About the speaker Guest Speaker
Dr John Manderson, who is a practising GP at Hopkins Medical Centre, and who has a special interest in sports medicine, having been a volunteer doctor at the 2006 Commonwealth Games and a football club doctor for 15 years. He also helped form the Warrnambool Sports Practitioners Group. Dr John also has a special interest in osteoarthritis, and in 2018, helped to set up the Warrnambool Osteoarthritis of Hip and Knee Clinic.
Arthritis
Explaining that arthritis is a disease of the joints, John said that there are several types, the main ones being osteo and rheumatoid. He explained the structure of a normal joint, and mentioned that symptoms of arthritis might include pain, warmth, swelling, stiffness, fatigue, or fever.
Osteoarthritis effects the whole joint, including the ligaments, nerves and muscles. In the past, has been regarded as “just wear and tear” but now known to be much more complex. It has a significant effect on health and quality of life.He noted that contributors to the onset of osteoarthritis are age, sex (women more prone), hereditary, obesity (pressure on the joint), physical inactivity, muscle weakness and previous injury, and most likely a combination of several.
John then went on to talk about treatment, and spoke of the “Treatment Pyramid” which has three levels with an emphasis on the basic one is things you can do yourself, such as lose weight, exercise more, go to the gym to strengthen your muscles.
John advised that if you have a problem, discuss with your GP, who might recommend a variety of Allied Health assistance.