Q: I am 51 years old. I have knee pain for the last 2 years. Initially it was less and I did not give much attention to it. Now I have very heavy pain and cant even sit on the ground. It has become difficult for me to sit in the toilet. After going to toilet it take about 2-3 minutes for me to get up and walk properly. I had visited hospitals and doctors gave me some pain killers many times. There was temporary relief only. In addition to this I have muscle pain on my right hand about 6 inches above the wrist which is just below the joints. Due to this pain I am not even able to carry one bucket of water. Now I used to take heavy things with my left hand which has no problem. Also I have back pain for the last 3-4 years. For this doctors suggested me to sleep on hard bed. So I use only hard bed for the last 3-4 years. But not much relief. Some time I have to take brufen to subside my heavy pain. Kindly advise me.

A:I think you are developing arthritic changes of old age in many joints and the main treatment for this is regular exercise to affected joints, local heat for control of severe pain and if necessary occasional pain killing medicines. You are not going to be as fit as you were before and it may be that if condition gets worse you may need operation also especially of knee joint replacement. Once the knees have become so bad you should stop sitting on floor as this put too much stress on joint and makes the pain worse and walking with a stick will reduce some weight from knee and back and make you more comfortable.