Every other person at some stage likely to suffer from knee problems

The knee problems have become common nowadays and it has been observed that these were increasing with our day-to-day lifestyle. The experts say that every other person at some stage or the other is likely to suffer from knee problems.
Two Indian experts Dr S. K. S. Marya, Director of Orthopaedics Max Healthcare, Delhi and Dr Mohan Das, Senior Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon MIOT Hospital, Chennai, have discussed this issue in depth in a TV programme.
According to Dr Marya, the knee problems fall into two categories. One are those which happen due to injuries and the others are due to degenerative process whether wear and tear with age or causes like gout and diabetes or disorders which involve joints.
"And if you look at it, with increasing life expectancy and change in lifestyles, obviously knee problems are being seen more and more". There is also an increase in awareness, the approach to doctor as also an increase in treatment modalities. So I would say that every other person at some stage or the other is likely to suffer from knee problems.
She said that when the knee starts degenerating with age which is increased with extra weight in diabetics or other diseases like gout and autoimmune diseases, gradually the smooth and shiny cartilage between the two bones of the thigh and leg starts wearing out and the bone strikes bone and this leads to a lot of pain and stiffness, especially early in the morning. You need to take a few steps as your muscles wake up and then you start feeling better, she added.
When asked if the lifestyle problems were actually creating these degenerative problems? Dr Marya said, "The single most important thing is a sedentary lifestyle. People are not going for walks, they pick up a lot of weight, eat fast food, junk food etc. They are not keeping the muscles toned and not doing good quality exercises, so they are bound to suffer from knee disorders which is simply gravity and weight leading to wearing-out of cartilages".
Dr Marya said that degenerative problems are usually seen after 60-65 years and this is a normal course of events like losing hair or getting grey hair. But when you start seeing these in the late 40's or early 50's, then this is due to bad habits like increased weight, not exercising and stress or strain of daily life. About a person with an active lifestyle and controlled weight, she said the chances of him getting it is much lesser but then let us not forget that what God keeps in his hand is the genetic factor and that is something we can't fight.
"We have seen that there is a genetic preponderance so that if a father and grandfather have had degenerative arthritis, the chances of the son having it is more than another set of such parents who did not suffer, provided the weight and the lifestyle is the same.
In such cases, the son needs to do exercise regularly and keep weight in check. If he is diabetic, he must make sure that his diabetes is controlled. If he has any other disorder like rheumatoid arthritis, he must get treated for it properly and, last but not the least, he must avoid those postures where he is repetitively straining and injuring his joints.
Explaining the 'gout', she told that it is an autoimmune disorder. In gout, there is production of an enzyme, which is reduced so that the uric acid level increases in quantity. This then has a habit of going and settling around joints and usually it would start at the big toe - a swollen, inflamed, painful big toe. It can also be seen as deposits on cartilages around the ears, but these are very obvious situations. However, you can also have symptoms like pain in other joints.
Dr Marya said it has a treatment and fortunately its treatment is largely medical unless the patient has waited so long that his joint is totally destroyed. In that case, surgery has to be done. But in the initial stages you can actually treat it with medicines that alleviate the symptoms. About rheumatoid arthritis and its treatment, Dr Das said that rheumatoid arthritis is very different from degenerative arthritis because in rheumatoid the entire joint gets destroyed. It is more common in women than in men.
The disease starts between the age of 20 and 40 years. The rheumatoid disease affects all parts of the body including many organs. It is not limited to one joint and is a polyarthropathy mainly involving the knee, the hip, finger joints and in a few years time the patient gets completely crippled.
It is a serious problem. The treatment consists of correct diagnosis because there are 256 different varieties of arthritis. So we must be absolutely sure that we are dealing with rheumatoid arthritis and the treatment depends on how quickly we recognise this disease. If we can recognise this disease in the early stages and the patient has only stiffness, then it is easy for us to treat the patient even medically.