Because our bodies need to move all the time, whether standing, walking, sitting, or lying down, typically, the movement of the body involves 3 main parts: the brain and nerves, bones and joints, and the spine. All three components work in coordination with each other, and lacking any one of them is not an option. However, if a disease occurs or injuries are received from an accident, it may cause the body to be unable to move as desired. That is an emergency signal from the body, which, if not treated correctly, may adversely affect life in the long run, including premature physical degradation.
10 diseases that affect long-term mobility, observe for yourself
1) Stroke
Stroke is now found earlier in the age group of 45 and up. It is often found in patients with diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, heavy smoking, or having a family history of Stroke. The initial symptoms include facial or lip distortion, drooping mouth corners, numbness on one side, weakness in arms and legs, unclear speech or inability to speak, sudden headache, dizziness, unsteady walking, blurry vision. When any of these symptoms occur, you must see a doctor within 3 hours for immediate treatment. To prevent Stroke, it is advised to have a Carotid Duplex ultrasound to check for the condition of the carotid arteries that supply the brain regularly every year, reducing the risk of paralysis.
2) Parkinson’s disease
Parkinson’s disease is a degenerative brain disorder that results from the lack of dopamine. It is found more in people over 60 and may also be found in middle-aged people who have a family history of the disease. It often starts with shaking in the arms, legs, jaw, or face, muscle stiffness, slow movements, difficulty speaking or swallowing, depression, and sadness. Many mistake these for normal aging symptoms, but if left untreated until it becomes more severe, it will make recovery difficult. The disease can be managed by diagnosing the severity through PET Brain F-DOPA scan for abnormalities in the parts of the brain that produce dopamine, or through a DBS Therapy surgery to stimulate deep parts of the brain to control movement, reducing medication usage, allowing patients to live a better daily life.
3) Cervical Spondylosis (Text Neck)
Cervical Spondylosis occurs from “bending the head” (until the ears are almost in line with the shoulders) frequently, repeatedly, and over long periods leading to strained muscles, nerves, and tendons. Symptoms may only be a neck pain leading initially, similar to sleeping in the wrong position, or if the nerve roots are compressed, there may also be numbness or muscle weakness in the arms requiring medical attention, different from compression occurring to the spinal cord where there are no pain symptoms, but abnormal movements such as difficulty walking, unsteadiness, frequent falling, slow walking, tremors, and twitches in the arms and legs may occur, which, if left untreated, may lead to permanent movement abnormalities.
4) Fractures from Osteoporosis
Fractures from Osteoporosis can occur at any age. Children often break bones from rough play, adults from accidents, and the elderly from osteoporosis because of fragile bone mass, a minor slip or fall can easily cause a fracture. Symptoms of a broken bone are usually obvious: swelling, pain, unable to put weight or move the affected area, especially hip fractures in the elderly have a high risk of death from complications. Therefore, it’s important to measure bone density every year to prevent bone degradation. Strengthening bones through exercise, high calcium diet from an early age, and modern treatment techniques such as minimally invasive surgery to connect broken bones under the muscles, similar to the subway system, then securing the bone with screws. This method causes less tissue damage than long incisions, reduces the risk of infection, good bone union, and faster recovery. For osteoporotic fractures that collapse and cause severe back pain, treatment may include injecting cement into the spine.
5) Frozen Shoulder
Frozen Shoulder is more common in elderly men and women who have tendon degeneration around the joints and calcification at the tip of the shoulder bone causing inflammation of the tendons around the joint or from bone spurs at the front of the shoulder bone, or from previous shoulder dislocation accidents. Symptoms include shoulder pain, radiating pain down the arm, pain when putting on/taking off clothes, lifting the arm high increases pain, especially at night, making it impossible to lie on the affected side, causing the shoulder to freeze or limit movement. If severe, it may not be possible to lift the arm to comb hair. Initial treatment with medications and shoulder exercises, physiotherapy, if not improved and bone spurs are found, it is recommended to treat by arthroscopic surgery to grind the bone spurs at the shoulder and repair the shoulder tendon. This method has small incisions, short recovery, helps relieve pain, and unfreeze the shoulder quickly.
