Head of Pain Management Unit in Anesthesiology & Operating Rooms Administration at King Fahd Medical City, Dr. Ali Al Shuaibi confirmed that a large number of people of different ages suffer from arthritis, which affects patient's life in all aspects.
"The majority of patients suffering from chronic Arthritis are the elderly, and the most affected joints are knee and hip joints, and a chronic pain may occur in these joints as a result of degeneration of the joint and loss of the sticky, gelatinous fluid between the bones of the joint, which leads to chronic arthritis in the same area, with swelling and high temperature, and with the progress of the case, erosion of the body lower part joints affects the patient's ability to move and walk." Al Shuaibi said.
He added "Joint pain may occur to patients in the prime-age as a result of chronic arthritis such as rheumatoid and others."
These statements were given during the pain awareness day event entitled "Arthritis", which was held yesterday at King Fahd Medical City in the presence of Dr. Ibrahim Alharfi, Associate Executive Director of Medical Administrations, in conjunction with the World Arthritis Day under the supervision of the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) and the Saudi Society of Pain Medicine (SSPM). The event was held to raise awareness about chronic arthritis, its causes and methods of pharmaceutical and interventional treatment.
As for arthritis treatment methods, Dr. Ali said: "Oral analgesics are anti-inflammatory; they are effective in the initial stages of the illness but have side effects on kidneys, stomach and heart, but are not recommended for use for long time. We also have topical analgesics, which are ointments or plasters put in areas of pain, but are useless in the advanced stages of the illness. The third treatment is local injections into the joint by a certain percentage of local anesthetics and cortisone into the joint through X-rays.
Dr. Al Shuaibi explained that the injection into joints is usually used with patients who cannot afford surgery or refuse surgical intervention, and that it has benefits that include delaying surgical intervention for joint replacement for a long time that may take years in some cases, pointing out that these operations are carried out by a specialized team of pain physicians in KFMC in Riyadh.