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World Osteoporosis Day
The Global alliance for Musculoskeletal Health was formed in 1990s by a group of health professionals who felt that more could be done to prevent musculoskeletal conditions .
In the year 2000 the Bone and Joint Decade was launched in Geneva, Switzerland and ran for ten years.
At the time I was a trustee of ARMA (The Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Alliance )and we ran many events to publicise this push towards prevention.
Following this decade, the Bone and Joint Decade transitioned into the Global Alliance of Musculoskeletal Health which continues to mandate to improve the health-related quality of life for people with MSK conditions across the world.
Each year, the Alliance runs a ‘ Bone and Joint week’ which this year runs from 12th to 20th of October, 2026. The programme this year is as follows;
12 October: World Arthritis Day
16 October: World Spine Day
17 October: World Trauma Day
19 October: World Pediatric Bone & Joint Day
20 October: World Osteoporosis Day
The aim of World Arthritis Day is to raise awareness of rheumatic and musculoskeletal disease (RMD) amongst the medical community and the public and to influence public policy by making decision-makers aware of the burden of RMDs and the steps which can be taken to ease them.
The week also aims to ensure that all people with RMD are aware of the vast support network available to them .
There is a World Arthritis Day website where people are encouraged to share stories of their own RMD or how they have supported someone or a carer for a person with an RMD.
World Osteoporosis Day is on October 20th
This is a campaign to raise global awareness of prevention, diagnosis and treatment of osteoporosis and metabolic bone disease .
Osteoporosis is a condition often overlooked in Healthcare . Vertebral fractures are particularly overlooked . The Royal Osteoporosis Society states that;
“Currently in the UK, there is no systematic national approach to identifying people at risk of osteoporosis and fractures. Instead, decisions are made by individual clinicians on a case-by-case basis. This is leaving thousands without the care they need and resulting in failure to prevent life-changing pain and disability. The ROS’s inquiry into primary care fracture prevention, via the UK All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Osteoporosis and Bone Health, found that 61% of people with one of the three major risk factors for a bone health assessment had not had their fracture risk and bone mineral density assessed.
Millions living with undiagnosed spinal fractures. Far too many people suffer multiple broken bones before they are eventually diagnosed with osteoporosis. ROS insight suggests up to 2.2 million people might be living with undiagnosed spinal fractures, which make them three times more likely to suffer a hip fracture. Hip fractures are heart-attack level events, as more than one in four people who break a hip, die within a year. Of those that survive, 60% need help with eating, dressing and personal hygiene twelve months after the fracture”
Identifying those with the condition and at risk | Royal Osteoporosis Society
The ROS fell that the solution lies in
Systematic identification of individuals at high risk of fracture including those with undiagnosed spinal fracture, with subsequent assessment and treatment, would lead to a step change reduction in the burden of fragility fractures for individuals, the NHS and society.
If we identified more vertebral fractures we would be able to prevent hip fractures which can happen after vertebral fractures and are subsequent to undiagnosed osteoporosis. Fractured neck of femur is a major cause of morbidity and premature death , and if we identified osteoporosis at the time of a vertebral fracture, we could treat the condition and prevent further fractures.
Historically, vertebral fractures were diagnosed by lateral spinal X ray, but there is a push back now from radiology who see this as an unnecessary X ray as it does not affect clinical management , and is a radiation risk to the patient .
As GPs , we have t be aware that back pain may be a vertebral fracture and treat as such without imaging , unless there are neurological signs.
GIRFT have an excellent management pathway , which still recommends lateral spinal X ray to diagnose, although this is not happening in reality.
I hope that the Bone and Joint week will raise awareness of all these RMDs.
Dr Louise Warburton