by post please provide your email address to [email protected] or call 1800 011 041

between 9.00 am to 4.00 pm Monday to Friday.

If you don’t have access to email please contact the office and we will make other arrangements for you if you wish to continue receiving the

newsletter.

It’s Christmas!

Please join us as we celebrate the year that has been!

A festive afternoon tea will be served. Come and go as you need. Date: 11 December 2015 Time: 3.00 - 5.00 pm Venue: Activities Room Level 2A 27 Mulley Street, Holder

RSVP: [email protected] or

1800 011 041

Thank you to

our Volunteers

&

Congratulations to

Minh Maclean & Ruth

Rooney

2015 Volunteers of the Year

********** “Volunteers do not necessarily

have the time; they just have the heart”

mailto:[email protected]?subject=E-Newsletter

mailto:[email protected]

This session requires bookings with the office, and we do prioritise those that have missed a session one week to the next week, which does mean for many pool users they are only gaining a spot at

Club MMM once a fortnight.

Thank you to those who have moved over to Black Mountain School which has three lunch-time sessions a week (and free parking!) to allow those who can only get to Club MMM a more regular

spot.

To all our Warm Water Supervisors, a big thank you for all the time and support and care of our pool users you have provided during the year. This program

would not exist without you.

Just a reminder to all pool users – we have members from 5 years to 85 years plus participating in the Warm Water Exercise program. Arthritis and other chronic pain condit ions don’t discriminate on age, and we ask that all our pool users respect the age and experience of chronic pain of all other

pool users.

We hope to see as many of you as possible at our Christmas celebration on 11 December. Please let us know if you

can make it!

Kind regards, Rebecca Davey

From the CEO

Welcome to our summer edition of the newsletter. As we all start to prepare for Christmas, and for many of us, a bit of a break, it is important to remember to look after ourselves. There is no break from chronic pain

such as arthritis.

The weather may be kinder for many, but for others the heat and dry weather flares up symptoms that aren’t

so apparent in the cooler months.

For those with gout, please be aware of your diet over the festive season.

Christmas is no fun with flaring joints!

2015 has been an exciting year for Arthritis ACT. We hope you have been able to avail yourselves of some of our new programs, and if not, please

do consider them in 2016.

Strength and Balance has taken on a life of its own, and the Holder offices are buzzing on Mondays and Thursdays with people coming in for the classes,

and utilising the ‘Wii and Tea’.

We are hoping to be able to extend the Strength and Balance sessions to the Northside and Southside in 2016 – please stay tuned for further

information!

Remember, strength and balance is good for both arthr i t i s and osteoporosis – it keeps the joints mobile whilst also strengthening our core and reducing the risk of a fall, and

consequently, the risk of a fracture.

The Warm Water Exercise program has continued to grow this year with increased sessions at Calvary John

James Memorial Hospital.

Unfortunately the always popular Club MMM session gets more and more difficult to get into, but we are pleased to announce we have some Saturday sessions available over the summer months, so please contact us quickly if you are interested as these are

booking quickly.

Arthritis ACT

Level 2A

Cameron Community Centre

27 Mulley Street

HOLDER ACT 2611

02 6288 4244

www.arthritisact.org.au

Arthritis ACT Board

2015-16 Cathy Skippington (President )

Garry Heald (Vice President)

Louise Carter( Secretary)

Andrew Fleming (Treasurer)

Leanne Bowen

Jenni Gough

Bjarne Kragh

Carol Mead

Gillian Savage

Linda Spurrier

Advertising policy

statement

Products and services advertised in

this newsletter are not necessarily

recommended by the Arthritis Foun-

dation of the ACT. Some readers

may assume that anything that is

advertised in these pages has been

cleared, vetted or in some way ap-

proved by the charity. This is not so.

The Foundation is not equipped to

test and approve products and

services that are available to the

general public. Please exercise your

own judgment about whether the

item or service advertised is likely to

help you personally and, where

appropriate, take professional ad-

vice from your doctor, specialist or

other specific expert before pur-

chasing.

NEWSLETTER

SUMMER 2015

http://www.arthritisact.org.au

VOLUME 18 , ISSUE 4

Arthritis ACT Honours Awards

On October 13 we held our Annual General Meeting and Honours Awards Ceremony. It was great to see

so many people turn out for both.

This year we honoured a wonderful group of volun-teers who have provided so much assistance to the

Foundation.

Volunteers of the Year 2015

Minh McLean

Minh is a key volunteer in our Warm Water Exer-cise (WWX) program at The Canberra Hospital, and some weeks WWX would not occur at the location if it were not for Minh. She is always the first person we call when we are down a supervisor – she has been known to literally turn her car around and head to the pool rather than have a session cancelled. Such is her dedication that she keeps a bag in her car with her WWX equipment so that she can be availa-ble instantly. Some weeks Minh supervises 4 sessions just to help us keep the program going. In addition, anytime we call for volunteers, Minh is one of the first to raise her hand. Shopping centre stalls, stuffing ‘showbags’, organizing surprise maternity leave

morning teas, Minh is always there.

