Spinal arthritis plagues under-30s

New Delhi: Shweta Arya was 29 years old when she first had a back problem. Ignored initially, her pain spread to her neck.

"Employed with an infrastructure consultancy, I used to work on a laptop with a bent neck. The back pain went on increasing and finally my situation was so bad that I could not even move my neck," she said.

Arya is one of the many young people suffering from spondylitis (a form of arthritis that affects your spine), a disease which is affecting more and more people in the lower age bracket.

"My doctor told me that while working on a laptop, the back should be straight and eyes should be on the same level as the computer screen. He said this problem developed due to my bad posture," said Arya.

Long working hours on the computer, a desk job and lack of physical activities are a grim reality today, and so are increasing back problems and spondylitis. Doctors say a sharp increase has been noted in the number of young patients falling prey to spondylitis.

"Over the years the number of patients suffering from arthritis, especially spondylitis, has been increasing," said doctor S.K.S. Marya, an orthopaedic surgeon at Max Hospital in south Delhi's Saket.

According to the orthopaedic department of Max Hospital, at least 20 fresh cases of spondylitis are reported every week where patients are below 30 years of age. If compared with the numbers a decade ago, the increase is almost three-fold.

Sedentary lifestyle

"A sedentary lifestyle leads to joint and muscle deformities. Spondylitis has become very common among people as young as 25 years who sit in front of computer screens for a long duration. It has all happened since the MNCs and call centres have come in," said Marya.

Doctor G.P. Dureja, director of Delhi Pain Management Centre, said after osteoarthritis of the knee (that occurs in people older than 40 years), spondylitis is the most common form of arthritis among Indians.

"Lack of exercise, bad posture while working in office, sitting with a bent back while watching TV and obesity — all are reasons for an increasing number of spondylitis cases," Dureja told IANS.

Among Indians, osteoarthritis of the knee is the most common. It is the degeneration of joints which occurs gradually in people older than 40 years. Spondylitis is the next stage. These could happen to anyone who doesn't have a healthy lifestyle, irrespective of his or her age.

"People in India do not have a culture of exercise. Even on holidays they prefer sitting at home rather than going out and enjoying the sun," said doctor Partap Chauhan, director, Jiva Ayurveda.