Knee arthritis more painful if you are depressed study finds

elnafinn

Article in the Daily Telegraph today said that pain of arthritis of the knee is increased when people suffer from depression according to a university study.

Clinical depresson can exacerbate the symptom beyond what is evident on xrays. Older patients with mild to moderate knee arthritis are especially affected by depression.

Tae Kyun Kim author of the study and director of knee surgery at Seoul National Univerity Bundang Hospital in South Korea said "The results of this study indicate that depression can play a major role in the way patients experience the symptoms of knee arthritis and that even when xrays show the arthritis is not severe patients with depression may report significant pain.

The relationship between pain and depression suggests that both should be considered by physicians when treating patients with knee osto arthritis, particularly in those with xrays not indicating severe damage to the joint."

The study included 660 men and women aged 65 years or older who were evaluated for the severity of their arthritis.

Elna

barbara12

Hi Elna
It dose make you wounder, if the pain make you depressed or the other way round.
I must say that pain does decrease when you are happy about something, if I am in on my own I really do feel the pain more.
Mind over matter.. thats why I try to be positive....it works sometimes..
Hope you are keeping wellish
Love
Barbara xx

stephiey

Hi Elna
I really do think it's true in some aspects. It's all pretty much a vicious cycle, the arthritis in my knees has been there since I got it when I was 4, and 14 years later, im suffering from slight depression and on some days it does feel worse. But stress, day to day tasks and emotions can make it feel worse.
Just have to try and keep positive and keep fighting!
Hope you're well!
Steph x

tanith

I can see how this would work , I often have to slap myself when I feel myself indulging in self-pity because I know the more I allow myself to whine and bleat the worse my pain gets its a fact and if I feel it coming on I distract myself any way I can . Sometimes I swim , or force myself to walk preferably in the sunshine and I always feel less pain when I am done..

MissKat

Absolutely barbara12 & stephiey... vicious circle!!! But not sure it's just knee arthritis?! Surely?

dreamdaisy

It amazes me the time and money that is wasted in studying the flaming obvious. So, according to this report any other sort of pain or arthritis is not worsened by depression? Twerps.

We all know that we feel better with a blast of sunshine, whether that is in the depths of winter or the height of summer, and that life is generally easier to manage/cope with/survive when we are not unhappy. God Bless the Ship of Academia and all who sail in her - may they never be troubled by the realities that we face. DD

skezier

Hi Elna,

Not surprising is it? I wonder why they restricted it to the knee cus i would have thought any pain no matter how caused is worse if your down let alone depressed?

I guess they have to stipulate but wonder why just the knee?

hey any news on you feet? love and a ((( ))) Cris xx

stickywicket

How does one go about getting funding for stating the b----ing obvious? I think I could make a (late) career of it.

dreamdaisy

You and me both - just think of what (and where) we could do said research! Suggested topics:

Over-indulgence of alcohol disturbs sleep.
Over-indulgence of alcohol can render one morose.
Over-indulgence of alcohol leads to weight-gain.
Over-indulgence of alchohol makes one sing, loudly and out of tune.
Over-indulgence of alcohol can make one lose one's moral compass.
Over-indulgence of alcholol removes the ability to speak clearly and concisely.

That's enough to start with. Where's me funding? DD

carola

This is so true with me.

Partly my pain can seem increased when I am feeling down as I cannot cope as well with pain therefore seems increased.

And

Partly, I know that stress flares up my Lupus which causes my polyarthritis.

Hopefully the article emphasises to the docs the importance of taking into account the emotions which go hand in hand with illnesses.

I always say that our minds are the most powerful tool in our medicine box.

Carol

stickywicket

dreamdaisy wrote:

You and me both - just think of what (and where) we could do said research! Suggested topics:

Over-indulgence of alcohol disturbs sleep.
Over-indulgence of alcohol can render one morose.
Over-indulgence of alcohol leads to weight-gain.
Over-indulgence of alchohol makes one sing, loudly and out of tune.
Over-indulgence of alcohol can make one lose one's moral compass.
Over-indulgence of alcholol removes the ability to speak clearly and concisely.

That's enough to start with. Where's me funding? DD

DD, you're areas of interest seem to share a common theme but I feel you'd be more likely to get sponsorship from (Let's say purely at random) a brewery, if you were to re-word things slightly.

ie Is it a myth that....etc etc. Of course it'd be a long project with lots of practical exams but, hey mate, we're all here to help you know.

dreamdaisy

Spot on, sticky. I am not myself today, I do apologise. DD

tjt6768

What is this constant obsession with depression... It's there reason for everything lately....
I was told time and time again by idiots that I was depressed and that's why I was in pain........... I wasn't depressed in the slightest, I was my usual happy go lucky self, I was pi55ed off, because they kept trying to say I was depressed.... Lol
Then the mri came and... Oh... You've got osteo arthritis in your lower spine and knees are full of calcium deposits... Maybe you are in pain after all :evil :evil :evil :evil :evil

I'm not saying being depressed doesn't affect the way we recognise the pain we are in and can exaggerate it.. Oh, all these specialists do mi head in...
Haha

frogmorton

overindulgence of alcohol results in reduction in money



serioulsy Elna it would be great if they DID look at the whole person not just how 'minor' they think you pain looks to them on tehir scans wouldn't it?

thanks for postong the article.

Love

Toni xx