‘Young age’ no longer means a healthy life

Age, in today’s world, is not the reason behind several health disorders that many are experiencing. Be it the elderly or the youth, the majority are struggling with one condition or the other.

Gone are the days when joint pains were a story we would hear from our elders and when I say elders, I draw a line that crosses the 60 years plus.

I imagine it as two cars racing. The first represents years of age and the latter represents health issues. In the early times, the years of age would be on the frontline while leaving behind health issues by probably not more than ten years.

This means a sixty-year-old adult would look and feel like a forty-year-old. But, at this moment in life, health issues are very much ahead of the actual age, implying that a thirty-year-old adult, may own health issues that normally occur at an older age. Here, I mean almost a twenty-year gap difference.

Knees, hips, shoulders, and other joint problems are becoming increasingly common.

‘Arthritis’ has become a very popular yet serious condition. To put it in simple terms, arthritis means inflammation of the joint areas. Trust me, as simple as it may sound, it is not a piece of cake.

After struggling with intense leg pain and sleepless nights and days without knowing where the actual pain originated from, the queen of my house stormed into the government hospital emergency room where she was diagnosed with osteoarthritis.

This is when she started digging deep into having more knowledge about arthritis particularly osteoarthritis, which is a form of arthritis that mostly attacks hips, knees, and hands.

It is when the cartilage and protective tissues in between the underlying joints, wear and tear out hence making movements extremely difficult with severe pain, and cracking-like sounds because it is now a bone-on-bone friction without the cartilage or gel that is naturally found in between.

Name all the ugly pains you can imagine here, in fact, her doctor was surprised to see that in her late thirties, which according to the doctor is much way younger for her to have such health issues that are as common in the sixty-plus as he claimed.

There are a million words if not more that I would like to elaborate or express further on what she went through but unfortunately, the space here is too small for me to write it all down. I will share some of the best parts of her journey that led her to where she is today.

Arthritis is a battle that you, as the carrier have to fight and deal with on your own. It takes extreme courage, positivity, self-love, and motivation to fight arthritis because you will not stay immobile or on painkillers forever.

You need to fight and defeat it by changing your lifestyle. Eating a healthy diet, and exercising with arthritic friendly exercises and routine can take you there as it took her. Maintaining a healthy body weight will also help you intensely.

A weight reduction by atleast four kilogrammes only off your body will make your pain less by atleast thirty per cent. Keeping up with physiotherapy is a great way too. I am not a doctor but I learned all this through physiotherapy sessions on YouTube channels with experienced manual physiotherapists because it’s something I told her she had to do daily since getting a daily appointment at a government hospital is not possible, especially for out-patients.

With all said, I learnt that arthritis is a uniform that many are wearing now regardless of age. I have also heard stories from people who are much younger than she is. Infact, talking to her doctor, I came to know that such a problem is more common now.

There are moments my queen thought she would never stand or walk again normally, moments that she would cry and become emotional due to pain. Her muscles were so weak that she could not go on with her normal daily routines but today she can happily testify that if she could fight it her own way, why can’t anyone?

Today, she walks freely, runs her errands normally, and smiles more. Arthritis does not heal fully as doctors say but by paying attention to your body and maintaining a healthy lifestyle style, you will feel much better.