Elly O’Brien reports on a recent RCT of a staff training intervention for inpatients in mental health rehabilitation, which is designed to increase patients’ engagement in activities.
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Are you standing comfortably? It’s time for Tracey Howe to tell us about the efficacy of different electrical stimulation therapies on pain relief of patients with knee osteoarthritis.
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Lesley Dawson summarises a recent systematic review of eccentric exercise (where the muscle lengthens, rather than shortens, against resistance) for lateral epicondylitis. She finds evidence to support its use in decreasing pain and improving function.
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In her first blog for the Musculoskeletal Elf, Pamela Andrews a sports therapist and a PhD candidate at Glasgow Caledonian University discusses a recent systematic reiew of meta-analyses evaluating the effectiveness of exercise for depression in adults with arthritis, fibromyalgia and other rheumatic diseases.
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Are there any benefits from walking exercise in people with chronic musculoskeletal pain? We report on a recent systematic review that looks into the benefits and harms.
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This systematic review examines the effectiveness of manual therapy and exercise on adhesive capsulitis (frozen shoulder) a common cause of shoulder pain and stiffness.
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This Cochrane review authored by the MSK Elf examines the effectiveness of exercise interventions in preventing bone loss and fractures in postmenopausal women.
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Despite being on the decline, smoking is still one of the largest causes of preventable morbidity and mortality in the world. According to recent World Health Organisation data, smoking directly kills around 5 million people every year. The NHS spends almost £90 million on cessation efforts to combat the £5 billion treatment cost. Recent research [read the full story…]
It has been estimated that between 10-26% of men and 10-33% of women experience dry mouth. The subjective sensation of dry mouth is called xerostomia and can be found in people with normal salivary gland function. The normal range of salivary production ranges from 0.5 to 1.5 litres per day. The aim of this Cochrane [read the full story…]
Individuals with severe mental illness (SMI) have shortened life expectancies compared to the general population. This is partly down to higher rates of chronic physical illness. Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death among patients using mental health services. It is assumed that interventions used to reduce CVD are similarly effective in patients with [read the full story…]
