On the 20th of May 2017 our Clinical Champion for Balance, Anna had the great pleasure of participating in “Getting to Grips Day” at Salford Royal Hospital.
The day’s aim is to help newly diagnosed people with MS to find out about what to expect after being diagnosed with MS, how to look after themselves after diagnosis and where to find help and opportunities, such as clinical research.
Receiving an MS diagnosis is for many an overwhelming experience and the majority of people start feeling very lonely and anxious, do not know where to ask for support or what may be available to them. The “Getting to Grips Day” introduced various professionals and support groups to those who got their diagnosis during the last 12 months and live in Greater Manchester.
The day was organised by MS Nurse Team from SRFT and was packed with interesting conversations and opportunities to network.
Anna talked to the listeners about the wide benefits of being physically active at any stage of the disease, how to introduce exercises to their lives and take responsibility for physical well-being. Anna equipped the participants with basic principles of exercises, safety advice, encouraged them to try various forms of exercises and activities with pleasure and support from closeperson or professional like physiotherapist or personal trainer. One of the participants fed back about Anna’s talk summarised: “I liked the idea of empowering and giving the confidence to people living with MS on “doing for themselves”.
The reception on the day was great and general feeling of the participants was that they became more reassured that the support from the extensive network of professionals and support groups which are available to them.