The Earliest Sign Of Arthritis
In Your Knees Is….

It’s a pretty common belief that the earlier you can figure out that you have a problem, the better the chance of a good outcome you have. Many people want to know if there is a good warning sign that you have arthritis of the knee. A recently released study came up with an answer.

Researchers recently looked at 4,673 men and women who either had arthritic knees or were especially likely to get them because of past overuse. They followed the group for seven years using two good arthritis scores. (the WOMAC score) The WOMAC score is a set of standardized questions that are commonly used by doctors to score the amount and kind of arthritic pain that patients have. The researchers used this index to see if they could find a early warning sign which would indicate early arthritis.

What they concluded is that the earliest sign of arthritis is pain going up and down stairs. A little later on, patients started to notice pain on walking. After that, as the condition worsened, patients started to notice pain just from standing. And the last symptoms to appear were pain on sitting and while sleeping. The authors pointed out that as long as you can go up and down stairs without your knees hurting, the odds are good that your knees are free of arthritis.

So how can you use this information?

If you do notice pain going up and down stairs, don’t wait for it to get worse without doing something. This warning sign is good enough that even X-rays may not show a problem yet, however this study concluded that if you have pain going up and down stairs, you are on the way to arthritis. If you start treatment now, the results are going to be that much better. The first course of action in my office is supplements which can either slow or stop the advancement of the arthritis and might even be able to reverse the arthritis.

This is also a great way to reassure yourself that you are not getting arthritic knees. If your knees are sore in certain situations, but not when going up and down stairs, the odds are that something else besides arthritis is going on. Maybe there’s a sprain. Or maybe there’s an internal issue with the cartilage or ligaments in the knee. The best thing to do is Call the office at 402-333-4848 and make an appointment to get it checked out.

Yours for better health,

Dr. Jack Belitz

P.S. Feel free to forward this onto a friend

P.P.S. If you call in the next 2 weeks and mention this newsletter, I will do the exam for no charge! Call 402-333-4848 now