Early treatment important for young arthritis patients

By Song Sang-Ho

It is generally perceived that degenerative arthritis is a disorder affecting mostly geriatric patients.

However, according to data compiled by the National Health Insurance Corp. of Korea in 2013, one in 10 degenerative arthritis patients are under 40, and this proportion is incrementally rising.

Older people accounted for most, if not all, patient visits for degenerative arthritis in orthopedic clinics. However, I’ve noticed that the patients visiting our hospital for degenerative arthritis have become younger.

The knee is the most frequently affected area in younger patients owing to meniscal tears from excessive exercise or injuries. If treatment is delayed or ignored, early stage degenerative arthritis may manifest.

A meniscal tear can easily occur when the knee joint is twisted during strenuous exercise or if excessive weight is imposed on the ligaments by external impact. If the meniscus is torn during exercise, you would be limping and would not be able to extend your knees fully owing to the pain and edema in the knee joints. In the acute stage, symptoms include bleeding or accumulation of fluid within the joints.

Patients with a meniscal tear will complain of severe pain, collapsed knee joints and instability when walking down the stairs. If such symptoms continue for more than two weeks, you must visit the hospital. If the tear is left untreated for a prolonged period, the symphysis of the tear will not heal easily owing to degeneration, thereby making recovery difficult or inducing secondary injuries to the cartilage.

Disorders of the shoulder joints have also been increasing in younger patients. Those sitting in front of the computer desk for a prolonged period will experience muscle cramps and stress, which may result in frozen shoulders at a very young age.

Frozen shoulders, which had previously been found mostly in those in their 50’s, is now increasingly found in those in their 30’s and 40’s because of various factors, including frequent overtime at work, stress and bad habits.

Frozen shoulders, regardless of cause, limits the range of joint movement and causes severe pain, making it difficult to perform simple daily activities, such as putting on clothes and combing one’s hair. It also causes sleep difficulties, consequently deteriorating the patients’ quality of life.

While it is possible to treat muscle aches through non-medical means such as hot massage or rest, you should watch out for abnormality in the shoulder joints if the pain causes difficulty in your daily life.

The gravest issue regarding shoulder and knee joint damage in younger people is delay in early treatment. Younger patients tend to overlook abnormality in the joints from injuries or bad habits, brushing them off as sore muscles or fatigue. However, delaying treatment not only accelerates the manifestation of degenerative arthritis but can also induce secondary damage by imposing burden on the surrounding muscles and ligaments. For these reasons, these symptoms must be treated accurately at the early stage.

Preservative methods such as intravenous injection, drugs and exercise therapy are commonly used to treat damage at the early stage. However, arthroendoscopy is applied if the symptoms remain or worsen.

Arthroendoscopy is a treatment method that involves cleaning the injured cartilage by directly observing the conditions of the joint on the monitor through a subminiature endoscope inserted into the damaged joint. Some of the advantages of the method are the short treatment period and the minimization of pain, bleeding and infection risk owing to the small incision size. Altogether, these advantages lead to reduced costs and increased satisfaction among patients, especially the socially active younger patients.

Health is not a concern limited to an age bracket. Young people need to start taking care of their health not only to live longer but also to better enjoy life.

To ensure the health of your joints, you should establish good habits, such as weight control and regular exercise, and seek early treatment for any abnormal symptoms. You must remember that the joint can easily deteriorate even with a minor bad habit or a symptom that you choose to ignore.

The writer is the president of Wellton Hospital.