In joint pain early to the family doctor

Joint pain lasting more than four weeks should be quickly cleared by a doctor

15/04/2012

Patients who complain of chronic joint pain for days and weeks should go to the doctor quickly. Optimal therapy can only be successful if it starts early. Many patients are taking a long time, according to a survey study.

Anyone who has been suffering from joint problems for more than two weeks should quickly arrange an appointment with their family doctor. Only with early onset of therapy, the chances for optimal treatment are good. However, sufferers can be left for too long, as a survey by the magazine „Doctor-patient magazine“ reported. The sooner a diagnosis can be made, the sooner a proper treatment can be started. „If, for example, rheumatoid arthritis is detected early, today there is the prospect of sustainably controlling the inflammation with modern therapy, "explained rheumatologist Dr. Frank Schneider from Oberammergau to the journal.

In the case of inflammatory rheumatoid arthritis, the therapeutic options have made considerable progress in the past 20 years, as the doctor further reports. In the meantime, serious illnesses with destruction of the joints, chronic pain and disabilities are very rare.

Around 450,000 people in Germany suffer from rheumatoid arthritis (chronic polyarthritis). Suffering regularly begins at the small joints like the fingers and usually spreads to other organs such as the heart, eyes and skin when not treated. As a first symptom, patients notice a painful swelling of the diseased joints. According to recent surveys, women are twice as likely to be affected as men. (Sb)

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