THE top football managers are 10 times more likely to develop arthritis in later life than ordinary people, according to a Bolton surgeon.
Gordon Shepard, a consultant orthopaedic surgeon at the Royal Bolton Hospital, carried out a study of Premier and Football League club managers during the 1999-2000 season, and found that a surprising number of them suffered from some form of arthritis.
The surgeon's findings, published in the British Journal of Sport's Medicine, revealed that the most common occurrence of arthritis was in the knee, followed by the hip.
He said he was surprised to discover that managers who had had hip operations had never complained of hip injuries during their playing career.
But it wasn't surprising to find that they suffered from arthritis in their knee because they had had countless operations during their career, or had had cartilage removed, which could increase the risk.h.
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