Physical branch meetings are currently cancelled due to COVID-19. However there are virtual activities being run by some branches. Please contact your local branch for more information.

We hope you find the information on these pages helpful. Our team is working tirelessly to provide up to date advice in relation to the COVID-19/Coronavirus pandemic. Record numbers of people are now turning to NASS for support, and we hope to be here for everyone. Our helpline and advice service are only possible thanks to donations from people like you.

If you are able to make a donation to NASS today, we'd be so grateful.

DONATE

NASS Allies

Read Masterclass: Axial Spondyloarthritis for Osteopaths and Manual Therapists which has been published in the International Journal of Osteopathic Medicine. This masterclass aims improve clinicians’ understanding and awareness of axial SpA, including screening, recognition and when to refer to rheumatology.

Read the article here

Please note that osteopaths can access the article for free through logging onto Ozone on the GOsC website

NASS Allies is working with the Royal College of Chiropractors and Institute of Osteopathy to help reduce the 8.5 year delay to diagnosis.

GP Referral Template launched

At the Primary Care and Public Health Conference 2019, NASS was able to raise awareness of our brand new referral template which was developed in conjunction with the Royal College of Chiropractors and Institute of Osteopathy. It has been endorsed by the Royal College of GPs and the Chartered Society for Physiotherapy. The template is designed to help osteopaths and chiropractors to recommend referral into rheumatology via GPs more easily. The template is fully editable and comes with supporting documentation. In order to track the success of the template, we are asking osteopaths and chiropractors using the template to share their patients’ details with NASS (with their consent) so that we can follow their journey from referral through to diagnosis.

Download the template and additional document

Referral template

Referral Template by hand

Referral Template guidance for use

Patient Information

Patient consent form

Background

In a survey conducted by NASS which attracted 1217 respondents, 29% of people had visited a chiropractor before a diagnosis of axial SpA (AS) and 21% had visited an osteopath before diagnosis. This clearly shows that chiropractors and osteopaths are on the front line in NASS’s bid to reduce the current delay to diagnosis.

An advisory board meeting was held in August 2017 involving NASS, Professor Karl Gaffney, Dr Raj Sengupta, Dr Jane Martindale (physiotherapist), Katie Griffiths of the Institute of Osteopathy (iO) and Jatinder Benepal of the Royal College of Chiropractors (RCC) and a new steering group was formed. NASS’s sincere thanks go to the Institute of Osteopathy and Royal College of Chiropractors for embracing this project and allowing the charity many opportunities to promote our work and axial SpA (AS) in general.

Read more