Ruth Rooney

Ruth Rooney has been co-ordinating the osteoarthri-tis support group for many years. The members of the support group depend on her to gather them information around current treatments, supports and other assistance. This year Ruth has become involved with the Strength and Balance classes, and rather than just undertaking the classes, she has brought with her a large chunk of the support group mem-bers, believing this was an initiative that would im-prove their health and mobility. One member has said ‘I’ve never done any exercise and Ruth has en-couraged me to come along to these classes and it’s making such a difference’. Critical to the success of the class Ruth has brought everyone to has been Ruth’s personality – she is vibrant and encouraging, and whilst not being the leader of the session, her presence helps lift the class and encourages others to push themselves into improving their balance and

overall health.

Promising New Volunteer

Jenny Bates

Jenny has been involved with the Arthritis ACT Strength and Balance program since early 2015, and was integral to the Strength and Balance classes com-mencing. Jenny spent a great deal of time working with the Health Promotion Co-ordinator evaluating

the existing documentation we had from previous itera-tions of the Strength and Bal-ance courses, re-wrote the course to be appropriate to the target audience, then came in as a volunteer in-structor and has been run-ning the Monday morning classes all year. Without Jen-ny’s energy and enthusiasm this new initiative would not have been so successful so quickly. We have already had close to 50 members attend these classes this calendar year, with offshoot clas-ses and initiatives coming out of the original con-

cept.

Significant Contribution

In 2015 we honour the contribution of our four

retiring Board members:

Anna Hackett David Graham

Helen Davies Helen Tyrrell

Between these four individuals we have had almost 40 years of support and contribution. All have brought a suite of skills which have been invaluable to the organization, assisting us to move through challenging times, all with fine voice at the Board table. Anna has been our President for the past 3 years, a position that comes with great responsibil-ity. David has been our voice on the Council of Advice with Arthritis Australia. Helen Davies brought to the table the consumer perspective, always driving the conversation back to ‘how will this help our members’. Helen Tyrrell, with her own NGO experience and connections, has been a significant contributor in both areas of governance and risk management. Being a Board member is a volunteer position, and a position that brings with it great responsibility as well as at times quite an

amount of time!

Our New Board

With the resignations of 4 members of the Board, new Board members have come along to assist us. Our new Board is listed on page 2 beside the

CEO’s report.

Over the next few newsletters we will introduce (and reintroduce) you to all these representatives of the Foundation who help set the direction and

framework for which we work in.

NEWSLETTER

SUMMER 2015

VOLUME 18 , ISSUE 4

WWX Report

6288 4244 or [email protected]. As the weather warms and we as a community get ready to welcome in a hot Canberra summer, we will be wrapping up our Warm Water Exercise

Program for the year.

Our Christmas/New Year Hydrotherapy Pool closures for the WWX program will be from 18 December 2015 and reopen again for most hydrotherapy pools on Monday 18 January 2016. This will allow for much needed pool maintenance and WWX Supervisor breaks over the holiday period. However, Club MMM will remain open over the holiday period provided Werner, our stalwart WWX Supervisor at Club MMM is happy to continue to take classes. The limit of 12 attendees still applies and all attendees will need to book in their sessions they wish to attend with our Arthritis ACT office staff by Tuesday 15 December 2015. This

is a must so Werner can manage numbers.

Our pool attendance has continued to rise over this last quarter with many of our WWX sessions at full capacity most days. The extra session at Calvary John James Hospital has also been well attended and in 2016, we will be looking to increase our sessions if required at other venues due to our increased demand. We are always on the look-out for more back up WWX Supervisors. If anyone is interested please let me know in the office as we will be facilitating both CPR and pool rescue training in

February 2016 with Royal Life Saving ACT.

On behalf of Arthritis ACT I would like to sincerely thank all the WWX Supervisors for their wonderful support and dedication to our program over the last year. Without you, our highly successful WWX Program – our flagship program – would not be the

success it is.

My personal thanks to Werner, Sheena, Purnima, Christina, Alan, Vlad, Heather, Minh, Linda, Heather, Kaaren, Jenni and finally Carolyn - our wonderful WWX Supervisory team and of course Judy, who assists in coordinating our Northside Supervisors. Also many thanks to Michael, Jacqui and Rebecca back in the office who take the pool bookings and enquiries. Finally, to you all as members, my thanks

for attending and supporting our WWX Program.

