Your answers to 10 questions will assess your bone health

APPly ‘My Bones’ to Firm up your Bones

New Delhi, August 4: Arthritis Foundation of India (AFI) has got created a mobile App ‘My Bones’ to firm up the tottering bone of the nation. You answer 10 questions contained in the App and you get the status of your bone health instantly. It will also diagnose the disease that might have set in your bone or any of your joints. It contains the attendant advices regarding treatment as well.

‘My Bones’, as put by Dr. Sushil Sharma, a senior orthopedic surgeon and Chairman of AFI,  is a gift to people on the occasion of National Bone and Joint day (August 4) so that they can keep assessing their bone health to keep Osteoarthritis and osteoporosis, two bone diseases wreaking havoc on the bone mass in India at bay. The APP contains dos and don’ts regarding keeping bone healthy and when to consult a doctor to repair the damage. Experts present at the time of launch of the APP said it must be kept in mind there is no reversal for the diseases once they set in, so the APP will be handy in preempting these two conditions.

Bone experts launching the APP dubbed it a very useful instrument to keep tab on the health of the bone and joints of the body. Experts present were Prof. Shishir Rastogi (Ortho,AIIMS), Dr. Sushil Sharma, Dr. Amit Nath Mishra, Sr. Consultant, Apollo Hospital & Dr.Atul Kakkar (Sr. Rheumatologist, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital).

They said, ‘MY BONES has been designed to educate people about the risk factors of osteoarthritis and osteoporosis, its status in the individual, and various treatments in just a few minutes. It can be downloaded easily on the Google play store on android phones.

My Bones contains a range of information, starting from a questionnaire to the results declaring how severe or mild the disease is to the user. It also provides worthy information regarding precautions, exercises and diets to be followed, and an advice on medication and surgeries.

Dr. Sushil Sharma said, ‘this user-friendly app will help 70million osteoarthritis patients and 40 million osteoporosis patients understand, manage and check these two widely prevalent diseases in India. AFI would encourage approximately one million people to use this app in the next one year.’

Dr. Amit Nath Mishra of Apollo Hospital said, ‘ In a country where 5.5 million joint replacements for osteoarthritis are advised and only less than 5% are able to afford that, it is important to create awareness through the mobile technology- an educative app like the one launched here.’

Dr. Atul Kakkar, Sr. Rheumatologist, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital requested the Govt. Of India to adopt & help propagate such good ideas to reduce bone & joint problems which are going beyond control. He underlined that only 5% of Indians have a health insurance to pay for major surgeries like arthroscopy, high Tibial Osteotomy and joint replacements.

Dr. Sushil Sharma, consultant at Kailash hospital, Noida said, ‘India has 400 million people above the age of 45 who are at risk of Osteoarthritis & osteoporosis, and the estimated budget for the management of the twin ailments can be whopping 1000 crores which will definitely be back-breaking for the country. Therefore, it is extremely important to reduce surgical overload with prevention, life style correction, early detection, non-surgical treatments through nutraceuticals.”

Prof. Shishir Rastogi emphasised that with the changing disease profile in India, communicable diseases are just 26% & non- communicable diseases are 40% which calls for their awareness in a very big way.

On this occasion, AFI also released the‘Pain Expert Forum’analysis- Indian Consensus on NSAIDs. AFI stressed that NSAIDs & painkillers have too many side effects & their use should be minimized specially in elderly. Nutraceuticals are a new hope globally. AFI demanded that the Dept. of Pharmaceuticals (DOP), Govt. of India to at least rationalize the prices of medical devices if they cannot control it. This will help to reduce the additional price load of artificial joints on patients which differ from one hospital to another in absence of a MRP.