How to protect your knees when climbing and hiking?
I. Understanding the knee
The knee is not one of the most commonly injured parts of the body, but it can be the weakest. When it comes to knee problems to have a concept, the first is the structure, the thigh bone or femur with the tibia and fibula of the lower leg, above which there is the knee bone also known as the patella forms the knee joint. Between the femur and tibia there are two large cartilage discs called the medial meniscus and lateral meniscus respectively. The lower front end of the femur has a groove for the patella, which allows the patella to move up and down very satisfactorily, and the cartilage on the surface of these joints absorbs shock and takes pressure until they fail. The cartilage, especially the meniscus, is the part of the body that is most vulnerable to injury during exercise.
Second, the symptoms
There is soreness and discomfort at the tip of the knee at the beginning, and later there is persistent dull pain. The pattern is that the pain increases at the beginning of the activity and decreases after the activity is opened. In daily life and work (such as going up and down stairs, squatting and standing, walking with weight, kicking a ball, etc.), the pain in the tip of the knee will appear whenever the quadriceps muscle is contracted. In patients with more severe disease, pain at the tip of the knee also occurs during normal walking. Patients feel weakness in the knee, walking easily fatigue, resulting in shoulder can not pick, hand can not lift, not to mention can not carry heavy objects walking. There is obvious pressure pain at the tip of the knee. When touching, you can feel the swelling and dull thick change at the attachment of the knee tendon. Some patients can feel the tip of the hyperplastic bone spur. When doing the knee extension resistance test and half squat test, there is pain at the tip of the knee.
Third, the test method
Lie flat on the bed, (if only yourself on the legs straight sitting on the bed, legs must be straight, otherwise there is no feeling), with the tiger mouth of the hand against the knee on the extension, live, to ensure that the knee can not move back and forth, and then thigh force, if you feel significant pain is the knee within the soft tissue damage, if the pain is intense, is the soft tissue aging
Fourth, the formation of causes
Due to the structural characteristics of the human skeleton, when the leg step bends the soft tissue within the knee dense contact, lubricating fluid can not protect the knee well, long time weight climbing, causing hard friction within the knee, resulting in soft tissue aging. Mountain climbing, cycling, climbing stairs, etc., long time knee bending action will lead to soft tissue aging.
V. Treatment
1. Take aspirin to reduce pain and inflammation.
2. If x-rays reflect a meniscal tear, then surgical treatment is required, namely arthroscopic surgical management, that involves inserting a stainless steel tube and suctioning out the torn pieces of cartilage with a suction device. This popular new surgical method allows a person to regain motion within a week after surgery.
3.Physical therapy can be supplemented by external application of herbs and massage.
4.Recovery measures: sit flat on the bed with your legs straight, and with your legs guaranteed to be flat and straight, lift them up with force and repeat one hundred times. Note! Can not both legs at the same time, to be carried out separately. The reason and role of this method: when the legs are straight the distance between the thigh bone and calf bone is the largest, the soft tissue can produce a certain amount of space between. Legs straight force up, the essence of the muscle force, you can lubricate the hydraulic pressure into the gap between the soft tissue of the knee, to soft tissue supplementation, a long time so can strengthen the soft tissue wear resistance.
Six, the usual exercise, climbing and knee injury relationship
Many people, general physical quality, but have the perseverance, the so-called strong will, has been super-intense overdraft. Suggest that they exercise, some girls are afraid of growing thicker legs, either to push that there is no time, or to cheerfully say, physical strength and climbing is not the same thing, I can not run, look at me climbing is not as fast? The result is obvious, is to fall all over the joint injury. So I now pay more attention to the usual exercise, especially the frontal thigh muscle endurance and strength exercise, the use of what? The use is not to let you climb further, but to let you even in the downhill also can maintain the vigorous strength. Many injuries occur when the physical strength is not good, I’ve seen many people climbing, when they go up the mountain, one is alive and well, but when they go down the mountain, one drags the legs down. When the thighs are tired, you will walk unconsciously lock joints, lock joints means to stretch the legs straight, which can reduce the burden on the thigh muscles, temporarily relax their muscles, but it is easy to cause knee strain, knee impact injury, ankle strain, ankle sprain, and lumbar muscle strain.
