If you’re in your 30s and are experiencing joint pain, you could be suffering from arthritis. No longer considered an old person’s affliction, doctors are diagnosing cases of arthritis at earlier stages of life.
“When we think of arthritis, we think of our grandparents, people that are older. The primary [patients] are age 60 to 80, but I do have a significant number of patients that are in their 30s and many in their 40s that suffer from arthritis, and require some type of surgery,” offers world-renowned orthopedic surgeon Dr. Michael Parks.
“I perform surgery of the bone and specifically specialize in joint replacement of the hip and knee. Most of those replacements are performed for chronic conditions of arthritis and painful hips [or] knees that limit people’s mobility. The Back in the Groove Program [that] is sponsored by Zimmer and is aimed at informing people of options, not just surgical, that exist for arthritis and chronic joint pain sufferers. A grassroots campaign, it’s designed to let people know that there are a wide array of alternatives to suffering progressive immobility and pain.”
During a recent presentation, Dr. Parks shared that a study conducted in Georgia revealed that in 2007 over 700,000 adults had been diagnosed with diabetes, 59 percent of Georgians were overweight, and 35 percent were obese. Obesity and diabetes have a direct correlation with chronic joint pain.
Dr. Parks suggests young people should be concerned with preventive measures, including maintenance of weight, weight loss if you’re overweight, avoiding high- impact activities (running and jumping) and substituting low-impact activities like bicycling and swimming, and other exercises that don’t necessarily cause progressive arthritis.
A seasoned joint specialist, Dr. Parks utilizes patient function and pain as a guide to indicate the best individual approach to multiple non-surgical and surgical alternatives for treatment of arthritis. He is currently assistant attending orthopedic surgeon specializing in total joint replacement and knee and hip revision surgery at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York.
–yvette caslin
