University to head study into arthritis in farmers

Prof Nick Jones is project lead of the new study

If you farm for 10 years or more, your risk of having to deal with arthritis increases nine times, according to charity the Farming Community Network.

The statistic is among just three lines devoted to arthritis in a leaflet it produced on the health of farmers.

Despite this, little is known about the effect of arthritis on farmers and farm businesses, what damage it causes and how they and their families cope.

Now, the University of Worcester is setting out to change that with the UK's first in-depth study looking at the issue.

Prof Nick Evans is project lead, with a team from the university heading out across Herefordshire and Worcestershire to find out more.

Researchers to head to agriculture shows

He said many farmers used ingenuity to keep working even when arthritis struck.

"I know anecdotally of some farmers, for example, that have wrapped pipe foam around the gear stick to make it bigger so that the grip that's needed for that gear change is less intense," he said.

"So there's all these sorts of adaptations that I'm sure people are making, but they're currently undocumented."

The researchers will go to agricultural shows and markets, developing contact with farmers before visiting farms.

It is hoped that the work will show how work practices of modern farmings affect the risk of arthritis and what effect the disease is having on the industry as a whole.

Prof Evans added that while physiotherapists would offer advice, the project was not about telling farmers what to do.

"I'll be interested to learn from farmers, we can shadow them for a while, participate in what they are doing, see what they are actually doing."

Alan Chatham, who lives on a dairy farm, suffers from arthritis

Father and son, Alan and James Chatham, live on a dairy farm near Shifnal, Shropshire.

Alan has lived on the farm all his life, and James will be the third generation of the family carrying on the farming tradition.

But in the 1990s, Alan began to suffer with rheumatoid arthritis.

"I live on painkillers and anti-inflammatories, I can't grip anything, the joints are so painful."

James Chatham is now suffering from arthritis too

James said arthritis did not just cause physical issues for his father.

"He was a bit down about not being able to do as much manual work as he was used to doing... his mental health too, it probably affected him a little bit."

Now James is dealing with the condition himself - he has the first signs of osteoarthritis in his shoulder.

While his dad's rheumatoid arthritis is likely heavily genetic, James' will likely be caused by the daily life of being a farmer.