by MAGGIE THARP
Sponsored by Central Florida Health Care
How much thought do you give to daily activities like getting dressed, tending to hygiene, and preparing food? If these things are easy for you, the answer is probably “not much.” However, if you experience debilitating pain and joint stiffness, your ability to do these simple tasks may become compromised, and that in turn can greatly affect independence and quality of life in your senior years.
According to Central Florida Health Care Rheumatologist Devashis Mitra, MD, DM(PhD), no amount of pain and stiffness is normal, and if you are experiencing symptoms that interfere with your ability to carry out daily activities, a visit to a rheumatologist could drastically improve your quality of life.
“Quality of life is the most important thing to us as human beings. What I focus on in my practice, especially with the elderly patients, is that they have independent living for as long as they live. When we grow older, the three things that I find a lot of my patients end up compromising on are their ability to take off their clothes and put on their clothes, to take care of their personal hygiene, and to feed themselves,” Dr. Mitra shares.
Dr. Mitra, who joined Central Florida Health Care last July, is a rheumatologist with more than 35 years of experience in the field.
Rheumatological diseases affect people of all ages, though seniors are one of the age brackets most afflicted by conditions like osteoarthritis, tendinitis, bursitis, ligament strains and osteoporosis. According to a National Center for Health Statistics survey in 2022, 11.5% of people ages 35-49 had been told by a physician that they had an arthritic condition, compared to 53.9% of people 75 and older. Conditions like osteoarthritis can be debilitating, causing pain, discomfort, and loss of limb function.
“I have had a ton of patients who cannot do the simple basic activities of daily living,” Dr. Mitra says. “They cannot because their joints don’t move enough. Their hands are deformed and they cannot grip things. And it’s not because of pain. It is because of damage to the joints and loss of movement.”
There are many different types of rheumatological conditions, some of which, like osteoporosis, do not cause many symptoms. That’s why it’s essential that seniors stay on top of regular bone density screenings and consult a physician—not Google—for any issues with their joints. Dr. Mitra says many people will reach out to an orthopedic surgeon as a first course of action, however, considerable levels of relief can be found in the right mix of medications and lifestyle modifications—no surgery required.
“Pain comes in osteoarthritis from inflammation and muscle spasms. If you treat inflammation and the muscle spasm, not only are you reducing pain but you’re also improving the joint’s life, so it slows down the inflammation, slows down the damage that the joint sustains, and you can hopefully go through life without having surgery. Musculoskeletal X-rays assist in evaluating the extent of damage to the joints so that appropriate management can be decided,” Dr. Mitra says.
He goes on to say if you’re experiencing pain and swelling in joints, prolonged morning stiffness, a loss of appetite and/or weight, and low-grade fevers, these can be a sign that there’s an underlying immunological condition that needs to be addressed. While treatment can drastically improve limb function and allows patients to resume activities that might have been nearly impossible otherwise, the goal is not total pain elimination but rather sustained independence and quality of life.
“Before you decide nothing can be done, let a physician take a look,” Dr. Mitra advises. “Let the physician then decide if something can be done or not done and then you have a better idea of what your body is capable of and what your body needs.”