At the upcoming Health & Wellness Expo on April 20, Dr. Dinesh G. Patel, M.D., Chief of Arthroscopic Surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital and Associate Clinical Professor of Orthopedic Surgery at Harvard Medical School, will talk about conservative and surgical management of arthritis in knee and hip, a common diseases in Indian and South Asians, organizers of the event said.
“Our main goal in the upcoming Health & Wellness Expo 2014 is to educate our community about prevention and treatment of common medical problems. We have brought the best experts in our area for that purpose,” said Dr. Manju Sheth, chair of the Health & Wellness Expo 2014. “Osteoarthritis is the most common form of arthritis and also considered one of leading cause of disability in India. “We are very honored to have Dr. Dinesh Patel, one of the most well-known authorities in the world as our speaker on this topic at the event.”
Dr. Sheth said that some studies have shown that osteoarthritis affects over 15 million Indians each year. Previously known as a disease of the elderly affecting those above the age of 65 years, it is increasingly been diagnosed in younger people in the age group of 35-50 years.
Dr. Patel is a founding member of the Arthroscopy Association of North America and the International Association of Arthroscopy. He has received many awards internationally for his pioneering work in Arthroscopic surgery. Mass General Hospital and Sports Medicine Leadership established The Dinesh G. Patel M.D. Arthroscopy Learning Laboratory in 2010. In 2001, Dr. Patel established Asia’s first Arthroscopic Psychomotor Skills Lab at BJMC /Paraplegia center in Ahmadabad. He has been in U.S. News and World reports as one of the best doctors in Orthopaedic surgery. In February 2002, Boston Magazine voted him by his peers as one of the top doctors in the field of Orthopaedics. He has served as Chairman of the Board of Registration in Medicine in Massachusetts as well as a board member of the Board of Directors and Executive Committees of the Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB). In April 2003, the FSMB honored Dr. Patel with the John H. Clark, MD Leadership Award—the first from the state of Massachusetts. He was one of the founders and second president of Indian Medical Association of New England.
In addition, Dr. Patel also has a very interesting theory on why Indian have a highly proportionate number of arthritis.
“Our culture and heritage of respecting elders, Gods, Goddesses , religious people and the rest involves bending the knees—squatting, kneeling on knees like Christians, Namaj as Moslems do or bending the knee in figure of four positions (Palathi ) as Hindus, Jains, Buddhists, Sikhs and other faiths do for Pooja or prayers or devotions to their respective Guru and lord etc.,” said Dr. Patel. “This can create pressure in the knees enough to cause arthritis and subsequent functional disability with pain, swelling and inability to do what they would like to including looking after their loved ones, picking up grand children from floor.”
Integrative medicine has lot of modalities, including surgery available to reduce that disability and go back to their activities of daily living, said Dr. Patel.
At the Expo, which will be held April 20, 2014 at the Burlington Marriott Hotel in Burlington, MA, Dr. Patel will also talk about the arthritis issues that are common among Indian population, including mal-alignment of knee such as bowing which is very common in Indian American community. He will talk about prevention of such diseases and how to maintain motion and strength of muscles around and avoid abnormal movement too fast such as in twisting and turning which we do in various dances in India. For more information about the Health Expo and to register for free, visit: www.IndiaNewEngland.com/healthexpo.
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