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1111 Educators providing TIS courses

The National Axial Spondyloarthritis Society

the national axial spondyloarthritis society

4.8(83)

London

Axial spondyloarthritis (axial SpA) is an inflammatory arthritis where the main symptom is back pain Axial spondyloarthritis is an umbrella term and it includes: Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS) Where changes to the sacroiliac joints or the spine can be seen on x-ray. Non-radiographic axial spondyloarthritis Where x-ray changes are not present but inflammation is visible on MRI or you have symptoms. Around 7 in 10 people with non-radiographic axial spondyloarthritis have visible inflammation in the sacroiliac joints or the spine when an MRI of the back is carried out. Around 3 in 10 may not have any inflammation visible on MRI despite symptoms of back pain. Some may never go on to develop visible inflammation on MRI. The reasons for this are still not well understood but may be due to the sensitivity of MRI. Typical symptoms of axial SpA include: Slow or gradual onset of back pain and stiffness over weeks or months, rather than hours or days Early-morning stiffness and pain, wearing off or reducing during the day with exercise Persistence for more than 3 months (as opposed to coming on in short attacks) Feeling better after exercise and worse after rest Weight loss, especially in the early stages Fatigue or tiredness Feeling feverish and experiencing night sweats What happens? It’s a painful, progressive form of inflammatory arthritis. It mainly affects the spine but can also affect other joints, tendons and ligaments. Other areas such as the eyes and bowel can also sometimes be involved. Inflammation occurs at the site where ligaments or tendons attach to the bone. This is known as enthesis The inflammation is followed by some wearing away of the bone at the site of the attachment. This is known as enthesopathy As the inflammation reduces, healing takes place and new bone develops. Movement becomes restricted when bone replaces the elastic tissue of ligaments or tendons Repetition of this inflammatory process leads to further bone formation and the individual bones which make up your backbone (vertebrae) can fuse together

Scottish Cut Flowers

scottish cut flowers

4.8(16)

It’s our vision to help our customers reduce their environmental footprint giving them the choice to buy home-grown flowers over imported foreign flowers. This small decision will have a big impact on the reduction of carbon emissions from unhealthy production techniques and transport fumes. We strive to continually reduce our environmental footprint by choosing recyclable or compostable packaging, streamlining deliveries, avoiding synthetic chemicals like the plague and whenever possible sourcing product from within Britain, Scotland ideally. Farming counterintuitively can be detrimental to the land, I’m talking about the huge hedge-less fields, large machinery and single crop type of farming you see everywhere. At SCF we aim to be the opposite of that, we have 50+ different varieties of flowers for the wildlife to feed and live from, we use minimum till methods to protect the important worm population, we use compost to add fertility, and beneficial insects rather than synthetic chemicals to control pests and weed suppression material to negate the need for weed killer. We feel it is our duty as custodians of the land to help in the fight to save the bees, this year we will be undertaking a bee keeping course and hope to establish our hives by mid-summer. With such an abundance of flowers and surrounding fields, we should be able to provide a sanctuary for at least a couple of hives which will increase the pollination of those surrounding food crops. We are buzzing!