The survivorship and rehabilitation research and innovation programme running at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Trust aims to understand issues faced by those surviving musculoskeletal cancers (including sarcomas) in the living with and beyond cancer phase.
As a consequence of major surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy people tend to face varying levels of activity limitations, difficulties with returning back to normal life, physical disabilities, imbalance, falls, activity dependence and daily struggles with walking and movement. Physical problems ultimately impact people's psychological and social well-being and result in a poor quality of life and patient experience. Despite this, such outcomes are poorly understood.
This programme uncovers the complex physical limitations people face after life-changing surgery for musculoskeletal cancers. As part of this programme, the research and clinical teams also aim to improve approaches to rehabilitation; with a view to improve people's quality of life, support them better and deliver high quality care. This programme is led by Dr Sherron Furtado (Senior Sarcoma Research Therapist, sherron.furtado@nhs.net) and Mr Craig Gerrand (Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon, craig.gerrand@nhs.net)
