Students to Offer Advice and Support for People Living with Fibromyalgia

Residents with fibromyalgia can get specialist advice on how to improve their quality of life thanks to a new scheme set up by University of Worcester students.

Five students on the University’s Physiotherapy and Occupational Therapy courses are launching a new education and exercise support group designed to empower people living with the condition.

Fran Ruggieri, 26, who is studying Physiotherapy, said: “We want people to be able to go home and manage their condition better, by giving them some help and advice.”

Fran, along with fellow second year Physiotherapy students Dan Harris, 20, and Tom Sears, 24, and second year Occupational Therapy students Chloe Hague, 25, and Emily Edwards, 27, are running the six-week pilot programme.  The free weekly meetings, at the McClelland Centre, based at the University’s City Campus in Castle Street, start on February 19, running 11am to 12pm. 

The Occupational Therapy students will offer education and advice on lifestyle and support services available on topics like fatigue, symptom management, and stress and anxiety.  Then Physiotherapy students will give specialist exercises people can try at home.  The students also hope it will be a chance for people to speak to others in a similar position and hear about coping strategies they use.

The students came up with the idea while on a 12-week placement at the University’s McClelland Centre, which offers fitness and wellbeing sessions and clinics for the public.  During the placement students deliver physical rehabilitation, signpost to relevant services and recommend equipment adjustments, supervised by lecturers.  They also choose a project to give them experience of working alongside other healthcare professions.

Fibromyalgia is a long-term condition that causes pain all over the body.  It can also cause fatigue, muscle stiffness, increased sensitivity to pain, difficulty sleeping, headaches and irritable bowel syndrome.  Having come across fibromyalgia in their work with the community and their own wider experience, the students perceived that further support for those with the condition could be beneficial.

Students hope to use feedback from those taking part to improve the service further and put in place a system that they hope will allow subsequent students to continue the group long-term.

To register your interest in attending email McClellandclinic@gmail.com.