Beijing, April 17 (Xinhua Zeng Liming) — In the past 20 years since 1991, the number of joint diseases in mainland China has been rising, with the incidence of osteoarthritis in the elderly being the most common, with a 55 percent incidence rate among people over 60 years old. Zhang Ke, a member of the Joint Surgery Group of the Orthopaedic Branch of the Chinese Medical Association and a professor of orthopaedics at the North Medical College, announced this data today at the symposium “Focus on Joint Diseases,” saying that the incidence of joint diseases caused by osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis will increase in the next 20 years, with the number of cases in the elderly population over 65 years old doubling. The number will double. He pointed out that although joint diseases are not fatal, they can cause chronic pain, incapacity and even disability, greatly reducing the quality of life. For this reason, the World Health Organization has classified it as “the number one disease with the highest rate of disability”. Since the early 1970s, China has made breakthroughs in artificial joint replacement technology, with about 200,000 patients having their hip and knee joints replaced each year. As the most successful surgical treatment, China has made breakthroughs in artificial joint replacement in terms of treatment philosophy, manufacturing materials, process design and surgical tools and techniques. Minimally invasive and computerized applications have made the surgery less invasive, less painful for the patient, and quicker in functional recovery, with patients generally being able to be on the floor by the second to third day after surgery and discharged within a week. Currently, the joint replacement surgeries performed by the Orthopaedic Joint Group at Beihang Hospital are increasing at a rate of more than 30% per year, with a total of more than 4,000 cases completed by the end of last year. The standardized consultation and management model it created has shortened the hospital stay to 5 days for hip replacement patients and 7 days for knee replacement. In order to help patients achieve standardized and effective treatment, the group launched the “Walk for Health” charity project, providing free surgery and instruments for 20 poor patients in Inner Mongolia, Xinzhou, Shanxi and Kulle, Xinjiang, and providing professional training in joint surgery for local medical personnel.