Arthritis & Joint Replacement Clinic
C-21, 4th Floor, Yugadharm Complex,
Opposite ICICI Bank, Near Hotel Centre Point,
Ramdaspeth, Nagpur 10, MS, INDIA
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Weight-loss surgeries help obese people get rid of diseases ranging from diabetes to infertility. Now, an American study says patients who have undergone gastric bypass surgery - a procedure that closes off much of the stomach and causes food to bypass a portion of the small intestine - have less knee pain.
Bariatric surgery patients reported significant improvement in mean knee pain at one-year follow up. When compared to patients who underwent knee replacement, the percentage improvement was 60%. The stomach surgery patients also had greater improvement in physical function at six months.
Time magazine reported a study published in Arthritis and Rheumatology Journal. The study included 3,026 men and women between the ages of 50-79 years. Over the course of a two and a half year study period, the researchers analyzed both leg strength and presence of symptoms for osteoarthritis. At each checkpoint, they also inquired about discomfort or stiffness in the knees. By the end of the study period they found that, strong muscles in thighs and legs protect against knee pain. The study reported that women with the strong thighs had lower levels of pain.
Osteoarthritis is thought to be the most prevalent chronic joint disease. The incidence of osteoarthritis is rising because of the ageing population and the epidemic of obesity. Pain and loss of function are the main clinical features that lead to treatment, including non-pharmacological, pharmacological, and surgical approaches. Clinicians recognise that the diagnosis of osteoarthritis is established late in the disease process, maybe too late to expect much help from disease-modifying drugs. Despite efforts over the past decades to develop markers of disease, still-imaging procedures and biochemical marker analyses need to be improved and possibly extended with more specific and sensitive methods to reliably describe disease processes, to diagnose the disease at an early stage, to classify patients according to their prognosis, and to follow the course of disease and treatment effectiveness. In the coming years, a better definition of osteoarthritis is expected by delineating different phenotypes of the disease. Treatment targeted more specifically at these phenotypes might lead to improved outcomes.
For people with severe arthritis,there is some good news - scientists have discovered two genes, which could predict a disabling form of spondylitis in later life.
Yes, researchers have identified the two genes that significantly increase the risk of ankylosing spondylitis which causes inflammation in the joints between vertebrae and can lead to bone erosion and the fusion of bones in the spine. The discovery could not only lead to early diagnosis but would also facilitate more effective treatment, The Daily Telegraph reported.
Do you have difficulty climbing stairs? A sudden stiffness or pain after sitting for a long duration? Don't ignore it. You could be having arthritis. And it's not something that affects only older people, as is the notion. Arthritis, especially osteoarthritis, is on an alarming rise with a study saying we have over 180 million patients in India, some below the age of 25! In addition, this disease is on the rise among women.
Arthritis occurs commonly in small joints of the hand, the vertebral column and the knees. Broadly, it can be divided into osteoarthritis - arthritis due to wear and tear of muscles with age - and inflammatory arthritis (Rheumatoid Arthritis).
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