[Click! Health] Increasing Degenerative Arthritis After Holidays... Is It 'Holiday Syndrome'?

[Asia Economy Reporter Chunhee Lee] The number of patients with knee osteoarthritis tends to decrease after the summer monsoon season and then increase again immediately after the Chuseok holiday. This is analyzed as an effect of the so-called 'holiday syndrome.' In particular, statistics on knee osteoarthritis patients from 2019 to last year show that the number of female patients (284,709) is about three times higher than that of male patients (95,915).

Knee osteoarthritis refers to a condition where the knee cartilage wears down or undergoes degenerative changes, causing inflammation or damage to the bones and ligaments. Osteoarthritis is divided into primary and secondary types. Primary osteoarthritis occurs due to aging or cartilage degeneration without any specific cause such as infection or trauma, and it mainly appears in women. On the other hand, secondary osteoarthritis is caused by trauma or diseases such as fractures or ligament injuries, with a higher incidence in relatively younger men.

When knee osteoarthritis develops, pain or crepitus may occur when moving the knee, and tenderness around the knee or limited knee movement can also be experienced. In severe cases, joint deformity or incomplete dislocation may occur. In Koreans, due to lifestyle habits, arthritis often occurs in the knees and spine rather than the hip joints.

Diagnosis is mainly made through the patient's medical history, clinical examination, and radiographic imaging. Currently, there is virtually no way to prevent human aging or joint degeneration, so treatment is primarily conservative to prevent further deterioration and to relieve pain. If the joint is deformed, surgery is performed for treatment.

Common conservative treatments include a combination of exercise and rest, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), and analgesic anesthetics. Steroid preparations are also used in treatment, but steroids themselves can promote joint degeneration and tend to be habit-forming. Anti-inflammatory drugs and analgesics also have various side effects such as blood clotting issues, constipation, and confusion, so careful administration under a specialist's prescription is required.

Recently, polynucleotide (PDRN) injections, which are non-antibiotic and non-steroidal drugs, have been mainly used for arthritis treatment. PDRN is a DNA fragment isolated from the germ cells of trout and salmon, and when administered to the body, it promotes the proliferation of fibroblasts, the main component of fibrous connective tissue, thereby reducing inflammation. In 2020, a domestic study published in the SCI-level international medical journal Medicine reported that administering PDRN five times at two-week intervals to patients with torn knee cruciate ligaments significantly improved pain.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.