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It is rather a surprising yet nice news when our representative, Ms Wong Kit Yin, came back after drawing an assignment question and announced that we have gotten ‘Arthritis’. I mean, yeah, Arthritis is really common and we already know quite a lot about it… it is like the pain at knee joints – everybody knows that. Well, after doing this assignment, we have come to realise how wrong we were.
First and foremost, we never knew there are so many types of arthritis. We have found about a dozen but, in reality, there are 171 –yes, you definitely did not read wrongly- types of arthritis! It’s amazing, isn’t it? When we found this out, we were shocked! It burst our know-it-all bubble instantly and, as a result, had caused us to hunger for more information about Arthritis. Now… where to get the most information at the tap of just a finger? Of course! The Net!
Information from various sites, journals, doctor’s opinions, flooded our brain –nearly causing an information overflow, mind you- and we absorbed them all.
Fact 1: Did you know that a majority of people have arthritis but they do not know the presence of it? And why they do not know? It is because they keep postponing or totally neglecting their yearly medical check-ups or they are just plain ignorant about this. Some even choose not to have a medical check-up at all. The public should really take some time off their busy working schedule to find out why their joints are creaking or why they are feeling stiffness at their joints. They should take initiatives to find out the causes of these symptoms and realise that they have arthritis. Early detection is always important in any kind of illness for faster and a higher chance of recovery. Therefore, medical checkups are definitely not a waste of money. Hey, who knows? It might be your saviour one day. Besides, the government can also help by setting up exhibition booths or organise events at shopping malls, or general hospitals to further spread awareness and to educate the people about arthritis.
Sometimes, if they do know about their arthritis, they choose to ignore it. Why? Well, it’s rather obvious, isn’t it? Why choose to bother yourself with something as minor as arthritis when you already have so much on your mind. It’s just some aches at the joints, right? Definitely nothing to worry about. However, from what we have found out through our researches, they are terribly wrong! Those who decided to disregard these symptoms may find themselves in really deep trouble later on when the symptoms worsen. So, our best advice: pay close attention. This is because arthritis signs tend to snowball: joint pain and stiffness can lead to excessive fatigue and malaise. In short, each arthritis symptom impacts another symptom and, in the end, you will have lots of symptoms with no immediate way to relieve them.
This piece of essay is not all dreadful news though. Looking on the bright side, at least there are tested treatments against arthritis and, the best of all, most of the cures do not cost much (We are just being realistic here; it all boils down to money, doesn’t it?). There are some fairly cheap home remedies, aforementioned in the ‘Treatment’ section of the assignment, and are far more affordable for the general public if compared to modern surgery. We discovered that cherries –yes, the ones that are usually found on top of birthday cakes- are useful in treating the symptoms of arthritis, besides being just a delicious snack. It can relieve pain and eliminate swelling. Amazing, isn’t it?
Nevertheless, if you are very well off and would like to spend a nice amount of dosh (money) on the treatment, there is also the joint replacement surgery. Most hospitals are well equipped to handle these types of surgery but, of course, getting the best surgeons is not easy at all though unless you have the necessary connections or, yet again, the necessary amounts of ‘dosh’.
If you do not like surgery, then perhaps you could use that money for the stem cells research treatment that specialised in treating arthritis. We are talking about adult stem cells, mind you, and not the embryonic stem cells. As reported by Dr Max Gomez, an award-winning medical reporter, adult stem cells are currently being used to form new cartilage or even to repair torn ligaments. As since the adult stem cells are retrieved from the patient’s own body, there is no risk of rejection or contracting infectious diseases. So far, this method can only treat osteoarthritis of the knee, hip, ankle and back pain. However, in the future, these stem cells may be used to treat a number of other types of arthritis as well.
In conclusion, at the end of this assignment, we reckon we are rather good rheumatologists (paediatrician who is qualified by additional training and experienced in the diagnosis and treatment of arthritis) now (*joke*). Even though we are all not actually qualified rheumatologists, we have indeed learned lots about arthritis and we are rather grateful for it – at least we can recognise the symptoms if we have arthritis in the future. We would like to thank all of our group members for doing their part well and for being able to finish this assignment on time despite the heavy work load and time constraints. We also would like to thank Mr Chin for giving us guidance, for shining a light on our path as we walk along the road that leads to the end of this assignment. We hope that our assignment has met all the criteria that are required and is also comprehensive enough. We, too, hope that we could get good marks for all our hard work.
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