Doctors raise joint pain awareness on World Arthritis Day

Over 100 million people suffer from arthritis in the mainland, and the number keeps increasing, sounding alarm bells in the medical community, medical experts said during World Arthritis Day on Tuesday. A free medical consultation was held at Shanghai Yueyang Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine to mark the day of awareness.

Arthritis is a common disease, which affects 355 million people around the world.

During the consultation, doctors at Yueyang hospital answered questions about knee joint, shoulder joint and hip joint pain and self-prevention and control measures through traditional Chinese and Western medicine.

Dr Gong Li from the hospital's tuina department shows proper techniques for patients to massage their own joints.

Tuina is a traditional Chinese massage therapy practice.

According to Gong, knee arthritis is closely related to factors like age, gender, weight and injury history. The incidence rate is 29.7 percent among people over age 40. Most patients are women, as it is related to a decrease in female hormone levels. Obese people also have a higher incidence than those with a healthy weight.

"There is no cure to knee arthritis, but symptoms can be treated to relieve pain and improve joint mobility," Gong said. "Tuina is effective for people with early- and middle-stage knee arthritis, and elderly people must visit a hospital for early diagnosis and treatment if suffering from symptoms of arthritis."

Ti Gong