Are school teachers at a high risk of developing musculoskeletal disorders?

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As teachers across the UK have been recharging their batteries over the summer break are they also taking the opportunity to rest their weary bodies? Musculoskeletal disorders have a huge impact on work related absences. For example in the UK, in 2007/2008, on average, each person suffering from an upper-limb disorder took an estimated 13.3 [read the full story…]

Psychotic symptoms are associated with poorer health: findings from WHO survey

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The WHO World Health Survey is a comprehensive international survey carried out across 70 countries, which uses face-to-face, telephone and online interviews to ask questions about the health of populations, public health risk factors, coverage and availability of health services and health care spending. The survey includes a number of questions relating to mental health [read the full story…]

Knee and/or ankle osteoarthritis in former elite soccer players

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In this series of blogs with a London 2012 Olympic flavour we have discussed the evidence on the main running related injuries, neuromuscular warm up strategies and tape for patellofemoral pain syndrome.  I’m going to London to watch the women’s Olympic football semi finals at Wembley Stadium this week. I hope that I will be [read the full story…]

Running-related musculoskeletal injuries

athletic track with 2012 and Union flag

Welcome to the Musculoskeletal Elf! This is the first of many regular articles that we plan to publish on this website; highlighting reliable musculoskeletal research and guidance for health and social care professionals. Our first few blogs will have relevance to the London 2012 summer Olympic Games and Paralympic Games taking place just now. Well done [read the full story…]

Self injurious behaviour prevalent in individuals with learning disabilities and autism spectrum disorder

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Self injurious behaviour is usually defined as behaviour that directly results in physical harm to an individual and includes such behaviours as hand biting, head slapping, picking at skin, gouging or striking the body or eating inedible material.  In addition, researchers have begun to include display of repetitive movements even though they may not immediately [read the full story…]

Over 40% of US teenagers experience a mental health disorder in any 12 month period

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This new cross sectional study from researchers at Harvard Medical School looks at the prevalence of DSM-IV disorders in over 10,000 teenagers living in the community. The study looked at a representative sample of young people. Homeless adolescents, school drop-outs and non-English speakers were excluded from the research, even though those who speak a different [read the full story…]

Higher than expected levels of anxiety found in children and young people with learning disabilities and autism

boy with autism

Previous research has suggested that the likelihood of experiencing mental health problems is increased in children and young people with learning disabilities if they also have autism. The researchers in this study were interested in looking at symptoms of anxiety in this population, hypothesising that they may experience symptoms of anxiety at a greater level [read the full story…]

Why is it so difficult to measure the prevalence of depression in people aged 75 and over?

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A number of reviews have been published in recent years, which explore the prevalence of depression in old people. Prevalence rates vary enormously from one study to the next and so the reviews tend to report quite a wide range, typically up to 10%. Prevalence is defined as: “a measure of the proportion of people [read the full story…]

Over one third of adults with severe learning disabilities living in private households in England have autism according to new NHS report

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Adults with a more severe learning disability also have a greater likelihood of having autism according to a new report published by the NHS Information Centre. The report combines data from the Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey (APMS) 2007 with findings from a new study based on a sample of people with learning disabilities living in [read the full story…]

Updated estimates for social care services for people with learning disabilities suggest sustained growth in need

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This update from the improving health and lives public health observatory updates previous work from 2008, where estimates of future need for services for people with learning disabilities were made. The current report estimates the need for adult social care support for people with learning disabilities in England for the period 2009-2026. The new model [read the full story…]