Osteoarthritis currently affects about 1.6 million Australians, and can range in severity from mild to quite severe, disabling pain. Typically, it starts with the breakdown of the flexible joint tissue known as cartilage and can lead to stiff and immobile joints. How- ever, there are many management pro- grammes and potential treatments available.

There are many factors that contribute to osteoarthritis, and many reasons you could be experiencing joint pain. Pain can range from mild, uncomfortable pain to severe dis- abling pain. Make sure to consult a doctor or medical professional about your pain, and what treatment is right for you.

As osteoarthritis advances, the pain can persist while resting and even occur at night, while sleeping. Osteoarthritis can cause joint stiffness, preventing bending and full range of motion of the joint.

Physical activity and exercise can improve joint mobility and reduce pain. Similarly, reducing weight can ease pressure on many joints.

Some options for treating symptoms are:

• Analgesics, such as Panadol Osteo
• Pain creams, gels and rubs such as Voltaren, PainAway or Stiff Sore Sorry
• Supplements, such as Glucosamine and Chondroitin or Curcumin/Turmeric
• Prescription medications

Your GP can make a proper diagnosis, before focusing on treatment options. You could also consider speaking to one of our pharmacists for more information and advice about treatment options.

If you are finding it difficult to tie your shoe laces, pull on your socks, button your shirts or to get out of your car comfortably, Flan- nery’s Pharmacy stocks a wide range of home health care products to assist you with daily living activities.

Call in to Flannery’s Pharmacy during Seniors Week for a free medication review

Jobs In The Central West is a convenient and simple way to advertise staff vacancies, or find that perfect position.

Jobs In The Central West takes a lot of the stress out of the re- cruitment and job finding process. This new service operates on Facebook thus allowing employers to reach more people via social media. With 15 million Facebook users in Australia, it is a great tool of choice for easy reach.

There are already nearly 1,500 likes on the page, with the num- bers climbing every week. Jobseekers can instantly see positions vacant ads in their feed, or even be tagged by a mate. What’s more, it’s local – so there’s no trawling through national ads.

Jobseekers can “like” the page, and instantly see locally adver- tised jobs. Advertisers get a great package, and a one-stop, cost effective solution. For more information contact sarah.maynard@ inxcess.com.au or call 6344 1846.

Autumn is the perfect time to hold a garage sale, and The Forbes Phoenix is here to help. Garage sales are an easy way to transform trash into treasure. Selling unwanted items also eases the burden on the environment, allowing people to reuse and recycle goods.

What to do? Collect all the unwanted items from your house, and figure out a price. A general guide is to ask 25 to 35% of what it cost new. Clothes sell for about 5 to 10% of the original cost. Place any free items towards the back, so buyers see your priced items first. Make sure you have enough change and plastic bags to give to buyers.

Advertise your sale in the Phoenix Trash & Treasure Trails to let over 2,000 readers know where to bag a bargain. For a quote contact Sylvie Maloney on 0490 517 590 or email sales@parkes- phoenix.com.au

Canowindra, in the heart of NSW and situated on the banks of the Belubula River, offers small country hospitality and affordable living.

The best thing about Canonwindra and its historic curving main street, is that you are in the heart of the country, but not very far from a handful of major centres: Orange is just 45 minutes away, Cowra 20 minutes, Bathurst 60 minutes, Parkes 50 minutes, Canberra 2 hours and Sydney 3.5 hours.

Best friends will do a lot for each other, but this week Gillian Davis had the surprise of a lifetime for her friend Lee Reynolds.

She astonished Lee in front of every- one at the College for Seniors meeting on Tuesday with a letter from Queen Elizabeth II. Gillian had written to the Queen and in- cluded Lee’s poems she had written in the Queen’s honour. One of Lee’s poems sent to the Queen was in honour of her 90th birthday and the other on the passing of the Queen’s mother.

Forbes Public School students learn in a stimulating and challenging environment with a 21st century approach to school- ing. Students are supported as individuals ensuring all children reach their full poten- tial by developing creative, confident and informed future leaders of the community. Strong academic, sporting, cultural and cre- ative arts programs, highly dedicated staff and wonderful families combine to form a school community that has its students at heart.

Despite the major disruption to school routines during the floods last year, the students of Bedgerabong School continued to shine.

Achievements in 2016 include: individual and team representation at NSW level in four sports, award winners at the Cowra and Forbes Eisteddfod, CWA public speak- ing and cooking honours, University of NSW competition awards and a sell-out performance at the Sydney Opera House as part of the NSW Small Schools Marimba Ensemble.

There are three classes at Bedgerabong this year with eight new kindergarten stu- dents: Kindie-Yr 2, Yr 3-4 and Yr 5-6 with small numbers in each class.

This year will maintain its focus on suc- cessful and enjoyable programs, such as the Get Yourself Moving (GYM) featuring circus arts and gymnastics. This includes unicycling, stilt walking, acrobatics, clown- ing and much more. It is a wonderful student engagement success story with students eagerly awaiting Thursdays to work on mas- tering their circus skills. The performing arts, Marimba, and kitchen garden, Tootie Fruity, programs will also be high on the kids to-do lists.