How to care for your joints? A handbook for patients with joint pain and arthritis in India

People in India are yet to appreciate the common joint problems and their impact is growing day by day. Joint problems affect more than 400 million people worldwide. Back pain is the most common cause of sickness absenteeism. Osteoarthritis is the most common problem and the knee is the joint most commonly affected in India. Many women suffer from knee pain. With this in mind it is useful to draw the attention of the local population to take care of their joints.

Pay attention to your symptoms and see your doctor early.

If you have pain, swelling and stiffness around joints for more than two weeks, please consult your orthopaedic surgeon. These symptoms may develop suddenly or slowly. These symptoms could be arthritis. “Arthritis” is not a single diagnosis. There are more than 100 types of arthritis and orthopedic specialist can only make a diagnosis after examining you and making the necessary investigations.

What can be done to reduce the disease burden?

We can look at this from a broad perspective and micro.

While osteoarthritis is the bane of middle-aged and late, traffic accidents and resulting injuries fractures & can be prevented by an action at the political level.

Painful chronic arthritic joints need a joint replacement in older age groups. The treatment of the individual young is a diagnostic and therapeutic challenge. In this group are many women with anterior knee pain. They need special care and specially designed exercises. Surgical techniques for the treatment of cartilage lesions are practiced by the author. Knee ligament injuries should be treated in symptomatic individuals.

Individuals may delay joint problems from regular exercise. Put your joints through a full range of motion every day is all that is needed. Weight gain can and should be avoided. Learn to distinguish between the disease and the pain from overuse. Any joint pain lasting more than an hour after exercise is not excessive pain. Use the largest joint suitable for any muscular effort.

Start soon

Before the diagnosis is done better are the chances to keep the disease under control or give advice on how to mitigate its effect. This illness cannot be cured but medications and surgery can provide lasting relief from pain and improve the quality of life.

Protect your joints

Exercise helps relieve pain, improve circulation, tone the muscles and keep fit. Improves the overall sense of well-being. Your doctor can show all kinds of exercises you’ll need for your specific condition.

Eating and drinking healthily

Reduce fast food restaurants that offer little nutrition. Fruits and vegetables, whole grain cereals, milk, protect muscles and joints.
There are no dietary restrictions for most forms of arthritis.
So simple measures at hand can postpone the onset of arthritis. Early diagnosis, innovative alternative to joint replacement, can provide relief from inevitable joint pains and sorrows of life.