Dr. Ralph Salvagno says he gets questions from younger and younger people who want to know what to do about joint pain. So he will speak about the issue with members of the public Wednesday at Robinwood Medical Center.
"This is directed at a younger audience," Salvagno says. "They're wondering, 'What works for me and what are my options?' We'll run the gamut from medications to injections to cartilage grafting. We'll talk about different types of joint replacements."
Joint pain begins in early adulthood, Salvagno says, and gets worse as time goes on. Knee and hip replacements for elderly patients are commonplace, and increasingly performed on middle-aged people.
But younger patients don't want to lose mobility. They want to be able to do my job and play sports.
Salvagno says he'll provide basic information about joint health. For instance, weight reduction is important to healthy joints.
Walking, Salvagno says, stresses the knee. When a foot hits the ground, the knee is jolted with the equivalent of about three times a person's weight. A 200-pound person puts about 600 pounds of stress on each knee when walking. Running is about twice as stressful as walking.
