This year’s theme for Rheumatic Disease Awareness Month focuses on self-management, aiming to provide tools and tips to empower patients, boost awareness about the importance of self-management and, ultimately, improve patient outcomes.
Good Care: Benefits of Pain Self-Management Is Getting More Recognition
Pain management can involve more than active pharmacologic treatment. During a session at ACR Convergence 2023, experts addressed the benefits of patient self-management for pain, how it works with clinical care and the role of technology.
A Prescription for Mindfulness
The prescription is a powerful tool for a physician. As rheumatologists, we prescribe many things—drugs, physical therapy, durable medical equipment—but what about stress reduction? We are very specific about times of day to take medications and in what manner. Patients ask: With or without food? With other medications? Before or after other prescribed medications? If…
Self-Administered Acupressure Promising for Chronic Back Pain Relief
Researchers examined the benefits of two acupressure approaches for treating low back pain, finding that patients who self-administered stimulating acupressure experienced a significant decrease in fatigue associated with their chronic pain…
Pets May Help Older Adults Manage Chronic Pain
(Reuters Health)—People with pets may be able to use their companion animals to practice techniques for managing chronic pain without medication, researchers say. In focus group interviews, pet owners over age 70 with chronic pain said their pets brought them joy and laughter, helped them relax, kept them active and promoted other good habits that…
Support Groups Can Help Rheumatic Disease Patients
Fifteen women and men seated around a conference table in a New York City hospital listen intently to one of their peers. A 40-year-old elementary school teacher shares her challenges related to the intersection of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and the responsibilities of a demanding job.* With the support and counsel of fellow group members, the…
Patient-Centered Care Model for RA Flares Could Improve Self-Management of Symptoms
A recent trend to incorporate patient-reported outcomes (PROs) in clinical research, and ultimately clinical practice, is a response to the need to better measure and treat what patients truly care about, and adapt to the changing healthcare environment, which increasingly includes patient satisfaction as a key metric for overall quality of care, a metric tied…
Arthritis Self-Management Program Success
Although effective, arthritis self-management programs can be challenging to implement.
Website Devoted to Arthritis Self-Management
“Better Choices, Better Health” is the recently launched online version of Stanford’s chronic disease self-management program.