Joint Pain, Young and Old

Joint complications aren’t a common news topic.  Really.  The publicity-to-occurance ratios are off!  For the massive amount of people who suffer from joint problems, you sure don’t hear about them much.  Part of that is because most people assume that arthritis is just a part of growing old.  You’ll get it when you’re getting older, there isn’t anything you can do to avoid it, and that’s how it is.

Not true.

First off, chronic joint issues don’t just hit people as they age.  I’m young for joint problems, but I have plenty of them.  (Knees, back, hips.)  Athletes face joint wearing early on.  People who work hard manual jobs often have early-onset osteoarthritis.  And the worst part of it is that most people don’t realize this happens, even people that it’s happening to.  People of just about any age group can suffer from joint problems.

In high school, I played the flute.  A lot.  And piccolo.  Suddenly, my hands were slowing down, getting sore.  Come to find out, I had a sort of…temporary arthritis.  I was working my little hands too much.  I took the summer off, and by fall, I was ready to be an enthusiastic, pain-free band geek once more!  (Oddly enough, the hearing came back into mr right ear that summer, too…..apparently piccolo wears on more than just your fingers.)  So, even if my condition was temporary, it proves that younger people can wear their joints down, too.  Unlike real arthritis, though, my cartilage was able to catch and heal up with some down-time.

I’m not even going to touch juvenile rheumatoid arthritis.  It’s sad to see what kids go through for that, and the effects on their bones and joints are only one instance of their suffering.

No one is too young to have joint issues.  This, in turn, means that no one is too young to learn about joint and bone health.  These joints are part of everything you do.  Without bones, we’d all be shapeless something-or-others.  So obviously, it’s important to take good care of both systems.

Mobile Lab Helps Keep Seniors Mobile

British Colombia, Canada Works to Improve Senior Joint Health and Safety

• A mobile lab will travel the Canadian province
• Because of a high rating of senior falls resulting in broken bones (esp. hips), this lab will educate the public on bone and joint health
• This is a great step towards public awareness
• Bone brittleness/joint weakness/etc. is a big problem that often goes unaddressed
• Perhaps this unique approach to joint health education will get some attention and teach other organizations outside of the region to help raise awareness

The province of British Columbia in western Canada saw a rise in the numbers of debilitating falls in seniors.  In layman’s terms, that means more older people are taking serious falls.  These falls result in some major injuries, like broken bones.  The following quote comes from an August 7th article from the Vancouver Sun:

“In B.C., falls among seniors result in over 4,000 hip fractures annually and approximately 20 per cent die within a year,” Healthy Living and Sport Minister Ida Chong said in a press release.

Well, good thing the provintial government is doing something about it.  At the start of August, 2009, a mobile laboratory was unveiled.  The idea behind this moving lab is to raise awareness for joint and bone health.  Promoting better practices can help reduce major problems.  After all, awareness is the first tep to fixing any problem.  So, bringing knowledge to the public is a great first step!

In addition to educating the public, the lab will also be the site of research.  In the same aforementioned article, Ida Chong offered a little bit of insight on the moving lab.

“This mobile lab is an innovative way for us to meet the current and future needs of our aging population by providing information on the most effective solutions to prevent, detect and treat problems that affect bones and joints before they cause deterioration and damage.”

The total cost of the lab is roughly $100,000, with half being cost of truck and trailer and the other half being medical and research equipment.  Hopefully, this rolling research facility will bring knowledge to a public that generally doesn’t talk about joint health.  And we can also hope that it opens up new doors in joint and bone health research.

My main hopes for this movement is that it raises awareness.  If more people hear about this, maybe more people will become more curious about their skeletal health.  Most people see arthritis and other joint conditions as something that will happen, regardless of what you do.  It’s not so.  Arthritis problems can be minimized through lifestyle decisions.  Exercise and nutrition and optimize joint health.  Bones can be build stronger and denser because of daily habits.  Hearing about joint and bone health in the media could get people on the path to this understanding.  However, now, many people don’t care about their joints and bones until they absolutely have to.

To see the Vancouver Sun article about the mobile lab, click here.