Smith & Nephew ‘Joint Care Express’ bus flagged off in Ahmedabad

Ahmedabad, 14 October 2014

The Joint Care Express, a clinic on the wheels, was flagged off on 12th October in Ahmedabad on the occasion of World Arthritis Day by Smith & Nephew, as a part of public awareness initiative.

The Joint care express will travel across the country and offer free education camps for joint and knee problems at prominent locations in each city it travels through, with a leading orthopedic surgeon being present to educate those suffering from aches and pains in their joints on the causes and effects of such pain.

The Joint Care Express bus is an interactive platform for patients to understand arthritis & joint replacement concepts. The initiative aims to create awareness amongst the masses on the seriousness of Arthritis, which is reaching in epidemic proportions, during the World Arthritis month.

The ‘Joint Care Express’, a state-of-the-art clinic (on wheels), consists of a lounge to accommodate 10 patients at a time creating an informative environment for them with a variety of patient education tools available to the surgeon on board the clinic. It also consists of ‘Augmented Reality App’ that enables the surgeon to show the patient a computer generated image on an users view of the joints, thus providing a composite 3D view of how the knee joint looks and what explains the steps of joint replacement surgery in a simplified visual form.

This Augmented Reality app keeps Total Knee Replacement (TKR) surgery at the forefront when it comes to medical applications of augmented reality; it is a unique initiative. The ability to instantly image the knee in 3D on top of the patient’s actual knee anatomy is very powerful for the surgeon to educate the patient by giving the patient improved sensory perception.

According to the recent study, Arthritis affects about 13 to 15% of our country’s total population. Studies have shown that 7 out of 10 women suffer from the debilitating effects of Osteoarthritis, or the loss of cartilage in the knee. Total Knee Replacement (TKR) is the answer. TKR/Arthroplasty is a procedure used by orthopedic surgeons to diagnose and treat knee problems. Knee replacement surgery is usually undertaken when knee problems associated with osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis have resulted in the wearing down of the knee joint. This involves an implant to replace the worn out cartilages around the knee.

Millions of patients in India are suffering from Arthritis today and only 130,000 undergo TKR, the main reason being lack of awareness among patients. Hence educating patients is a must. Patients usually consider joint pains as the part of their lives. They tend to ignore their health ailments, resulting in delayed treatment. It’s necessary to sound the alarm well in time to get the right treatment at an early stage. Delaying the treatment can lower the quality of life.

Although there are several conditions that may lead to the need for knee replacement, arthritis (whether it be osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis or traumatic arthritis) is the most common reason. A number of other factors contribute to joint disease including genetics, developmental abnormalities, repetitive injuries and obesity. The knee joint is the largest and most complex and therefore the most stressed joint in the body. It is this complexity and stress, which can cause arthritis.