HAPPY BIRTHDAY GLA:D!
Good Life Arthritis Denmark, otherwise known as GLA:D, celebrates 10 years this year from its beginnings back in 2013. And what a difference it has made to so many people with knee and hip osteo arthritis over this time and all over the world.
After discussion with one of the founders of GLA:D and Head of Research – Professor Søren Thorgaard Skou, I was invited to visit the clinic, Fysio Danmark in the beautiful city of Copenhagen last month. There are around 15 physios at this clinic, who have been working on the trials and running the GLA:D program since its research stage and are pioneers in perfecting the delivery of the program.
The clinic itself has many gyms and rehabilitation spaces to run a variety of groups including GLA:D, and the patients traverse up (and then down) three levels of stairs to participate. The Hip/Knee group run their exercise program in an hour group combined with education sessions. Chatting to these patients, it was clear that the strength they have gained through these exercise sessions over 8 weeks have translated to improvement in their pain and movement in their everyday life.
Apart from the Hip & Knee group, which we run in Australia currently, I was also there to observe the GLA:D Back program.
Our knowledge of Low Back Pain has moved away considerably from the older model of ‘you’re damaged and need to rest’ advice, to a more tailored movement program to empower people with knowledge and control of their day-to-day function. The education component GLA:D Back provides includes this Cognitive Retraining and the Physios have seen good outcomes for their patients in their research. Similar research in Perth through Peter O’Sullivan is showing the same positive outcomes for people with Low Back Pain.
Form and Practice have movement and empowering at our core, so feel free to come in and discuss best treatment option with your Physiotherapist.
Lis Coffey