Every morning more than four million Canadians wake up to the possibility of severe pain and swelling caused by arthritis. It is a number that grows by an estimated 100 thousand people annually.
Since 1948, the Arthritis Society has invested more than $170 million dollars towards research projects trying to find the cause, a cure, and better treatments. Medications have been produced that target specific molecules in the body to help ease the pain and swelling, but for those at the front lines of the research, that’s not good enough.
“If all we do is dispense medications to people with arthritis, we will never provide optimal therapy,” said Dr. Alan Rosenberg, Director of Pediatric Research at the University of Saskatchewan.
Rosenberg is the Principle Investigator of a national initiative that is examining whether genetics, lifestyle and the physical environment act as triggers for the disease. Funded by the Arthritis Society and several other partners, the project has brought together more than 50 collaborators from 12 medical centres across the country.
It’s a wide area of study that Rosenberg admits may not result in a definitive answer.
“It’s very unlikely we’re going to find a gene, or an infection, or a toxin in the environment that will explain the entire disease.”
That doesn’t mean there haven’t been advances. It’s now understood that proper diet and exercise are critical to maintaining joint health.
“They need to be active for sure,” said Physical Therapist Scott Anderson with Anderson Sports Medicine. “Or they’ll get in that perpetual cycle where pain and disability and loss of function will just keep circling down.”
Anderson wears two hats in his clinic. He not only helps people who live with arthritis rehab their injuries, but teaches them how to properly manage the disease themselves at work and at home to minimize the pain.
“Often what the arthritic population needs is just a little appropriate guidance on how to manage, or self manage, their condition.”
Self manage until that final breakthrough is made by researches like Dr. Rosenberg, the discovery that will lead to a cure.
“It is not unreasonable to believe that we can certainly manage it much better, cure it, and more importantly prevent it,” said Rosenberg.
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