Chris Martey, the recently installed ARMA (Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Alliance) chair is to focus on tackling health inequalities in a speech that he’s scheduled to give to fellow physiotherapists and colleagues next month.

Musculoskeletal (MSK) specialist Chris, who is based at Aneurin Bevan University Health Board in south Wales, is giving a 15-minute talk on the opening day of the MSK Conference at the NEC Birmingham, which runs from 27 to 28 November. 

Chris’s appointment as ARMA chair was reported in a recent PhysioUpdate news article. His talk is likely to draw on findings from a recent ARMA inquiry into health inequalities, which culminated in the publication of a report titled ‘Act Now: Musculoskeletal Health Inequalities and Deprivation.’ 

ARMA is an umbrella body that brings 38 patient organisations and professional bodies together to represent the breadth of MSK health. Its members include the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy, the Society of Musculoskeletal Medicine (SOMM), the National Axial Spondyloarthritis Society and the Physiotherapy Pain Association.

Chris will help to host an interactive workshop in the afternoon, which is titrled ‘Act now: what you can do to tackle MSK health inequalities in areas of deprivation’. His co-host is ARMA’s chief executive, Sue Brown. 

He also appear on the platform during the second day of the event, as a member of a four-person panel that will discuss how to tackle inequity across the UK’s devolved nations. 

CPD opportunites abound 

The MSK conference programme operates alongside the popular annual Therapy Expo event at the same venue. The full rate to attend is £299 plus VAT, with delegates promised opportunities to accrue more than 70 hours’ worth of accredited continuing profession development opportunites.

Delegates will be able to choose from an array of speakers – many of whom have physiotherapy backgrounds – while moving between three enclosed theatres, two demo zones and an ultrasound workshop, among other presentations.

Learn lessons from the ‘strongest man’

Mitchell Hooper, billed as being the current ‘Strongest Man on Earth’ and last year’s ‘World’s Strongest Man’, will be leading two sessions titled ‘Strength Training for the Clinical Population’. Mitchell, a clinical exercise physiologist with a ‘deep understanding of human biomechanics, rehabilitation, and strength training’ is likely to be a popular speaker, though there is an extra charge to attend his sessions. Delegates are advised to wear ‘workout kits’ and to bring along their ‘A-game’.

Mitchell owns a physical therapy clinic, where he helps clients to recover from injuries, improve physical function, and achieve better health outcomes through targeted exercise programmes.

Michelle Lyons

Women’s health physiotherapist Michelle Lyons will have a busy morning on 27 November as she hosts a Q&A session titled ‘Muscles and tendons: menstrual, maternal and menopausal influences’ from 9.30am onwards. Delegates will hear how muscles and tendons are affected by hormones.

Questions include the following

• ‘What do the hormonal changes during the menstrual cycle mean for training but also for therapy?’
• ‘Do REDs [relative energy deficiency in sport] influence injuries and recovery?’
• ‘What do we need to consider when working with athletes returning to sport/exercise after giving birth? And, of course, what are the evidence-based strategies for keeping our female athletes enjoying exercise and sport at every age and stage?’
• Michelle is also expected to review the evidence for integrating hormonal changes into treatment planning and translate it into clinically applicable strategies.

After a short break, Michelle returns to the stage to join a Women In Sports Therapy panel that promises to ‘discuss all things regarding being a woman within the sports therapy industry’. To find out more about Michelle, visit her website.

If you’d like to know how to broaden your horizons and patient groups, whilst also providing more holistic, complete care to all of your patients then come along to this presentation [Alistair Beverley]

Patients ‘no one told you how to treat’

‘The patient no one told you how to treat’ is the intriguing title of a Q&A being run by Alistair Beverley on the afternoon of 27 November in the STA Therapy Update Theatre. Alistair is the director of The LD Physio. 

In his summary of the session, which will focus on people with learning disabilities (LDs), Alistair notes: ‘Many of us will feel our training did a good job at teaching us how to support patients. However, I can bet there are around 1.5 million people in the UK for whom many of us would struggle to support clinically. More than this, there are so many skills you can take from learning how best to support these patients that will benefit you with every single person you see for the rest of your career.’

Alistair adds: ‘I’m talking about people with a learning disability. If you’d like to know how to broaden your horizons and patient groups, whilst also providing more holistic, complete care to all of your patients then come along to this presentation.’

Nicola Hunt on concussion

Neurological and vestibular physiotherapist Nicola Hunt, from Physiocare Rehab, is to speak on the opening day of the conference. Her presentation is titled ‘Concussion causes, risk, and treatment: myth busting’. Nicola says she will aim to ‘dispel some myths’ and ‘delve into common causes, risk factors, and the latest evidence-based assessment and treatment protocols around concussion’.

Nicola, who is also described as being educational lead at Your Brain Health UK, will discuss how therapists should be doing more than just using return-to-play timelines, and will dispel the myths surrounding concussion. Potential delegates are told they ‘will also walk away from this talk with something you can put into practice with your next concussed patient’.

Physiocare Rehab specialises in the assessment, treatment and rehabilitation of traumatic brain  injury, vestibular and balance disorders and  complex neurological conditions as part of the medico-legal rehabilitation process.