OSTEOARTHRITIS
A SCHOLALY PROJECT I FOR THE DNB
JULY 2020
DDECLARATION
I confirm that this scholarly project work on osteoarthritis is being submitted in partial fulfilment of for the award of ………(course)…… is my original work using the help of my instructor and fellow students. It has never been submitted before by any individual or institution for award of degree, diploma or masters. In this university or any other around the world.
STUDENTS NAME………………..
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
It’s a big blessing for me to be here today drafting this project report, I would thus like to thank God for giving me health and resilience to take up this project and for giving me one very supportive team of instructors to see me through it all. Secondly, I like to extend my special thanks and gratitude to my professor (name of the instructor) for giving me this opportunity to be under his able leadership and taking his time to guide me in the drafting of this project report. Secondly, I would also like to thank him for his devotion through out the working of this report from the preliminary stages to the end.
For my fellow students who have been a part of my whole life as a student, no words can express my gratitude. Through them I have sort all manner of assistance both academic and psychological. Lastly, I would like to thank my parents for giving me the moral and financial support throughout the drafting of this report and during the project. They have been my biggest source of inspiration.
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Abstract.
Osteoarthritis is common joint disorder affecting millions of people around the world. It often occurs when the cartilage responsible for cushioning the ends of joint bones wears out as time moves. Osteoarthritis can damage any joint in the human body. However, it commonly affects hand joints, knees, hips and the spine. Although the damage done on the joints cannot be reversed, the symptoms of this disorder can be controlled. The disease can result from normal wear and tear, infections usually caused by injuries in the joints. According to a study carried out on older adults in America, almost 40% of adults above the age of 55 show some signs and radiographic evidence of osteoarthritis. It is however difficult to tell the prevalence of knee and hip osteoarthritis. There are several risk factors of osteoarthritis with the most common one being age. Other factors include gender, genetic factors, behaviour and individual lifestyle. There are a number of ways in which the disease can be controlled. This includes constant therapies and the controversial intra articular hyaluronic acid treatment which has become a common remedy for knee osteoarthritis. In this project, wee put our focus on searching for human clinical trials to try and show some of the common causes of osteoarthritis and the developing treatment options that are in use today. In this report I will include some published articles and some that have not been published but have some solid content on osteoarthritis.
List of tables.
List of charts.
Introduction
Osteoarthritis is a slow progressing disorder which leads to active degeneration of the articular cartilage causes pain and stiffness in the joints hindering movements. it can affect any bone in the body but mostly affects the knees, hip bone, hand joints and the spine. OA has been around for a couple of decades. According to a study on the history of the disease, humans are not the only species that have been affected by arthritis. In the university of Bristol, UK, fossils of a dinosaur dated approximately 150 million years ago was found to have suffered from an arthritic condition. Since that research, archaeological fossils of dinosaurs under medical review have showed that they actually suffered from this condition. arthritis. In humans, the first documentation of signs and symptoms that resembled arthritis were first recorded in the 126 AD. The symptoms were much similar to the today’s rheumatoid arthritis. The disease however became very common in humans from the 17th century, before then the cases were so rare that very few people knew about it. In the 1859, the disease had gained a lot of concern from medical experts and was given the name rheumatoid arthritis by a British scholar called Dr Alfred Barring Garrod. The understanding of arthritis was made better by a physician called William Heberden who described osteoarthritis with the ‘digitorum nodi’ which are commonly known as the Heberden nodes. He proved that the digitorum nodes represented a different disease from the common gout. This disease would later be given the name osteoarthritis by John Kent an English physician. It helped a lot in distinguishing the difference between RA and osteoarthritis.
Due t this early realisations, treatment of the condition has been attempted largely with varying levels of success. For instance, extracts from the willow plant were used to manage symptoms of arthritis. The method was widely used in both Egypt and ancient Greek. Although its result or effectiveness could not be established, continued study on the plant by reverend Edmund Stone should that the extract had therapeutic effects on musculoskeletal conditions. Its usage thus became widespread and has led to the creation of aspirin and some other multiple modern medications used today. In this article, will put my focus on the developments that have taken place on osteoarthritis since its realisation. The various trends in treatment, the causes and modern ways of preventing the disease.
Problem statement.
In this report, a detailed discussion on the studies in and around osteoarthritis (OA) will be discussed. OA is a very delicate condition that is very hard to manage. It has thus drawn researchers from far and wide to have a keen look and find some solution for the disease. Using this report, I intend to show the efforts that have been put by researchers too come to a solution on matters arthritis and what more can be done to make the situation better. Through capturing the developments in and around OA, I will be able to explain the trend in treatment of the disease and the part played by innovation in trying to stop osteoarthritis.
Purpose of the project.
The major purpose of this project is to help me and anybody who may come across this project to get a better understanding of osteoarthritis which has become a major health concern around the globe. According to the directive of medical school objective project, research projects are aimed at making sure that students have a good understanding of the education program and can put some hands on the things that they have been taught in class. They are also essential for the deans and faculties to review the student progress and guide them accordingly.
Understanding and educating on osteoarthritis
The reason why I found the chosen topic important to discuss and draw some literature for future scholars is due to the extent at which people are getting affected osteoarthritis majorly because they know too little about. Although the levels of literacy around the world has increased drastically, there is very little knowledge about some common disorders among the general public. This has been a major cause of motilities as disease are realised when it is very late already. In the case of arthritis, many patients mistake it for fatigue and other light conditions that cause joint pains, by the time they are diagnosed with it, it has already advanced to levels where managing it is very difficult and expensive. If young physicians have the skill and deep understanding of these disease, there are chances of reducing the number of deaths attributed to arthritis especially in the developing countries.
Gaining Knowledge and skill.
Through the research carried out in this project I am able to speak to practising doctors and nurses in hospitals with the capacity of treating patients with arthritis. I am also able to speak to persons who have been affected by the disease either directly or through their kin. This has given me and my colleagues an opportunity to Learn a lot about the disease and its impact in the society. In some health care centres I was given an opportunity to take a look at some of the recent technologies and medications that are in treatment of the OA. This kind of exposures help students to gain knowledge on different topics and o have a real-life experience of practising or seeing the things they learn in class. According to a recommendation by industrial experts, effective prescribers and experts in pharmacological education, all medical students should be in a position of doing research in order to be knowledgeable safe and have the ability to effectively prescribe medications. Students who deal with musculoskeletal diseases like arthritis need some decent preparation and knowledge to understand the conditions and the challenges they bring both to the patient and the medical field in general.
Understanding non-pharmacological and pharmacological trends in OA treatment
The amount of pharmacological and non-pharmacological data on osteoarthritis that exists around the world is very little. This data is even lower for the older people who are predominantly affected by this condition. this increases the relevance of this project where medical practitioners, especially, public health practitioners who should lay out some campaigns to educate people on the importance of treating OA in older people. Since osteoarthritis is one of the conditions that affect function which may influence the function the need for appropriate management becomes even bigger. Medical health organisations around the world have been pushing for a change to bring about more non-pharmacological means of managing OA. This is especially best for older people who are suffering from osteoarthritis. For the younger people pharmacological options are always the best as there are far more effective ways like joint replacement surgery.
Definitions
Osteoarthritis is one of the most common joint disorders that prevail as the age of a person increases. OA can be defined by the degeneration of joint cartilage and soft tissues around the joint areas. It causes pain and stiffness in the affected joints which include the knees, hip and thumb joints.