Arthritis Awareness Month
Source: arthritis.ca
Shining a spotlight on this debilitating disease and pursuing a cure
Arthritis is serious. It’s Canada’s most common chronic health condition, causing devastating pain, restricted mobility and a diminished quality of life. Yet it is often misunderstood and downplayed.
The Arthritis Society is lifting the veil on the disease to help Canadians understand its prevalence and often devastating impact. Six million Canadians have arthritis today, and that number will rise to nine million by 2040.
The goal is that increased awareness will lead to increased support, resources, research and, ultimately, a cure. That’s why the Arthritis Society is marking September, Arthritis Awareness Month, with a campaign to raise funds and awareness for what it calls an “urgent and growing issue.”
A lot of misconceptions exist about arthritis, says Duncan Mathieson, chair of the board of directors of the Arthritis Society. “Too often, people think arthritis is what happens to you when you get old. The fact is that arthritis is robbing people of all ages of their ability to move, function well in their job and enjoy their family life.”
“People with arthritis feel others often diminish what they are going through. In fact, 79 per cent of respondents to a recent survey said people don’t take arthritis seriously.
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Arthritis strikes people of every age, from infants to adults, and more than half of people with arthritis are under 65 (including around 24,000 children in Canada). It is a complex disease with over 100 different types, under the major categories of inflammatory arthritis and osteoarthritis.
“People with arthritis feel others often diminish what they are going through. In fact, 79 per cent of respondents to a recent survey said people don’t take arthritis seriously,” says Trish Barbato, president and CEO of the Arthritis Society. “Those types of attitudes increase stigma and make people afraid to talk about their difficulties and seek help.”
While the organization wants to underscore the seriousness of arthritis, it also has encouraging news – research is making a difference.
“Advancements in medication for rheumatoid arthritis, for example, have been significant,“ says Barbato. “Research has led to new drugs that help people better manage pain and have a better quality of life and, importantly, stop or slow progression of the disease altogether.”
The goal is to raise $1-million during Arthritis Awareness Month to support continued research in some exciting new areas, she says. Some innovative projects have begun on cell-based therapies for advanced knee osteoarthritis, as well as on new approaches to target immune cells in the body to put the brakes on the inflammation that causes inflammatory arthritis.
The Arthritis Society is also urging Canadians to show their support in other ways, including by writing members of their federal or provincial legislatures to call for more research funding and to support efforts to shorten wait times for knee and hip replacements – the vast majority of which are caused by arthritis. These wait times continue to be longer than the medically recommended target of six months in all parts of Canada.
With the help of Canadians, the Arthritis Society seeks to support research that will eventually lead to a cure.
“Helping researchers make discoveries that will enhance the lives of people living with arthritis today is important,” says Mathieson. “And we’ll continue to pursue our ultimate dream – to find a cure so people can live their lives free of arthritis.”
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