Osteoarthritis
Did You Know
- Osteoarthritis can dramatically decrease your quality of life, especially in middle to later years.
- Arthritis affects around 3 million people in Australia, representing about 15% of the population.
- Osteoarthritis is the leading cause of pain and disability among the elderly.
- Osteoarthritis is the third leading cause of life-years lost due to disability.
- Obesity and joint injury are important potentially modifiable risk factors for the development of osteoarthritis.
- Obesity is also an important predictor of progression of osteoarthritis.
- Currently, about 19,000 hip and 20,000 knee replacements are performed for osteoarthritis in Australia each year.
- Prevalence of osteoarthritis and the need for total joint replacement surgery are likely to increase because of a combination of increasing risk factors (age, obesity, injury), increasing expectations for improved quality of life, and improved surgical and anaesthetic techniques making surgery possible for more people.
- Services to provide these cost-effective procedures need to be increased.
- Primary and secondary prevention programs aimed at reducing obesity, preventing injury and improving rehabilitation and physical activity are urgently required.
What is Osteoarthritis ?
Osteoarthritis is the most common musculoskeletal disorder affecting Australians, the leading cause of pain and disability in the community and the predominant condition leading to joint replacement surgery of the hip and knee.
A number of modifiable factors, including obesity, injury, quadriceps strength, joint malalignment and occupational activities, contribute to both the onset and progression of osteoarthritis-related disability.
Primary and secondary prevention strategies are needed to reduce the levels of disability and to slow the growing demand for total joint replacement surgery.
Your Choice - Total joint replacement surgery
Hip and knee joint replacements are among the most cost-effective interventions available. However, the pressing demand makes joint replacement a significant burden on the healthcare budget. The total number of knee and hip replacements in Australian hospitals rose from 34,700 in 1996–97, to 44 552 in 2000–01; this is an increase of almost 30% in just 4 years (see Box 4).
Figures for July 2001 to June 2002 just released report 52,788 hip and knee replacement procedures, having increased from 46,537 in the previous 12 months, and representing a further increase of 13.4%.
Ninety per cent of total hip replacements and more than 95% of total knee replacements are performed for OA.3 Most of the increase in the past 3 years has occurred in the private rather than the public sector (17.2% v 8.1%), and knee replacement surgery is increasing more rapidly than hip replacement surgery (17.2% v 9.9%).3 The rate of revision surgery for total joint replacement is also now starting to rise.
Despite the observed increase, it is likely that there is still a lot of unmet need. Determining the population need for total joint replacement surgery is a difficult task, and has not been formally undertaken in Australia. Many aspects of osteoarthritis need to be considered, including the incidence, prevalence and progression of the disease, together with the patients’ preferences for surgery and the treating doctors’ propensity for recommending surgery.
This has recently been reviewed for total knee replacement surgery in England, where it was estimated that a doubling of the current rate of joint replacement surgery would be required just to meet existing need. The authors of that report proposed that this considerable unmet need was not just the result of healthcare services' inability to keep up with demand, but also of patients and doctors not considering or offering it as a treatment option.
It is estimated that the need for total joint arthroplasty will increase in Australia because of a combination of rising prevalence of OA associated with increasing risk factors (age, obesity, joint injury), higher community expectations for enhanced quality of life, and improved surgical and anaesthetic techniques that enable the intervention to be offered more widely.
Risk Factors
The aetiology of OA is multifactorial, and risk factors for its onset can be considered as either unmodifiable or potentially modifiable. The impact of different risk varies among men and women and for the different joints.
Osteoarthritis Prevention
Lose Weight
Over weight people will have more problems than thinner people due to excessive strain placed on the joints etc
Regular and Special Exercises
Regular, moderate exercise aids in the prevention of musculoskeletal conditions and offers a host of benefits to people with arthritis and osteoporosis.
Exercise reduces joint pain and stiffness, builds strong muscle around the joints, and increases flexibility and endurance.
For Hands:
Squeezing a tennis ball for 15-30 minutes in each hand every day can often dramatically reduce pain and allow you many pain free days especially from the first time you start noticing the twinging pains.
For Legs:
Weight-bearing exercise assists in the maintenance of bone mass. Therefore, regular exercise such as walking, jogging, playing tennis or aerobic classes is recommended to help in the prevention of osteoporosis. Swimming with "small" flippers is highly recommended.
Exercise time, to start with, should be 20-30 minutes at least, daily.
Weight Loss
To also lose weight, 40-60 minutes of aggressive walking, minimum, daily. You should have a raised body temperature and preferably be sweating when you finish.
Do not eat or drink things with sugar for faster results.
Head and Neck:
Gently rotate and swing the head left and right and around and around as far as you comfortable can. 5 minutes a day is usually enough for this.
Health .gov.au Says
www.health.gov.au lists the following ways of reducing the risk of the onset of arthritis and musculoskeletal conditions;
- avoiding joint injury
- avoiding vitamin D deficiency and
- adopting healthy lifestyle behaviours:
- healthy weight - obesity is a risk factor for all chronic disease
- healthy eating – a balanced diet rich in vitamin D and calcium
- regular physical activity
- avoiding tobacco use
- avoiding high risk alcohol use and
- falls and falls injuries prevention strategies
Early Diagnosis
Early diagnosis and appropriate treatment is also essential to delay progression of musculoskeletal conditions and the resultant pain, disability and loss of independence.
So if you begin to feel sharp pain in your joints when you move, please see your doctor.
The available treatments include:
- medications aimed at reducing pain, increasing mobility and slowing the progression of inflammation or the loss of bone mass
- physiotherapy and exercise and
- orthopaedic surgery
Arthritis Contacts Australia
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