Seema Rathore, 42, a spirited housewife ignored her paining knee joints for many months. Finally when she visited a doctor she was told she had severe osteoarthritis and would need surgery. Doctors say frequent squatting or sitting cross-legged, an Indian custom, could have worsened her condition.

`My knees would pain a lot when I walked or climbed stairs. At home, most of my chores require me to sit on the kitchen floor. Doctors told me that my constant squatting and sitting cross-legged could have resulted in the condition of my knees,` said Rathore, a resident of Faridabad.

Osteoarthritis is a common degenerative joint disease in the aged population where the surface of the joint gets damaged and the surrounding bone gets thicker.

Rathore`s doctor, R.K. Sharma, a senior consultant and joint replacement surgeon at Apollo Hospital, said: `She had full range of movement so she was not the typical arthritis case. Her left knee was severely deformed so we did a knee ortheoplasty. She is doing well now.`

Sharma said those who feel an inkling of joint pain, apart from watching their weight, should watch out for any deformity and avoid sitting cross-legged or squatting to avoid early onset of arthritis.

Sharma said his patients, especially women in the 30-40 years age group, suffered most due to the tendency. However, he said, osteoarthritis was prevalent mostly among those above 60 years.

Other doctors echoed his views. `For healthy individuals who exercise daily, squatting or sitting cross-legged may not cause problems, but it can in people who don`t exercise frequently but their lifestyle dictates that they should strain their knees - in that case arthritis can be a result as it accelerates degeneration of the joint,` said Harshvardhan Hegde, head of orthopaedics at the Artemis Health Institute.

According to a World Health Organisation-International League of Associations for Rheumatology (WHO-ILAR) Community Oriented Programme for the Control of Rheumatic Disease (COPCORD) study, 15 percent of the country`s population suffers from different types of arthritis.

Courtesy: Shweta Srinivasan, IANS