Seven, a few principles of weight pulling
1, depending on the person: to achieve the purpose of training, it is not absolute the greater the weight, the more painful the trip the better the effect. Theoretically, about the usual weight training has a negative weight of no more than 1/3 of the individual’s body weight, but also according to the individual’s condition to be adjusted, it is best to find the right weight for themselves.
2, step by step: avoid sudden increase in load, the body’s self-adaptive mechanism is gradually completed, avoid the first few times to reach full load.
3, differentiation: different line arrangements, weather conditions, the negative weight to be adjusted. Generally in the extremely hot season, or particularly difficult route, to relatively reduce the weight.
4, scientific training: to achieve effective training effects, you can measure certain physiological data of the body to understand the changes before and after the pulling, and to compare and analyze, so as to scientifically improve the ability of individuals.
5, equipment skills: when the load is large, choose a backpack with a better carrying system to avoid unnecessary damage to the shoulders, waist and back. Learn to load the bag skills, such as up the mountain when the center of gravity to be slightly higher, down the mountain when the center of gravity can be low. Pay attention to the smooth movement of the center of gravity in the sections that need to be passed in a special position. And so on.
Eight, the most important thing is prevention: first of all, remember to usually take calcium supplements
1, training before the warm-up activities must be adequate, do not directly on the large amount of exercise, injury occurs most often when fatigue or lack of energy.
2, when running, pay attention to the running posture, do not use only one side of a foot on the ground.
3, pay attention to the use of thigh muscle groups, to avoid the knee from the direct impact of the foot.
4, when the symptoms of knee discomfort, appropriate to reduce the amount of exercise and exercise frequency, avoid strenuous running, jumping and weight-bearing exercise.
5, usually pay attention to the knee warmth, especially in summer, do not be greedy for cold.
6, after exercise on the leg muscles hot compress.
7, weight pulling, especially downhill, to avoid the impact on the knee.
8, the development of muscles can in some cases relieve the pressure on the knee, can make the knee damage to a minimum. Usually do more leg muscle exercises to minimize the bearing on the knee. Consciously strengthen the quadriceps (front of the thigh) and cruciate ligament exercise, enhance the inner quadriceps and thigh muscle strength (let’s say weighted squat), combined with the use of muscle stretching and lengthening, walking, horse stance or wall exercises, etc., to pave the way for the patella to move smoothly within the bad end of the femur. I felt more relaxed when I went to Yu Chu this time.
9, before hiking to rub the lower edge of the knee with the fingers of both hands to promote lubrication night to the knee protection.
10, stretch the elongated hamstring and patellofemoral joint, favorable to reduce the chance of knee injury.
It is recommended that people who take climbing seriously, or focus more on focusing on their feet, and exercise more on the days when they do not go climbing. Throw in weight pulling as training, and many strong people have experienced some kind of pleasure in that extreme exhaustion. And it’s addictive.
Weighted heel lifts (tiptoeing) are mainly for the floundering calf muscles, not for the knees, which cannot be trained. The thigh muscles tighten when the heel lift is put down, and the thigh muscles are also practiced, making the thigh muscles stretch and lengthen. Every mountaineering training program has this.
Nine, the knee is a trouble area
The knees are probably the most demanding joint, because they often bear the entire weight of the person, and because of the large range of motion, their structure makes them more vulnerable than the hip and ankle joints under impact. The bigger problem is that knee injuries are due to injury or damage to cartilage, meniscus and other tissues that do not regenerate easily, unlike muscles that can grow quickly, and to help cartilage grow includes eating a lot of Glucosamine (an amino grape salt, not calcium), and eating a lot of it has only a very limited effect. These tissues can be considered non-renewable for a few years or more. So you must be careful with your knees if you wish to engage in long-term sports with them. Unfortunately, many people realize this when it is too late.