Diagnosis and healthcare professional education
Our supporters told us that one of the biggest issues they faced in getting diagnosed was that their symptoms were not recognised by healthcare professionals as being potentially cancerous.
According to the National Sarcoma Survey 2020, around a third of respondents (30%) took more than 6 months after their first appointment to receive an accurate diagnosis, with 17% waiting more than a year.
Problems with physiotherapist awareness
Sarcomas often present as lumps or pain, meaning that they can be mistaken for other injuries.
Physiotherapists are able to recognise some signs and symptoms of sarcoma, and we hope that by education them on this, they will be able to help improve the speed of diagnosis in some cases.
What are we doing?
We are creating a targeted education programme for physiotherapists. We are particularly interested in training first contact practitioners, musculoskeletal physiotherapists, and both Bachelors and Masters university students.
This will create a better understanding of sarcoma in that community and teach about aiding in sarcoma diagnosis, as well as helping patients to self-advocate when seeing their healthcare professional by using the correct terminology.
“With a few simple moves and exercises, they quickly established it wasn’t muscular.”
– Andrew, osteosarcoma patient
“With a few simple moves and exercises, they quickly established it wasn’t muscular.”
– Andrew, osteosarcoma patient
