Health Matters
Weight that goes unchecked leads to overweight or even obesity and this will only speed arthritis because it’ s not about the numbers on a weighing scale. Every kilogram you add puts four times more pressure in the knees in every step you make. Sitting in prolonged hours in the overweight or obese body tightens the muscles on the hip joint and cause the one at the knee to become weaker.
MARKETING AFRICA
Health Matters
Rose Wanjiru
Arthritis In The Workplace And Why Employers Should Care
Arthritis is not a single condition as people know it to be, but a broad term for conditions that affect the joints. The word itself is made of two parts from ancient Greek component. The first part being“ arthr” which means joint and the second part being“ itis” a medical suffix used to mean inflammation. So together the word literally translates to inflammation of the joint. Osteoarthritis( OA) is the most common and occurs when the cartilage that cushions the joints wear out. This condition mostly appears with dull pain, stiffness and crackling sounds early in the morning.
Causes of Osteoarthritis( OA)
Osteoarthritis( OA) doesn’ t just happen overnight; it is the wear and tear that happens over time due to ignorance of workplaces. As you age normal wear and tear of the joints might contribute to OA.
First and foremost, we have long sitting hours. Your office chair is the problem, when the posture is maintained at 90 degrees all day knees lock, after the prolonged sitting hours most people board a matatu to commute, this only worsens the situation due to cramped seating. World Health Organization lists this as the core driver of OA.
The second cause is extra weight. Weight that goes unchecked leads to overweight or even obesity and this will only speed arthritis because it’ s not about the numbers on a weighing scale. Every kilogram you add puts four times more pressure in the knees in every step you make. Sitting in prolonged hours in the overweight or obese body tightens the muscles on the hip joint and cause the one at the knee to become weaker. Getting up from the chair the knees and hips don’ t have otherwise than to carry the weight they didn’ t ask for. Quick high calorie meals with low chances of moving around during work, the extra pressure and inflammation build on each other and slowly wears away the cautioning.
Third, the long-gone injury that you ignored. If you tweak your knee in the aerobics session in the gym or the weekend sport you have been attending to and ignored it that would point the joint at risk because the joint never fully repairs or heal. You wake up as usual and get back to your desk job where you sit for hours and spring back to the gym and sports in the weekend. That repeated stress keeps re-injuring the same tissue and the body is forced to compensate that through distributing the load to other muscles and joints. This wears cartilage faster than you can imagine. In essence between the original injury, long hours on the job desk and pushing through the physical activities’ day after day, arthritis can set in earlier and hit harder.
Impact of Osteoarthritis
What you will feel in the coming week and months
First, morning will become your worst enemy, how? The morning pains and stiffness just after waking up especially in cold weather is of no joke because that is the time the worn cartilage begs to unlock. Almost the first 30 mins of the day will be dedicated to agonizing.
And then your focus will be derailed by the pain. When OA flares, the brain has to choose between focusing on work and focusing on the pain because you can’ t do both. Sleeping becomes hard due to night pain therefore rest time is reduced and the body is left with fatigue, when you go to the office the next morning you struggle with reading reports and emails due to a disrupted mind. This chronic pain floods your mind and eventually your mind prioritizes pain signals more than other things that are of more importance.
Moreover, medication has high chance of betraying you. Anti Inflammatory drugs( NSAIDS) like Ibuprofen and painkillers help but they also have side effects. NSAIDs for instance can cause stomach lining issues, and strong medications have higher chances of causing brain fog. With brain fog the brain speed drops and your brain buffers therefore reports that need only an hour would end up taking two or more hours to finish.
What happens if the condition is not dealt with, appropriately over the years
Sad to say but surgery becomes a more likely option. In most cases Severe OA ends in joint replacement through a surgical procedure called arthroplasty. In Kenya the procedure cost ranges between KSh600,000 to KSh1M per knee or hip and recovery takes up to 6months. That’ s a huge direct financial hit, not forgetting the opportunity cost of the six months of recovery, which is equal to 6 months of not reporting to work.
Weight that goes unchecked leads to overweight or even obesity and this will only speed arthritis because it’ s not about the numbers on a weighing scale. Every kilogram you add puts four times more pressure in the knees in every step you make. Sitting in prolonged hours in the overweight or obese body tightens the muscles on the hip joint and cause the one at the knee to become weaker.
82 MAL72 / 26 ISSUE