Category Archives: Treatment

Developing New Treatments for Kids With Arthritis

Developing new treatments for kids with arthritis is challenging. Drugs that work for adults may not work the same way in children. Ask any pediatrician and they will remind you that kids are not just small adults. Children are still growing and developing. They are different sizes and at different stages of development, which makes dosing and safety considerations more challenging. The types of additional medical conditions children experience may be very different from the conditions seen in adults. Continue reading Developing New Treatments for Kids With Arthritis

The New Arthritis Foundation CBD Guidance for Adults with Arthritis

You may have noticed that CBD-based products have become almost as mainstream and as ubiquitous as pumpkin spice is this time of year. Touted as the magic ingredient in beauty products and snack foods, CBD (cannabidiol) seems to offer something for everyone. People with arthritis pain want to know: Is there something in it for me?

Driven almost exclusively by marketing and word of mouth, with very little science to back it up, CBD has become the buzz among people with arthritis looking for pain relief.

That’s what got the attention of Natalie Azar, MD, a rheumatologist and medical contributor for NBC News. She learned that people with arthritis were asking the Arthritis Foundation: Should I try CBD? Will it work for me?

The Arthritis Foundation recently consulted leading arthritis and CBD experts to find out what you should know about this compound, which is typically extracted from the hemp plant. The result is the Arthritis Foundation CBD Consumer Guidance for Adults with Arthritis.

Dr. Azar featured our guidance in her report on CBD on the “Today” show Tuesday, September 24, 2019.

We want you to be in the best position to make an informed decision with your doctor about trying CBD.

Read Arthritis Foundation CBD Guidance for Adults with Arthritis.

More on CBD from the Arthritis Foundation:

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Opioid Policy Chief: “You can’t solve the opioid crisis without solving the pain crisis.”

If you have arthritis, chances are your doctor gave you a prescription for an opioid pain medication at some point. Opioids are effective at relieving pain, including post-surgical pain, and for some people who live with chronic pain from arthritis or other conditions, they are one part of managing that condition.

Continue reading Opioid Policy Chief: “You can’t solve the opioid crisis without solving the pain crisis.”

CARRA study enrollment complete

New Large-scale Study to Make Personalized Medicine a Reality for Kids With JIA

Personalized treatments for children with arthritis will soon be a reality, thanks to a new research study supported by the Arthritis Foundation.

The study, the largest of its kind, is being done by the Childhood Arthritis and Rheumatology Research Alliance (CARRA), a North American research network that conducts collaborative research to find treatments and a cure for pediatric rheumatic diseases. The Arthritis Foundation has worked closely with CARRA since it was formed in 2002. Together, we’ve aligned our scientific agendas, and the Foundation has committed millions of dollars toward expanding juvenile arthritis research through CARRA.

Continue reading New Large-scale Study to Make Personalized Medicine a Reality for Kids With JIA

acr 2018

Patients Report on the Final ACR Conference Sessions

More than 15,000 doctors, nurses, physical therapists, researchers, scientists and others with interest and/or expertise in rheumatology gathered in Chicago in late October for the American College of Rheumatology’s Annual Meeting. The Arthritis Foundation had a contingent of “patient representatives” attending to  provide the perspective and voice of people living with arthritis. They fanned out to attend sessions, view and present posters and collect information about exciting new developments in the field. Here are their notes from the final sessions of the meeting.

Continue reading Patients Report on the Final ACR Conference Sessions

exercise as arthritis physical therapy

Too Few People With Arthritis Try the Top Recommended Therapy: Physical Activity

Physical exercise is recommended as the first approach for relief of arthritis symptoms, yet many people do not participate in regular physical activity. New research suggests that doctors and other health care professionals who treat people with arthritis are doing a better job at counseling them on physical exercise, but there is still plenty of room for improvement.

A study published recently by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that the number of people with arthritis who said they were counseled by a health care professional about doing exercise to improve arthritis symptoms increased by 18 percent between 2002 and 2014, from 52 percent to 61 percent. But that means that approximately 40 percent of people with arthritis who seek medical care still are not getting appropriate counseling at their medical visits. The findings appeared in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), published by the CDC.

Continue reading Too Few People With Arthritis Try the Top Recommended Therapy: Physical Activity

FDA Osteoarthritis Research

Synvisc-One Injections Recalled

Biotech giant Sanofi Genzyme has initiated a voluntary product recall for one lot of Synvisc-One, a brand of hyaluronic acid. The lot, which was found to contain contamination, has been linked to an unexpected increase in side effects. In an urgent “product hold” letter, doctors, clinics and pharmacies who received syringes from that lot were instructed to immediately stop using the injections on patients until the company can investigate.
Continue reading Synvisc-One Injections Recalled

lupus women demographic

Lupus Strikes Some Groups of Women Harder and More Often

Ninety percent of people in the United States who have the chronic autoimmune disease lupus are women and, according to two new studies published recently in Arthritis & Rheumatology, large proportions are Hispanic or Asian. Like African-Americans, these two ethnic/racial groups are not only at higher risk of lupus than whites, they’re also more likely to have aggressive forms of the disease, researchers in New York and San Francisco found.

Lupus, or systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), an affect virtually every organ system, and symptoms vary widely. Some patients have relatively mild skin and joint symptoms that may go into remission for long periods. Others have cognitive (neuropsychiatric) manifestations or life-threatening complications such as lung, heart and kidney problems.

Continue reading Lupus Strikes Some Groups of Women Harder and More Often