Research on shoulder arthritis gets Arthritis Society funding

Researchers at Western Health Science's school of physical therapy are working shoulder to shoulder to develop a new patient education program that can help those suffering from arthritis in the upper extremities. About 20 per cent of Canadians live with arthritis. Shoulder arthritis is the focus of the work being led by coprincipal investigators Paul Parikh, a new faculty member, and Joy MacDermid, the Dr. James Roth Chair in Musculoskeletal Measurement and Knowledge Translation and Canada Research Chair in  Musculoskeletal Health Outcomes and Knowledge Translation. Now, the work is getting a much-needed boost with the new Ignite Research Grant from the Arthritis Society. "Shoulder arthritis is very common, particularly as you get older, but there tends to be far less research on it," said MacDermid. Like other types of arthritis, shoulder arthritis can be debilitating, with some patients ending up having to undergo joint replacement. People who live with shoulder arthritis have chronic pain, difficulty with tasks of daily life and have large unmet needs for care, which has worsened during the pandemic.