Innovative projects to combat bone and joint diseases

Tai Chi lessons, special fitness programs for young people, and practical suggestions for people who work on the land are among $1.5 million of innovative projects to combat bone and joint disease in the Australian community.

The Minister for Health and Ageing, Senator Kay Patterson, said the Commonwealth Government would fund 27 projects through the National Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Conditions Improvement Grants Program.

“This program is designed to provide local communities with funding to trial innovative ways of preventing and managing musculoskeletal conditions such as osteoporosis, rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis,” Senator Patterson said.

“Bone and joint diseases impose a significant burden on the Australian community. It is estimated that more than 1.3 million Australians suffer from osteoarthritis and, after the age of 60, more than 50 per cent of women and around 30 per cent of men will suffer a fracture because of osteoporosis.”

“The Government is committed to improving care for the many Australians who suffer from musculoskeletal conditions and to this end we have provided $11.5 million over four years under the Better Arthritis Care program.”

The projects announced today have a strong emphasis on the better practical management of arthritis and osteoporosis. It is hoped they will point the way to solutions that can be applied more widely in other communities. Some areas to be addressed by the projects include:

• reducing the impact of osteoarthritis in farming people by providing practical ways in which people who work on the land can manage their condition and maintain their work and lifestyle;
• improving the fitness of students with Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis (JRA) through innovative health and physical education curriculum development;
• the use of Tai Chi to improve joint and bone strength in individuals in rural communities;
• evaluation of a simple guideline for the prevention of hip fractures in aged care residents; and
• developing arthritis self-management in urban Indigenous communities.