About one in 10 Australians has osteoarthritis – it is caused by the wear and tear of the body’s joints and can be painful to the point of being debilitating.
There are no drugs to prevent their progression, which means that people will eventually need a hip or knee replacement.
And as the population ages, and heavier, the number of such replacements increases in Australia.
It sounds bleak, yes, but if we could find out who is at higher risk of needing a replacement, maybe doctors could intervene sooner by getting people to take lifestyle-changing treatments like exercise and diet.
Guest:
Professor Flavia Cicuttini, Head of Rheumatology at Alfred Hospital; Head of the Musculoskeletal Unit at Monash University
Host: Tegan Taylor
Producer: Diane Dean, James Bullen