Shed bad lifestyle habits: Knee surgeon

Ongole: The people should change their lifestyle and cultural habits to save themselves from the knee pains and knee replacement surgery in future, said Dr Busireddy Narendra Reddy, chief joint replacement surgeon of Sai Bhaskar Center for Joint Replacement.

He launched the knee replacement surgeries at Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences in Ongole and performed surgeries for four people on Sunday. Dr Narendra Reddy is the surgeon who performed the knee replacement surgery on Dr Kamineni Srinivas, the then health minister and had experience of hundreds of surgeries. 

He is the only in sourcing knee replacement surgeon for the Government of Andhra Pradesh and performs surgeries for free at government hospitals. Launching the 1st Opulent Gold Knee at RIMS along with the Unnathi Foundation and Sai Bhaskar Center for Joint Replacement, Dr Narendra Reddy said that they are conducting knee replacement surgeries for free to the poor people and training the surgeons in Guntur Government General Hospital and introducing the same at RIMS Ongole now.

Speaking about the symptoms and need of replacement, the doctor said that only those people who require pain killers, unable to walk even for a few meters, whose legs were bent and cannot sleep during night due to pains require knee replacement surgeries. He said that only five percent of people suffering with the knee joint pains require the replacement and the others can be cured with physiotherapy and specific exercises.

Narendra Reddy said that women were prone to knee pains as they lack of testosterone hormone that strengthen the cartilage and deficient of vitamin D due to the non-exposure to sun. He also said that the people suffering from gout, joint tuberculosis, who broke joints in accidents require knee replacement. He said that the knee pains was also a genetic disease. 

Agriculture workers, home makers and people in jobs of lacking regular exercise should also care for their knees before the situation goes wrong. He suggested to use high seats and chairs, use tall brooms to sweep, western toilets, avoid squatting, vajrasana and padmasana if anyone started to feel pain in knee joints regularly.

He appreciated the RIMS Ongole director Mastan, staff and senior residents for their enthusiasm in assisting the knee replacement surgeries. He said that due to the incidence of joint pain, patients in the fluoride-affected Prakasam district, RIMS Ongole would become a prominent knee replacement center in future.