Fleet-footed Camilla has wings clipped

Arthritis is a condition commonly associated with older people, severely restricting movement and flexibility.

But younger people can suffer too. To test how limiting arthritis can be, the incredibly supple “Strictly Come Dancing” winner, Camilla Dallerup, tried on a special suit for a day, mimicking living with the condition.

Janice Barker reports on her experiences, and talks to a young woman from Oldham who suffers from rheumatoid arthritis.

WHO can forget the slim, golden professional winner of 2008’s “Strictly Come Dancing”? Leggy Danish blonde Camilla Dallerup and her amateur partner Tom Chambers, from TV’s “Holby City”, wowed the judges with their slick moves, amazing footwork and speed around the floor.

But Camilla recently spent a frustrating and painful day experiencing what it is like to live with osteoarthritis.

Wearing a special restrictive suit, she tried doing everyday tasks, and found the simplest things, even painting her toe nails, became an exhausting chore.

She was helping Seven Seas JointCare’s new campaign — Arthritis For A Day — looking at joint health and arthritis awareness.

Arthritis is very close to Camilla’s heart: she’s keen to avoid contracting it herself and having to cut down on her dancing, plus her own mother is a sufferer. Camilla’s mum’s a hairdresser and has experienced pain in her hands since developing arthritis.

She felt first-hand the pain and restrictions that come with the condition.

Struggle

Camilla tried to dance with the suit on and found that she couldn’t even keep time. She had trouble applying make-up, cooking, exercising . . . all these everyday activities are a struggle for sufferers.

And a Royton mother, 31-year-old Leanne McCall, knows only too well how arthritis can attack even a woman in her 20s.

She suffers from rheumatoid arthritis, but only found out after she hurt her right wrist building flat-pack furniture.

Her wrist was badly swollen and numb and no treatment seemed to help her manage the pain. At first she was on anti-inflammatories but after three or four weeks her GP sent her to a hospital consultant, and X-rays diagnosed the problem.

Looking back to her accident three years ago, Leanne, from Thorpe Farm estate, remembers: “I always had a ‘clicky’ wrist, but didn’t think I was going down the road of arthritis. I was only 28.

“The worst I was expecting was that I had broken a bone in my wrist.

“When I was told I had arthritis I was gobsmacked. My nan had arthritis and I know how quickly it can take hold of you.

“My consultant says I have a wrist 15 years older than the rest of my body.

“I have two children and the youngest, Brody, was only two at the time, so I was really shocked. Now I know it can affect younger people, but it is very much thought of as an older person’s condition.

“I thought I was invincible because I was so young.”

Seven Seas is keen to help people manage their pain, and delay the condition.

Leanne is on medication and has regular steroid injections in her wrist, but also uses over-the-counter products.

She added: “The injections are very painful. I no longer have a local anaesthetic, I need a general. The first one lasted nine or 10 months, then seven and the last one six months.

“In winter when it is cold and damp I do struggle.

“I’m worried about getting addicted to painkillers, so I am using Seven Seas Jointcare Max and I also take a cod liver oil tablet a day. They do take time to work, but I do think they give me a bit or relief.”

Working as a customer service officer for Oldham Council’s Unity Partnership means using a computer, and she has special equipment, but often feels that that her arthritis is slowing her down.

She and her husband John have Brody, and a 14-year-old son Josh.

She said: “As the injections wear off I struggle with lifting, and can’t lift Brody out of the bath.

“Sometimes I have to wait until my husband lifts the vacuum upstairs for me and I can’t do ironing. I’m very much restricted and it’s very frustrating.”




FACTFILE



Arthritis is the name of a group of conditions which damage bones and joints.

It affects one in five people in the UK. An estimated 70 per cent of all 70-year-olds have arthritis, but it can affect people of all ages.

It is twice as common in women as men, and accounts for one in four GP consultations.

Osteoarthritis occurs when the cartilage breaks down, and bones rub together causing “wear and tear” arthritis.

It can be triggered by sports injuries and affects 8.5 million people in the UK, most frequently the over 45s, but also in younger people.

Rheumatoid arthritis, also known as inflammatory arthritis, is a more severe but less common type.

The body’s immune system attacks and destroys the joint, causing pain and swelling.

More than 350,000 people in Britain have it, and it affects any age group from children to those in their 90s.