Help Your Mother Match Your Stride

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She was there when you took your very first baby step. She was the one who encouraged you as you climbed the ladder of success. As you continue to walk ahead and achieve greater heights in life, you might find yourself noticing that your mother no longer has that youthful bounce in her step. In fact, she is not as fast on her feet anymore, and many-a-times, as she approaches a step on a staircase, she reaches out for your support-like the way you used to reach out for her strong hands when you were younger.

Watch for these signs carefully, and you will release that there is more to it than just age. The cause of the aches and pains in your mother’s joints, especially knees, can be narrowed down to osteoarthritis, which is more common than you think. In fact, in India, there is a very high prevalence of osteoarthritis in women.

The following facts speak for themselves:

• Women above the age of 40 are most affected by osteoarthritis.
• Women form 60 per cent of the patients that undergo total knee replacement.
• The prevalence of arthritis among women above 60 years is 43 per cent whereas it is 25 per cent among men-this means it affects women more than men.

Simply put, you should be watching carefully to see if your mother is keeping peace with you. Osteoarthritis of the knee is the most common cause of disability. It is a disease of age that affects more women than men on 60:40 basis. Earlier, general physicians used to advise patient to wait as long as they can before getting knee replacement. The logic behind this was that it was a once-in-a-lifetime surgery that would last an average of 15 to 20 years. However, this no longer stands true. The good news is that latest innovations in both surgical techniques and medical technology have resulted in faster recovery and far better procedural outcomes.

In this day and age, with the advancement in technology, the knee replacement is made of new-age material such as oxidized zirconium, which lasts longer-even up to 30 years. Replacement joints like oxinium, apparently, stand the wear and the tear for a longer time, which increases the life span of the newly replaced knee joint, reducing the need for a revision knee replacement in future.

However, surveys show that women with osteoarthritis opt for surgery much later than men. This is because mothers are taught to always put their family and family responsibility ahead of their own health. But the facts is delaying surgery beyond a point can limit the quality of life of the patient, because how they function before surgery indicates their performance afterwards.

So, the question is: when is it time to start thinking about surgery? The simple answer to this is: when you notice that your lifestyle starts changing because of your hip or knee problems, particularly chronic pain that just doesn’t go away, it’s time to start thinking about surgery. According to orthopedists, patient in their 50s and even their 40s affected by osteoarthritis are now opting for knee replacement surgery. If you notice your mother complaining about no longer being able to play with her grandchildren or to take the stairs easily, it’s time to plan a visit to an orthopedists so that she can match your stride even in her old age.

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