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This week is Self Care Week, the annual awareness campaign that aims to increase people’s ability to look after their own health and wellbeing. With a second COVID-19 lockdown in place, it is more important than ever for people to be able to effectively look after their health. In this article we hear from someone whose life has been transformed by ESCAPE-pain, an exercise and education programme that helps people to manage chronic joint pain and stay active.

Marian Bunney, 69 years old from Bridlington, explains how ESCAPE-pain has given her the means to continue to look after herself and avoid having to use a mobility scooter due to her crippling knee pain. ESCAPE-pain is a powerful exercise programme designed to help beat the debilitating pain of knee and hip osteoarthritis. By attending two sessions per week for six weeks, participants learn to take control of their pain, manage it and return to a more physically active life.

In this video interview, Marian explains how the ESCAPE-pain programme has helped improve her quality of life.

Yorkshire & Humber AHSN has been supporting Clinical Commissioning Groups, leisure providers, NHS Trusts and other organisations for the past two years to adopt the group rehabilitation programme which is approved by NICE, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. NICE ensure the standard of outcomes for people using the NHS.

More than 800 people will be able to join the programme as the East Riding Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) has commissioned the local authority’s East Riding Leisure Centres to provide ESCAPE-pain across all leisure centres in the area. While areas remain in lockdown, participants will be offered the opportunity to join classes remotely via Zoom until it is possible to resume sessions in the leisure centres.

Nicola Parker, Healthy Lifestyles Development Officer and ESCAPE-pain programme lead at East Riding of Yorkshire Council Health and Wellbeing Service, said:

“The programme helps people stay active and understand how to manage their condition. Some of the main benefits we are seeing from the ESCAPE pain programme is the overall improvement of joint pain, reduced need for medication, better health, a more active social life and more self-confidence”.

Find out more information about the ESCAPE-pain programme.