Joint aches at desk, dilemma of every working woman

Everyone gets the occasional ache or pain, a little soreness in the shoulder, a twinge in the knee, but research shows that women are more frequently and often more severely affected than men.

Now-a-days there are more working women travelling across the city and the number of hours they work in their office is stretched. Sitting is one of the worst positions for the body to maintain. After just about 20 minutes hunched over in a chair, blood pools in the legs and pressure builds on the spine and other joints. For women at startups and tech companies, jobs are desk-bound. Prolonged sitting causes discomfort, numbness and joints misalignment.

Holding the body upright also increases tension in major muscles and joints. All that means stationary time at work can lead to cardiovascular disease, tightened hip flexors, shortened hamstrings, pinched nerves and many physical injuries in the long run.

Women are not only more likely to suffer from joint pain; they also have a harder time finding the right treatment. Everyone gets the occasional ache or pain, a little soreness in the shoulder, a twinge in the knee, but research shows that women are more frequently and often more severely affected than men.

About 60 per cent of joint replacement surgeries are performed on women in India. A number of factors contribute to this disparity; women are more apt than men to have conditions that cause joint pain, experience hormone fluctuations that affect their vulnerability, and may not be physiologically equipped to deal with pain.

So coping up with healthy options gets difficult, and it’s understandable. Neglecting the pain will only result in major damage, whereas if cured on proper time will assure many years of relief.

A few simple steps that can be undertaken by women at work are:

• To avoid pulling muscles or causing pain is simply standing every 20 minutes or so. It's the most important thing desk workers can do to give the body a break from a long held position.
• Do stretches throughout the day such as placing your hands on your lower back and stretching backwards.
• Simple stretches at your desk such as twisting, turning the head from side-to-side and chin tucks upward towards the ceiling will also help.
• Get moving! Make conference calls on your feet or suggest a moving meeting — walk up and down the hall.
• When seated, make sure you maintain good posture with your butt all the way back to the chair, feet flat on the floor, head straight and with lower back naturally arched inward.

Even after following the right exercises, if the joint pain still troubles you then it is recommended you to visit an orthopaedician immediately before the pain aggravates and become unbearable. When a woman reaches menopause, her oestrogen levels drop and can lead to bone loss. For some women, this bone loss is rapid and severe. But most women tend to delay their treatments giving household reasons, making the injury more severe.

Many female patients who were initially reluctant for any knee surgery suffered in later stages as it got worst for them that doing the regular routine moments was difficult. For example, they stopped taking staircase, stopped dropping their kids to school and stopped going to office.

Over the last few decades there have been dramatic advances in total knee replacement. To meet the needs of today’s active patients, knee implants have to be stronger and more flexible than ever before. However, in just the last few years, a technologically advanced bearing material called Oxidised Zirconium was introduced to last for 30 years (tested under lab conditions).

Advanced materials like this can help create better performing, longer lasting implants. Hence, it is made for women who do not wish to compromise on their active life.