6) Wobbly Knee Joints
Wobbly Knee Joints or age-related knee degeneration is often found in women over 60 and increasingly in younger people working, runners, football players who use their knees a lot, or frequent knee injuries, obesity, cartilage inflammation from wearing high heels for a long time, rheumatoid arthritis, gout, sitting in a tucked position, kneeling, or squatting for long periods, and knee degeneration from accidents. Symptoms include pain, inflammation, swelling, redness at the joint, stiffness in the morning, noise in the joint during movement, soreness and tightness in the calf and knee, limited knee movement, pain when bearing weight, bow-leggedness. If not relieved by pain medication or physiotherapy, consult a knee specialist to determine the extent of wear. If the cartilage is worn throughout the knee, the doctor may recommend surgery to replace the knee joint with computer-guided Pinless Navigating TKR, ensuring proper joint positioning, reducing infection or fractures in the elderly, and post-surgery rehabilitation in weightless conditions with the Alter – G machine.
7) Unstable Hip Joints
For anyone experiencing pain in the front groin area on one side, sharp pain at the hip joint while walking or running, hip and knee pain (some people have knee pain before hip pain similar to back pain), pain inside the knee, pain while walking, be cautious because that is a warning sign of hip degeneration. Mostly found in the elderly from the wear of the joint surface, collapsing of the femoral head, hip fractures. Middle-aged people, 80%, have hip degeneration due to lack of blood supply to the femoral head, heavy drinking, heavy smoking, steroid use, hip dislocation accidents, rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, infectious diseases in children from loose hips from birth, or shallow hip sockets causing the joint to loosen, resulting in a bent back, uneven leg lengths, and a wobbly walk. Currently, hip replacement surgery uses a small incision technique to extend the life of new hip joints and recover quickly with a pain reduction program.
8) Disc Herniation Compressing Nerves
Many have suffered from back pain radiating down to the leg, thigh, or back of the foot on one side, knee bent pain, calf pain, numb toes after playing sports misunderstood as muscle inflammation, but after detailed MRI examination and found to be spinal disc herniation compressing nerves, doctors will recommend medication, physiotherapy, or reducing pain without surgery through “Intervention” method, reducing pain medication by injecting anti-inflammatory drugs into specific nerve areas, reducing pain along the nerve, treating disc herniation compressing nerves, degenerative nerve compression, spinal movement compressing nerves in the neck or back, reducing the likelihood of surgery. In addition, the development of surgical technology “Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery (MIS)” helps patients recover quickly, return to daily life, lowering some risks of surgery, such as low postoperative infection rates, reduced bleeding from surgery.
9) Migraine Headaches
More common in women than men. Symptoms include throbbing pain intermittently, pain on one side of the forehead, temples, back of the head, nausea, vomiting, sensitivity to sound and light, are the leading symptoms of migraine headaches. Different from the headache from muscle tension that hurts both sides like being squeezed. Many believe taking pain reliever will cure, thus treating the wrong type of disease. If the pain is severe, we have help by treating headache with preventive measures, stress relaxation training with Biofeedback, physiotherapy to reduce pain with Laser Therapy, Posture Analysis to adjust the muscle balance of the neck and back properly, TMS device stimulate electric current to reduce pain, inject pain relieving drugs into the nerves behind the head to reduce recurring pain in 24 hours, or acupuncture can stimulate circulation to reduce the frequency of pain episodes.
10) Sleep Apnea
Is not to be neglected because the sound of snoring while asleep, jerking awake at night, restless legs, fatigue, headache upon awakening, unusually sleepy during the day, affecting learning or work performance, poor memory, late waking, falling asleep while driving can lead to road accidents, may risk stopping breathing during sleep. In addition to a higher risk of high blood pressure, sudden death from lack of blood to the heart muscle, arrhythmic heart condition, high blood pressure in the lungs, cerebral vascular disease. Remember, very obese people will snore every night, but thin people can also have the chance to snore. If there are abnormalities in sleep patterns, consult a sleep specialist for a sleep study with a Sleep Lab.
However, taking care of health to live life to the fullest and being able to do what you love happily for a longer time is not difficult. Apart from eating a well-rounded diet, regular exercise, and sufficient rest, you should always observe changes in your body, because knowing in advance, we can prevent or delay different diseases. If a body abnormality is found, do not be negligent, consult a doctor for diagnosis and appropriate treatment, so you can move happily and freely in every movement.