Have a happy and safe holiday period, my best wishes

to you all

Kim Edwards, WWX Program Coordinator

Christmas 2015/New Year 2016

Hydrotherapy Pool Closures

Black Mountain School

Last Session Thursday, 17th December 2015 -

Reopens Monday, 1st February 2016

Calvary John James

Last Session Thursday, 17th December 2015 –

Reopens Monday, 25th January 2016

Club MMM!

Sessions will run each Wednesday and Saturday except between Christmas and New Year holi-day period. As there are limited spaces availa-ble, you are advised to call the AACT office no later than Tuesday, 15th December 2015 to book your place to attend these sessions. Please be considerate to other participants, if you can-not attend a booked WWX session please let the WWX Supervisor know so we can offer a

place to a participant on the reserve list.

Gold Creek Pool

Last Session Thursday, 17th December 2015 -

Reopens Wednesday, 3rd February 2016

The Canberra Hospital - Garran

Last Session Friday, 18th December 2015 -

Reopens Monday, 18th January 2016

NEWSLETTER

SUMMER 2015

Tai Chi Classes

2016 Dates

Tai Chi is an ancient practice proven to reduce pain and improve your mental and physical well-being. It is a low impact exercise that improves strength,

flexibility and balance

Cost: Members: $30 for the whole term Non-Members: $60

Note: The term runs from the start date to end date and usually consists of 6 classes ($5 per

class for members).

Venue: “Activities Room” Level 2A, 27 Mulley Street Holder

To register: Contact Arthritis ACT on [email protected] or phone 1800 011 041

DATE COMMENCING: DATE ENDING: TIME:

10th February 16th March Wednesday

11:00am to 12 noon

11th May 15th June Wednesday

11:00am to 12 noon

3rd August 7th September Wednesday

11:00am to 12 noon

12th October 16th November Wednesday

11:00am to 12 noon

Monday Members Morning Tea

at 11 am Come and join us for morning tea, last Monday of the month

(except Public or School Holidays)

Staff from Arthritis ACT will be available to share any new information they have or just for a chat and to

hear how we can improve our services.


VOLUME 18 , ISSUE 4

Arthritis ACT celebrated World Osteoporosis Day with a seminar that was held at the Canberra Hospital. Over 60 people attended the talk and we were lucky

to have three fantastic speakers.

Dr Robert Schmidli – Endocrinologist and Senior Lecturer at ANU Medical School – spoke about

osteoporosis management.

Some interesting new evidence about calcium intake and risk of fracture emerged from a recent systematic review. The use of the FRAX risk assessment tool for osteoporosis was talked about (see http://tinyurl.com/

FRAX-AU).

Another useful tool to assess your risk of osteoporosis is the International Osteoporosis Foundation (IOF) o n e - m i n u t e r i s k t e s t ( s e e h t t p : / /www.iofbonehealth.org/iof-one-minute-osteoporosis-

risk-test).

Professor Robyn Lucas – ANU National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health – spoke about optimum levels of Vitamin D and discussed her Sun Exposure and Vitamin D Supplementation (SEDS)

study.

See www.sedsstudy.org if you are interested in the

study.

Dr Disa Smee – Associate Professor at the University of Canberra- discussed risk factors for falls and the role of exercise in falls prevention and

osteoporosis.

The PowerPoint presentations are available on the

Arthritis ACT website.

Follow the link http://www.arthritisact.org.au/?p=2601

Office Closure Christmas/New Year Period

Last Day

Friday, 18th December 2015

Reopens

Wednesday, 27th January 2015

Have safe Christmas & Prosperous 2016

http://www.arthritisact.org.au/?p=2601

NEWSLETTER

SUMMER 2015

VOLUME 18 , ISSUE 4

Knee Osteoarthritis and the Role of

Arthroscopic Surgery

4. Land/water based exercise

5. Certain pharmacological treatments

6. Orthopaedic surgical intervention after

conservative management is exhausted.

It is important that you speak to your GP about conservative management and try some of the treatments that we know may help before you go

ahead with any surgery.

Jacqui Couldrick

Physiotherapist and Project Officer at Arthritis ACT

References:

1) Knee osteoarthritis and role for surgical intervention: lessons learned from randomized clinical trials and population-based cohorts. Buchbinder, Rachelle a; Richards, Bethan b; Harris, Ian c .Current Opinion in Rheumatology:

138-144, March 2014.

2) Katz, Jeffrey N., et al. "Surgery versus physical therapy for a meniscal tear and osteoarthritis." New England Journal of Medicine 368.18 (2013):

1675-1684.

3) Buttgereit, Frank, Gerd-Rüdiger Burmester, and Johannes WJ Bijlsma. "Non-surgical management of knee osteoarthritis: where are we now and where do we need to go?" RMD Open 1.1

(2015): e000027.

