Check-ups on hip joints crucial for aging parents

By Song Sang-Ho

With the Lunar New Year Day’s holiday approaching, there are a lot of people worrying about what gift to buy for their parents. As it was before the most important gift for filial duty is “health.”

But with the flow of time, the trend in gifts is changing. In the past, products such as fruit, fresh meat and marine products were essential.

But today, people try to find an opportunity to check on the health of their parents by seeking professional treatment.

It is essential for people to prepare for old age as 100-year life spans are approaching. There are a lot of children who now thinking of placing more importance in providing a healthy and valuable life to their aging parents.

Arthritis cannot be avoided with old age and needs active treatment, and yet, there are many of the older generation enduring it, thinking it as a natural symptom that comes with aging. Also, many parents do not want to alarm their children so they tend to hide their symptoms, despite having severe joint pain and limitations of their movement.

If you check on your parents’ movements this Lunar New Year’s Day, see what limits them from moving due to pain in the joints. You can take them to hospital for a check on what damage that might have caused this.

People in Korea suffer a lot from cartilage damage due to sedentary lifestyles. Among them, degenerative arthritis is a joint disease that 80 percent of people over the age 65 commonly get. It makes men to gain weight; while women are susceptible due to weak cartilage following menopause.

If your parents suffer from pain climbing the stairs; if they have a hard time sitting down and standing up, if their legs are bowed and their walking style has changed; if wake up more than three times a week due to pain; then they should see a doctor.

Also, if you have a hard time sitting in the same posture for a long time, you might have a damaged hip joint. When the hip joint is damaged, the areas of pain are hard to find and should not be confused with a herniated lumbar disc.

If you suffer in the inner thigh when you cross your legs, or when you walk you feel like you waddle constantly, you should suspect hip joint disease. Also, heavy drinking has a lot to do with avascular necrosis of the femoral head, therefore, you should a hurry to get treated if you feel constant pain around in hips.

Joint endoscopy is one treatment followed by drug and physical therapy, and a rehabilitation program depending on the damage.

However, if the severe pain prevents you from doing your daily activities and the above treatments are ineffective, then joint replacement surgery will be inevitable.

The most important thing here is to choose a hospital where you can get surgery and the appropriate treatment. You need to pay attention beforehand, especially for elderly patients, since they can face certain restrictions in treatment and surgery.

Comparisons should be made regarding the operation, professionalism and skills of the medical staff, speed of rehabilitation and follow-up programs. Joint diseases suffered by your parents are not just a natural phenomenon of aging.

There is nothing you can do about the symptoms of degenerative arthritis showing up as you are getting older, but you can have healthy later years depending on how you take care of yourself. We would like to suggest you take care of the health of your parents this coming Lunar New Year’s Day, who long suffered by taking care of you before themselves.

The writer is the president of Wellton Hospital.