HOW TO PREVENT ARTHRITIS

Evidence from numerous researches shows that there is no sure way to prevent arthritis. You can however make deliberate changes in your lifestyle to reduce your risk of developing arthritis, and delay potential onset.

Arthritis is associated with disability, reduced mobility, reduced joints function and pain. It’s therefore paramount for you to do all you can to maintain healthy joints to prevent the complications and inhibitions that come with arthritis.

The Arthritis Foundation mentions that there are more than 100 types of Arthritis and related conditions, and each of them has risk factors, individual features, behaviors and circumstances that are associated with the disease.

There are non-modifiable risk factors, which you can do nothing to change. Examples include;
I. Being female
II. Having a family history of arthritis (genetic profile)

Non-modifiable factors make people more likely to develop a condition, but it’s not certain that a person would develop the condition.

There are risk factors that are considered to be modifiable. These include behaviors and circumstances that can be changed in order to reduce risk, delay onset or altogether prevent arthritis (Arthritis Foundation). Examples of modifiable risk factors for 3 most common types of arthritis include;
1. Osteoarthritis – Achieve and maintain healthy body weight
2. Osteoarthritis – Apply necessary measures to prevent Sports Injuries
3. Rheumatoid arthritis – Quit smoking and avoid any form of tobacco or secondary smoke
4. Gout – Eat a healthy diet, low in sugar, alcohol and purines

According to the Arthritis Foundation, preventing incidents that could injure joints and ligaments can significantly reduce the risk of arthritis. Avoiding sports injuries through proper equipment, adequate training and taking into account safety during sports can prevent ACL (Anterior Cruciate Ligament) tears that may lead to osteoarthritis in a few years or several decades later.

There’s no conclusive scientific evidence on the exact causes of many diseases, arthritis being one of them. Hopefully, in the near future scientists will have conclusive evidence on how Arthritis and related conditions like Gout can be effectively prevented and cured.  

According to the Arthritis Foundation, many types of arthritis are thought to result from a combination of genetic predisposition and an environmental trigger, such as a virus or toxin. Discovery of the trigger for a type of arthritis may be the key to its prevention, even in someone with genetic risk.

As the rate of discoveries is accelerated by the Arthritis Foundation scientific program the search for prevention measures and cures may soon become reality. Until then, apply the preventive measures listed above to lower your risk of developing Arthritis and its related conditions.

In case you have been experiencing persistent pain in the joints, swelling, stiffness in one or more joints, redness or Joints that are warm to the touch, tenderness, difficulty moving a joint or doing daily activities, it’s time to visit a Rheumatologist for a comprehensive assessment. It’s also important to visit an Orthopedist for a physical examination to determine the cause of joint pain and potential for a surgical solution.  

As always, your Health is your most important Wealth and it is YOUR personal responsibility!!

I. Inflammatory Arthritis

 The most common types of inflammatory arthritis are;

·         Rheumatoid arthritis

·         Psoriatic arthritis

The immune system’s role is to protect against disease and fight disease.  The system accomplishes this by generating internal inflammation to get rid of any infection and prevent onset of disease.  The immune system can however go haywire, mistakenly attacking the joints with uncontrolled inflammation, potentially causing erosion and damage to internal organs, eyes and other parts of the body. The body’s attack on itself is referred to as autoimmunity.

     

Risk factors for degenerative arthritis (factors that can trigger autoimmunity):  

1.       Genetics  

2.       Environmental factors e.g. smoking  

According to the Arthritis Foundation, early diagnosis and aggressive treatment is critical with autoimmune/ inflammatory types of arthritis. Slowing disease activity can help minimize or even prevent permanent joint damage. Remission is the goal and may be achieved through the use of medications known as Disease-Modifying Anti-rheumatic Drugs (DMARDs). The goal of treatment is to reduce pain, improve function, and prevent further joint damage. 

TYPES OF ARTHRITIS

There are 4 major classifications of arthritis.

1.       Degenerative Arthritis

2.       Inflammatory Arthritis

3.       Infectious Arthritis

4.       Metabolic Arthritis

I.                    Degenerative Arthritis

Osteoarthritis is the most common type of arthritis and most common type of degenerative arthritis.  When the cushioning surface on the ends of bones (cartilage) wears away, a bone rubs against another bone; causing pain, swelling, and stiffness and over time, joints lose strength.