Over the past 10 years, emerging evidence has questioned the role of arthroscopy in treating osteoarthritis of the knee. There is now consistent evidence from high quality studies (randomized controlled trials) that an arthroscope (or clean-up) for knee osteoarthritis is no more effective than placebo surgery or ‘pretend surgery’ and non-operative

measures (1).

In addition, there is no evidence that cleaning up a meniscal tear in people over the age of 45 years old is any better than placebo. Having a knee arthroscope may also increase the likelihood you will receive a total knee replacement within a period of 1-2 years, particularly if

you are over the age of 65 (1).

A recent report on TV’s “Four Corners” on the 29 September 2015 is a recommended listen. The report highlights the current evidence for surgical treatment of

knee osteoarthritis.

The report discusses the role of total knee replacement (TKR) in the treatment of knee osteoarthritis. It is important to remember that most TKRs performed are appropriate but a smaller percentage of people who

have a TKR end up no better than prior to the surgery.

It is important to discuss the benefits and risks of this procedure with your surgeon or GP prior to the

surgery.

This report may be viewed on www.abc.net.au/4corners/

stories/2015/09/28/4318883.htm.

Another study demonstrated that an arthroscopic partial meniscectomy followed by physiotherapy resulted in similar pain and function at 6 and 12 months when compared to physiotherapy alone (2). Other studies have supported the idea that the first treatment option should include physiotherapy and surgery should be reserved to those who fail to respond to conservative

management.

Treatments that have been shown to be effective in knee

osteoarthritis are (3):

1. Strength training – particularly strengthening of

the quadriceps muscles.

2. Weight management – excessive weight is a risk

factor for osteoarthritis. Mechanical stress or

loading is an important contributor to knee

osteoarthritis.

3. Education and self-management

http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/stories/2015/09/28/4318883.htm

http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/stories/2015/09/28/4318883.htm

NEWSLETTER

SUMMER 2015

JIA Support Group Family Picnic Canberra Boundless Playground

Saturday 20 February 2016

RSVP Essential for catering purposes:

62884244 or [email protected]

By Thursday, 17 February 2016.

VOLUME 18 , ISSUE 4

VOLUME 18 , ISSUE 4

NEWSLETTER

SUMMER 2015

CALENDAR OF EVENTS December 2015

WWX Pools - Last Sessions

Tuesday 15 Bookings for Club MMM close

Thursday 17 Black Mountain School

Calvary John James

Friday 18 Canberra Hospital

Gold Creek

***********

Friday 11 Festive Afternoon Tea

Time: 3.00 - 5.00 pm

Venue: Activities Room Level 2A

27 Mulley Street, Holder

Cost: Free!

RSVP: [email protected] or

1800 011 041

Friday 18 Office Closes

January 2016

WWX Pools - Reopen

Monday 18 Calvary John James

Canberra Hospital

Wednesday 27 Bookings for Club MMM

***********

Wednesday 27 Office reopens

February 2016

WWX Pools - Reopen

Monday 1 Black Mountain School

Wednesday 3 Gold Creek

******************

Monday 1 Arthritis Support Group

Time: 10.30 am –12noon

Venue: Hellenic Club , Phillip

Monday 8 Strength & Balance Class

Time: 11.30 am – 12.30 pm

Venue: “Activities Room” Level 2A,

27 Mulley Street Holder

Cost: Members: $20 Non-Members: $60

Registration: E: [email protected] or

call 1800 011 041

Wednesday 10 Tai Chi for Beginners

Time: 11.00 am – 12 noon



Cost: Members: $30 Non-Members:

$60


1800 011 041

Thursday 11 Strength & Balance Class

Time: 10.00 – 11.00 am



Cost: Members: $20 Non-Members:

$60


call 1800 011 041

Thursday 11 RA & Sjogren’s Interest

Group

Time: 10.30 am –12noon

Venue: Hellenic Club, Phillip

Sunday 14 National Multicultural

Festival Stall

Time: 9.30am –3.00pm

Venue: Garema Place, Civic

Saturday 20 JIA Playgroup

Time: TBA

Venue: Canberra Boundless Playground

Kings Park, Parkes ACT

March 2016

Monday 7 Arthritis Support Group

Time: 10.30am –12noon

Venue: Hellenic Club , Phillip

Thursday10 RA & Sjogren’s Interest

Group

Time: 10.30am –12noon

Venue: Hellenic Club, Phillip

Thursday 17 COTA Seniors Day Expo

Time: 9.30am –3.00pm

Venue: Thoroughbred Park

Cost: Free!


mailto:[email protected]?subject=Strength%20&%20Balance%20Classes



NEWSLETTER - arthritisact.org.au · Without you, our highly successful WWX Program – our flagship...

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