People above 50 years more vulnerable to arthritis, Dr Manuj Wadhwa

Shedding extra kilos may relieve arthritis pain, Dr Manuj Wadhwa
Youngsters too exhibiting signs of arthritis, Dr Manuj Wadhwa
Knee arthritis run in families, Dr Manuj Wadhwa

Shimla, February 21,2010
People above 50 years of age are more vulnerable to knee arthritis as compared to their younger generation. While the ailment strikes every three out of five people aged 65 and older, these days there are a number of youngsters too exhibition its symptoms.
Dr Manuj Wadhwa, Director Orthopedics and Joint Replacement Surgeon, Fortis Hospital Mohali revealed this while talking to media persons here today. He added that younger generation too has shown signs of ailment with one out of every five people in ages of 18 to 44 exhibiting it. Similarly, more than two, out of every five individuals, between ages of 45 to 64 exhibit arthritis symptoms.
“It is more common in patients who are overweight and weight loss tends to reduce symptoms associated with arthritis as hips and knees worn out early in heavier patients. Every overweight elderly should emphasis on shedding those few extra kilos and have freedom from arthritis pain to a considerable extent,” he said.
Not only overweight, but genetic factors too play major role in incidences of the ailment. Knee arthritis tends to run in families besides trauma to the knee, meniscus tears or ligament damage and fractures to bone around joint being some of other causes.
Arthritis, better known as inflammation of a joint, shows pain during activities, limited range of motion, stiffness of knee, swelling and tenderness of joints, feeling that joint may give out and deformity of joint such as knock-knees or bow-legs.
But with the introduction of latest tissue preserving total knee replacement surgery things have started changing for good for arthritis patients.
This latest painless and blood less knee replacement surgery technique ensures swift recovery. It is combined with benefits of minimally invasive surgery, patient specific implants with higher flexibility, modified pain control concepts and minimal bleeding even to suit elderly population.
Dr Manuj Wadhwa performed very successful a bilateral total knee replacement (TKR) surgery in a single sitting on a 90 year old patient who was suffering from end-stage knee arthritis.
“Tissue preserving TKR surgery goes beyond general scope of conventional TKR surgeries using smaller incision and special instruments to approach knee from front with minimal trauma to soft tissue, muscles and tendons,” he said. In this technique even knee cap does not have to be moved as far to get to knee joint.
The specialized technique perfected by Dr Manuj allows advantage of satisfactory surgical exposure in all patients including very obese with easy implantation of standard implants with specialized instrumentation.