 Risk factors for degenerative arthritis:

1)      Over weight and obesity

2)      Family history

3)      Age

4)      Previous injury (an anterior cruciate ligament, or tear)       

Osteoarthritis Management

If joint symptoms are mild or moderate, the following can alleviate pain and prevent further bone and cartilage damage:

• Regular physical activity/exercise – Work with a trained fitness instructor to prevent injury.  If working out at home, start with low-intensity exercises and gradually increase intensity. Listen to your own body because more often than not it will tell you when your workout is too intensive. Rest in between exercise routines as necessary.
• Achieve and maintain a healthy weight (depending on your height)
• Use hot and cold therapies on affected areas    
• Supplement Vitamin C to alleviate and prevent further inflammation (A licensed nutritionist should advise on the appropriate dosage based on various factors consideration) 
• Strengthen the muscles around joints for proper support (appropriate exercise/physical activity will help achieve this)
• Use assistive devices (these can be purchased from a chemist/pharmaceutical company)    
• Prescribed anti-inflammatory medicines are effective in reducing pain and further inflammation, but proper nutrition/nutrition therapy is most important in correcting the real cause of the inflammation
• Avoid excessive repetitive movements 

However if joint symptoms are severe, causing limited mobility and affecting quality of life, some of the above management strategies joint replacement may be necessary. But this is an extreme last result. In a majority of cases, nutrition therapy and appropriate medication is able to effectively combat the inflammation.  

Osteoarthritis can be prevented through:

1)      Regular exercise and staying active

2)      Achieving and maintaining a healthy weight (according to height)

3)      Avoiding injury and repetitive movements.

NEW HIV INFECTIONS HIGHEST IN TEENAGERS? WHY HASN'T THIS BEEN DECLARED A NATIONAL DISASTER??

A few days back, I saw an online video highlighting some of the problems the millennial generation has and unfortunately the video failed to highlight the deadliest problem, HIV/AIDS.  

If the HIV prevalence among teenagers’ statistics is anything to go by, Kenya has a looming disaster that MUST be dealt with as soon as yesterday. A few months back there was talk about introducing sex education to schools, but as expected education stakeholders couldn’t agree on the best implementation strategy. Reason being, most Kenyans tend to go into panic-mode when faced with any situation that could either change the status quo, contradict our ‘culture and traditions’ or basically if they have no idea how to address the problem. In the African culture, it has for years been termed as taboo to address or talk about sex issues near children. The problem though is, the ‘children’ in this case have long ‘grown up’ and know things most of us were clueless about at their age.  

Over the past couple of months the media has highlighted several stories of teenagers booking hotel rooms, hiring buses and organizing private parties, to engage in activities they have no business engaging in, including orgies and drugs. Data from various counties especially Bungoma and several other counties have indicated a drastic increase in teenage pregnancies.   

If you marry the HIV prevalence statistics, frequency of teenagers being found in compromising situations and teenage pregnancies prevalence; it’s obvious the problem is way deeper than a bunch or rebelling teenagers.

What baffles me most is the fact that parents, religious leaders, politicians and education stakeholders don’t realize there are deeper issues in this country than who is heading IEBC or who will be president next year. We have a completely clueless, confused, misinformed and misguided generation. What’s worse is the fact that the generation the teenagers should be looking up to, the 25-40 year olds are more lost than the teenagers themselves. 

The question is; what is the real problem and what’s the solution? I honestly don’t have a clear answer to that question, reason being; only the teenagers themselves can answer it. All I have is what I think contributes to the problems teenagers are facing.

First and foremost, who and where are the parents to these teenagers? A dysfunctional family unit coupled up with a drastic increase in the cost of living and individuals’ desire to live a better life have led to parents spending most of their time away from home, hence the teenagers being left under the guidance and parenting of the caretakers/house managers, the internet and fellow peers in the same situation. Is this however enough reason for parents not to be actively involved in their children’s day-to-day activities? Most parents nowadays tend to equate providing their children with material items to good parenting. This could not be further from the truth though. Taking a child to the best schools, buying them the best gadgets, buying them cars at 18 years and living in the best estates has nothing to do with good parenting. In fact, this might be a major contributor to their problem. I would rather have a mentally healthy and hard-working child living a middle-class life, than a self-entitled ‘rich’ brat.  Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not an advocate of mediocrity. In fact, I believe we should all be able to work hard towards achieving the best and highest attainable quality of life. Striking the balance between work and family seem to be a huge challenge to most of us. 

Research done in the recent past showed that most teenagers had their first sexual encounter before their 15^th birthday! Shocking right? This would be considered ‘normal’ in the western culture, but not in the African context, but we do know by now that it indeed is the ugly reality.

A further analysis of the situation according to age groups further indicates the depth of the problem. Gone are the days when 5 year olds played with Barbie dolls, car toys and mud. In the current generation;

5-18 year olds who should be studying hard, discovering their talent, playing age-appropriate games among other activities; are now playing aggressive video games and watching pornography videos and images online.

18-24 year olds who should ideally be attending campus in order to shape careers, going out for friendly coffee dates and/or walks in the park, and discovering who they really are as individuals; are instead busy having pre-marital affairs, dating and having unplanned pregnancies and children with men and/or women in the 25-35 year category who are just as lost and misguided as their younger counterparts and worse still dating older married men and/or women (sponsors) for easy money, instead of building careers and implementing God-given talents. Well, with socialites and near-naked musicians for role models, I’m not surprised.

