1 in 4 people over 65 have a medical condition...If you leave him alone, he'll be stuck
Oct 11, 2025
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As one in five of the population is aging rapidly enough to be elderly, the incidence of diseases among the elderly is also steadily increasing. Among them, 'degenerative arthritis' is considered a typical elderly disease.
According to data from the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service, there were about 4.3 million degenerative arthritis patients in 2023, more than half of whom were 65 years of age or older. In other words, one in four elderly people suffer from degenerative arthritis.
Kim Jae-hyung, director of the Joint Center at Suwon Nanuri Hospital, said "Degenerative arthritis is a disease that causes pain due to the loss and damage of cartilage covering the joint. As we get older, muscles and ligaments weaken, increasing the burden on the joint, which can worsen symptoms.", he explained.
The symptoms and treatment of degenerative arthritis depend on the degree of cartilage damage. In the early stages, the joints feel stiff or uncomfortable when moving, but when it progresses to the middle stage, the pain becomes severe when going up and down the stairs, and the joints are swollen or accompanied by a feeling of heat. During this period, non-surgical treatment such as medication, physical therapy, and injection therapy can relieve pain. However, extreme pain, leg deformation, and walking disorders occur at the end of bone friction due to the almost worn cartilage, and artificial joint surgery is recommended as the most effective treatment.
Recently, artificial joint surgery using robot technology has attracted attention to reduce the burden on elderly patients. Robotic artificial joint surgery is a method of precisely removing damaged joints and inserting artificial joints using robots like 'navigation'.
If the existing artificial joint surgery relied on visual judgment, robot artificial joint surgery removes only precisely damaged bones and cartilage with an accurate surgical plan that implements the shape of the patient's bone in 3D images through artificial intelligence and does not allow even a 1mm error. As such, there is less damage to normal tissue and customized surgery tailored to the individual joint shape of the patient is possible.
Director Kim Jae-hyung said, `Robot artificial joint surgery can be customized by accurately reflecting an individual's knee shape and joint condition, and can be an effective alternative for complex cases or patients with reoperation", he explained. He then emphasized that "if degenerative arthritis is left unattended, cartilage damage can deteriorate rapidly, so if the pain is repeated, it is important to get a specialist's diagnosis early and not miss the right time to treat it.".
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This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
