Artificial joint can be answer for arthritis
.jpg?w=728)
By Song Sang-Ho
An old lady visited my hospital accompanied by her daughter.
The daughter brought her mother to the hospital because she felt the condition of the arthritis in her knee joint was quite severe and could not to be ignored.
The mother’s legs were bent into an oval shape, and she has a gait that appeared to be very uncomfortable.
The daughter failed to notice the severe deformation of the legs that was hidden behind thick garments throughout the winter and did not pay much attention to the gait of her mother since she usually walked at a slow pace.
Under visual examination, without any special tests, the condition of the old lady appeared to indicate that degenerative arthritis had already progressed to a substantial extent.
The result of the X-ray examination showed that the degenerative arthritis was at a terminal stage.
However, it was not easy to persuade the mother to undergo treatment as she didn’t want surgery.
Nonetheless, following prolonged consultation, she agreed to undergo an operation.
The majority of the parents visiting hospital accompanied by their children insist that, “I am not ill, but my children brought me here, although I objected.”
However, in many of these patients, the condition of their joints after medical examination shows severe damage.
In particular, there are many children who decide to bring their parents to hospital after having seen abnormal gaits or deformation of their joints, which they failed to notice during the winter, when they go out for trips or strolls in the spring.
Degenerative arthritis is a representative disease that manifests due to wear and tear of the knee cartilage because of aging, and is suffered by approximately 80 percent of elderly people over the age of 65 years in Korea.
Initially the knee starts to swell up and the patient just feels discomfort.
However, as time passes, severe pain is felt, which indicates that the cartilage has almost worn out and the bones are rubbing against each other.
Although the symptoms can be alleviated through physiotherapy, drug and injection therapy at the initial or intermediate stage of the disease, artificial joint surgery is deemed to be the most effective method for the terminal stage of degenerative arthritis.
Artificial knee joint surgery is a method of inserting an artificial joint to replace the severely damaged knee joint, and is effective in restoring the function of the knees and eliminating pain since the cause of the inflammation is removed.
Recently, the level of satisfaction of older patients has become very high since it is possible to reduce the complications and side effects, and achieve quick recovery from surgery through the application of the “minimal incision procedure.”
In this operation, the size of the incision is minimized to 8~10cm, making it effective in shortening the recovery period as well as minimizing bleeding, pain and scars since the surgery is performed with minimal damage to the surrounding muscles and tendons.
Because early weight bearing is possible around four hours of after surgery and independent walking can be restored from the fifth day after the operation, the level of satisfaction among patients who previously could not easily decide on the surgical procedure due to concerns over recovery is very high.
There has in the past been a perception that degenerative arthritis is a disease that everyone suffers and that has to be “persevered with.” However, patients occasionally experience depression as the pain becomes severe and it gets more difficult to carry out ordinary daily activities.
In addition, degenerative arthritis is a disease for which sufficient improvements can be made through assertive treatment.
In particular, the attitude towards assertive treatment is necessary since the effect of health on the quality of life is becoming greater as average life expectancy is increasing.
Although I recommend regularly scheduled medical examinations and early stage treatment from the viewpoint of a medical specialist, it is also understandable that treatments are being postponed due to the concerns of the parents for putting, from their perspective, an undue burden on their children.
However, it is recommended that severe pain must be attended to rather than persevered with, particularly because their children also experience heartache due to the suffering of their parents.
I sincerely request that parents remember children can lead their lives in contentment when their parents are healthy.
The writer is the president of Wellton Bone and Joint Hospital.