I have seen 18-24 year olds getting married and starting families and it baffles me because any psychologist will tell you that infatuation is very often mistaken for love in that age group. I however do understand why that particular scenario exists. A teenager who is exposed to pornographic material, near-nude/explicit music videos at as young as 13 years or younger are more likely than not to engage in what they see on TV or internet. This means teenagers having sex way before their 18^th birthday and having kids, while still kids.

Unfortunately sex and drugs are in the modern society taken as part of ‘societal norm’, and as teenagers engage in all the escapades mentioned above, there are so many avenues of contracting HIV.

So, if teenagers are engaging in sex while as young as 13 years isn’t it time we dealt with the issue head-on and actually introduced not only sex education in theory but also contraceptive education and demonstrations on contraceptive use in schools? Secondly to the ‘morality cops’ and religious groups, isn’t it time to re-strategize? Clearly, the old ‘waiting till marriage’ slogan isn’t working any more, at least not on the majority of teenagers and youth.

Having said that, what’s the best way forward? I think the ONLY persons with that answer are the teenagers themselves, because unless we fully understand their side of the story, we can’t draw a clear way forward.  

What's killing Kenya's future?

Leading causes of death among young people aged 10-24 years 
1. HIV/AIDS
2. Diarrhoea
3. Lower Respiratory Infections
4. Meningitis (Creptococal meningitis is HIV related)
5. Malaria
6. Intestinal Infectious Diseases
7. Road Injuries
8. Drowning
9. Protein Energy Malnutrition
10. Tuberculosis
Source: Institute for Health Metrics


HIV Facts – Did you know?
1) You get the HIV strain of the individual who infects you, which explains why some newly infected persons are put on line 2 instead of line 1 drugs (ARVs)
2) Line 2 drugs are the highest cause of liver failure in people living with HIV (PLHIV)
3) There’s a HIV vaccine (I’m not sure of the vaccine’s efficacy level, but I do know it exists )

SHOCKING TEENAGERS HIV STATISTICS

New HIV infections among teenagers are attributed to early sex. 20% of youths aged 15-24 years had sex for the first time before their 15^th birthday!!!  

I.         Nascop Statistics  

• 46% of all new HIV infections occur among age 15-24 years  
• There are a total of approximately 8.4 million young people 15-24 years in Kenya
• 270,000 teenagers and youth are living with HIV (the tested and recorded number)  
• More than 97 teenagers and youth get newly infected with HIV everyday
• Approximately 11 teenagers and youth die from AIDS related illnesses everyday
• 46% of young women (15-19 years) have never tested for HIV
• 58% of young men (15-19 years) have never tested for HIV 
• 51% of young people do not have comprehensive knowledge of HIV  

NB: Kindly note that a considerable percentage of the teenagers and youth living with HIV were infected at birth, while others were very unfortunately infected through horrific crimes like rape

II.       NACC Statistics

• HIV/AIDS is the number one cause of death among teenagers and youth aged 10-24 years
• A total of 2,531 teenagers and youth in secondary school died in 2013; 2,398 between 10-14 years; 1,719 aged between 20-24 years
• 435,225 adolescents aged between 10-19 years are HIV positive; while another 119,899 have the virus but have not been identified

III.      MOH Data 

• 195,299 adolescents are on ARV treatment while 315,000 need ARV treatment
• Annual new infections among children 0-14 years is 12,511; while those above 14 years but under 25 years is 13,148  
• New infections attributed to early sex where 20% of youths aged 15-24 years had sex for the first time before their 15^th birthday
• The fastest growing risk factor for ill health in young people aged between 10-24 years in the past 23 years has been unsafe sex
• Despite the efforts being implemented to prevent Mother to Child Transmission of HIV, there are sadly at least 11,000 new infections in children mainly from infected mothers.

Panic, denial and resistance are NOT a solution to the looming disaster. We need immediate practical solutions to this problem, before things get way out of hand, which they already are.

Healthiest Way to Consume Garlic

Now that we’ve discussed the tremendous health benefits of including Garlic in our daily meal plans, what’s the healthiest way to use or cook garlic?

For maximum benefits, I recommend chopping raw garlic into small pieces and sprinkling it on food. I however know garlic has a strong scent and taste and may not be very palatable to most of us in its raw form.

Just like dhania, if you must cook garlic, it’s best to add it towards the end of the cooking process so as to maintain maximum nutrition and flavor. Cooking garlic on high heat reduces the health benefits of the sulfur compounds like allyl and diallyl sulfides that form by allowing garlic to sit for 5-10 minutes. High heat also makes garlic taste bitter. I would therefore recommend cooking garlic under low heat for as little time as possible (5-15 minutes).  

The temperature principle also applies when Microwaving, baking, roasting or heating food with garlic. Keep the heat at 250F/121C or lower. Also remember that exposing cooking oil to very high temperatures also destroys or lessens the nutrient levels. Most baking recipes recommend use of higher temperatures than those recommended to preserve garlic’s nutrients. Again, I would recommend adding crushes or chopped garlic towards the very end of the baking process, and the oven temperature needs to be reduced.