Funky Arthur is always looking for ways to support the work of the National Rheumatoid Arthritis Society (NRAS) - a tremendous patient-led charity that works hard to provide support, information and advocacy for people with Rheumatoid Arthritis and Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis, their families, friends and carers.

That’s why we are so excited to be able to collaborate with the NRAS in their “Recycle for Charity” campaign.

“Recycle for Charity” is an organisation which aims to donate over £100,000 to charity - each and every year.  Simply by recycling inkjet cartridges and mobile phones they have managed to donate a staggering £298,739 to date.

The NRAS has teamed up with “Recycle for Charity” and will benefit from every cartridge or mobile phone you recycle.  To put it into context, every 12 cartridges that are recycled will pay for a helpline call to support someone with RA.  Mobile phones can raise up to £30 when recycled, so just 1 recycled phone will help fund the production of an information toolkit for a volunteer.  It really is an easy way to support the work of a tremendous charity.

To show our support we will be enclosing a recycling envelope along with every order that we despatch - all you have to do is fill it!  If you can, please join us in supporting the NRAS - together we can make a real difference.

For more information go to http://www.nras.org.uk/support_us/nras_online/recycle4charity.aspx.

We are offering one lucky visitor the chance to win a One Touch Jar Opener. Retailing at more than £25, this gadget is one of the best tools around for opening stubborn jar lids. Safe enough to use on any jar yet powerful enough to deal with the toughest jars it’s perfect for anyone who suffers from arthritis in their arms, wrists or hands

To be in with a chance of winning, all you have to do is complete our quick 5 minute survey. The competition is open to residents of the UK and Ireland and the closing date for receipt of entries is midnight Friday 5 March 2010. One lucky winner will be selected at random from all entries received and will be notified by email within 10 working days of the closing date.   Good Luck!

Christmas will soon be upon us, and for many this brings the dread of writing all those Christmas cards!  Pain when writing is a real problem for arthritis sufferers so we thought it was about time that we expanded the writing aids section of our site.  We’ve added two great new products which we feel sure that you’ll love.

The Original Pen Again

The Original Pen Again

The original pen again is a revolutionary no-grip solution to writing.  The body of the pen is shaped like a “Y” creating a cradle for the index finger to rest in, whilst the weight of the hand provides sufficient pressure to write.  An Ergo-Sof version is also available which has a rubber coating for even more comfort.

Dexball Writing Aid

Dexball Writing Aid

The Dexball writing aid was designed with arthritis sufferers in mind.  Made from high density foam, the spherical shape means no more painful gripping, whilst a special insert holds your pen or pencil in place.  Available in large or small dependent upon your grip strength or hand size.

The panic surrounding the Swine Flu pandemic shows no sign of abating. To date I have received two letters from my daughters school informing me of confirmed swine flu cases (will I be getting one a day soon?). I can barely leave the house without running the risk of being sneezed, coughed or otherwise spluttered on.

As an RA sufferer, what is to be made of all this? Like many people with inflammatory arthritis I take DMARDs, and like many I am concerned about the effect of Swine Flu on my compromised immune system. It’s unclear at the moment whether all RA patients will be eligible for the Swine Flu jab, but so far no gilt-edged invitation has arrived in my letterbox!

What happens if one of my family goes down with Swine Flu - I can hardly avoid them for seven days.  Should I continue with treatment?  Will I need Tamiflu?  There are so many questions yet so little real information, which is why I was so pleased to receive a tweet from Arthritis Ireland telling me about a great Swine Flu downloadable factsheet put together by the Irish Society for Rheumatology. It’s full of really useful information and well worth a look.

Are you a knimble knitter?  Then you could be in with a chance of winning £200 with Arthritis Care’s brand new competition for October.  All you have to do is knit a winter item, such as mittens, gloves or a scarf, take 4 good quality photos and submit your entry with a fee of just £2 per item.  Entries must arrive before 15th February 2010 and there is no limit to the number of items you can enter. Winners will be announced in March. Find out more.

Arthritis Care is a phenomenal charity which works exceptionally hard on behalf of all people with arthritis.  If you haven’t already, then do take the time to visit their website at www.arthritiscare.org.uk - you’ll find a ton of useful resources and an award winning discussion forum full of members who know exactly what you’re going through.

Arthritis Care are looking for people who would like to take part in a sponsored skydive.  You can choose from 3 different types of jump; a tandem where you experience the thrill of skydiving from around 12,000 feet - strapped to an instructor and safely guided to the ground, a thrilling solo skydive - with two instructors with you as part of an Accelerated Freefall training course, or a static line parachute jump - performed from around 3,000 feet. All training is provided and no previous experience is required.

If you raise enough donations in sponsorship, around £360 depending on the type of jump you choose, you will get to jump for free!

For more details visit http://www.arthritiscare.org.uk/GetInvolved/Events/SponsoredSkydive

From now until the end of July, Funky Arthur are offering every customer a FREE Dycem Bottle Opener with every order over £35.  You don’t need to do a thing, the free bottle opener will appear in your basket when you checkout - it’s that simple!

The Dycem bottle opener is a handy little gadget, simply place it on top of stubborn bottle tops and twist to open. The non-slip Dycem properties also provide a great grip to ensure a good seal when closing bottles tops.

Hurry though, this offer ends 31st July 2009.

We’ve had some great weather recently which has led many of my friends and colleagues to comment on how much better my arthritis must be.  To be honest unless the weather is particularly damp I don’t notice much of a difference, although the good weather does put me in much better spirits!  Still, many people believe that there is a link between arthritis symptoms and the weather with some 50-90% of people with OA or RA saying that they are sensitive to the increased levels of humidity and low pressure which often precede rain (Met Office website). 

Research into the influence of weather on arthritis has been patchy though. A study in carried out in the 1960s  confined patients to a climate controlled building with no acess to information about the outside weather. The researchers found that patients were able to detect rises in humidity and falls in barometric pressure simply by increased levels of joint pain.  Whilst this study has been criticised due to its small sample size (just 12 participants) an interesting finding was made; the study showed that neither high levels of humidity nor low barometric pressure had an effect on their own - both weather conditions had to be in place for patients to notice increased joint pain. 

Other studies have not been so supportive of the link.  In a much larger study by Sibley, patients were asked to keep a record of their joint symptoms.  These diaries were then correlated with records of local weather conditions.  Sibley found no link between weather conditions and arthritis. 

So what’s to be made of these findings? Some researchers suggest that the effect of poor weather on mood is the real culprit behind perceived increases in joint pain.  Bad weather = bad mood = bad joints!  Others argue that poor weather stops us exercising, again leading to more pain and stiffness.

What do you think?

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