DR Opeyemi Babatunde, the lead investigator of the Joint Implementation Guidelines for Osteoarthritis in West Africa (JIGSAW) Africa, a team that founded a complete guide to living with osteoarthritis, has cautioned Nigerians against the routine use of drugs in managing osteoarthritis and pain in the joints.
Babatunde, a physiotherapist at Keela University in the United Kingdom, speaking at a media dissemination briefing on the project in Ibadan, said that based on research evidence, there is no drug yet that can cure osteoarthritis, and so there is no need to routinely use drugs to combat osteoarthritis and joint pains.
“Currently, no drug can cure osteoarthritis. It is easily related to joint pain, but there are different types of arthritis. However, osteoarthritis is the most common.
“But evidence is telling us that the key things to do to manage and improve osteoarthritis are to continue to exercise, live healthy, and follow a healthy diet. So, by having an understanding of what osteoarthritis is, individuals can learn how to self-manage the condition.
“As physiotherapists, we attend to people with joint pain, but I also know that there are about 200 registered physiotherapists in Nigeria’s population of over 200 million. So care cannot go around; the idea of JIGSAW-Africa is to see how we can support patients to begin to self-manage and to know the right things to do at the right time to support themselves to live well, with or without joint pains.
“The other aspect of things that we have taken care of by the JIGSAW-Africa programme is to see how we support health care professionals beyond physiotherapists, like pharmacists, to actually support people with joint pains and to do so according to the current knowledge about osteoarthritis and joint pains. That is why we are working with pharmacies and community pharmacists.”
Dr Oladapo Adetunji, co-investigator of JIGSAW-Africa and a pharmacist at the Faculty of Pharmacy at the University of Ibadan, said the 18-month study found that people with osteoarthritis are very interested in getting a cure for it, thus the routine use of drugs not recommended for osteoarthritis and joint pain.
“We have been able to see evidence that exercises, when properly done and if approached with the guidance of a professional physiotherapist, will help the patient self-manage osteoarthritis and joint pain,” he declared.
Dr Adetunji declared that the JIGSAW-Africa project also developed information education and communication (IEC) tools in three different languages, including pidgin English, that it intends to distribute through the State Ministry of Health to primary health care centres and community pharmacists across Nigeria to help individuals know how best to self-manage osteoarthritis and joint pain.
“The first point of contact when people have issues with their health is the pharmacy, so we are collaborating with pharmacists and other healthcare professionals to ensure individuals have their template to self-manage joint pains.”
Earlier, a 65-year-old pensioner of the Oyo State Community and Social Development Agency, Mr Ayoade Adetunji, urged increased awareness in the community on how best to self-manage osteoarthritis and the establishment of gymnasiums in health facilities across the country for exercise purposes.
