What is degenerative knee disease? How to prevent degenerative knee disease?
Degenerative knee disease has many aliases, such as knee osteoarthritis, knee osteophytes, knee spurs, etc. The number of people suffering from knee degenerative disease in China is over 50 million, so I guess everyone is not unfamiliar with it. The subject’s question can actually be split into three parts: What is a degenerative knee lesion? Why should it be avoided after the age of 45? How to prevent degenerative knee disease? We’ll answer these three questions next.
What is degenerative knee disease?
Knee degeneration is one of the most common diseases in the middle-aged and elderly, and when it develops to the end stage, it can lead to complete loss of mobility, posing a great threat to the quality of life of the middle-aged and elderly, so it is important to pay attention to it! The main cause of degenerative knee disease is damage and degeneration of the cartilage tissue on the surface of the knee joint, as well as the formation of bone growths on the joint surface, known as osteophytes. How does all this happen?
In the normal knee joint, there is a layer of cartilage that plays a role in decompression and shock absorption. When the cartilage is worn and damaged due to degenerative changes, overuse of the knee joint, trauma, bacterial invasion, etc., on the one hand, the bone ends under the cartilage lose their protection and rub directly against each other, causing osteophytes and bone superfluities (bone spurs) to form, resulting in pain; on the other hand, the cartilage debris that has been worn and shed gets caught in the middle of the joint and causes inflammation. On the other hand, the cartilage debris caught in the middle of the joint by the wear and tear can trigger inflammation, resulting in swelling, heat and pain. This is known as osteoarthritis of the knee, or degenerative knee joint disease.
Why it is important to avoid degenerative knee disease after the age of 45
Before answering this question, let’s look at a set of data.
Osteoarthritis of the knee is the most prevalent form of osteoarthritis, and it is estimated that the number of people with osteoarthritis of the knee in China is over 50 million;
The degeneration of knee cartilage actually begins after the age of 20, and by the age of 40, almost everyone has knee cartilage degeneration;
The prevalence of osteoarthritis of the knee is high in middle-aged and elderly people after the age of 40, with a prevalence of 10-17% at the age of 40-60, 50% at the age of 60 and above, and up to 70% at the age of 70 and above.
From this set of data we can see that the incidence of knee osteoarthritis in the elderly is extremely high, with 7 out of 10 septuagenarians being affected. The degeneration of the knee cartilage actually starts at a young age, but the clinical symptoms vary depending on the individual’s physical condition. Therefore, protecting the knee joint and preventing degenerative knee disease is actually something that young people should do, except that 45-year-olds are at higher risk and deserve more attention!
What are the risk factors for degenerative knee disease? Who are the people at risk?
(1) There are many reasons that can cause damage to the cartilage surface of the knee joint, the main ones in daily life are as follows.
(1) Age: As we age, the function and traits of articular cartilage change. First, the collagen fibers and proteoglycans in cartilage tissue decline, and the decrease in water content reduces the elasticity of articular cartilage, making it more fragile and more prone to injury; second, the synovial fluid composition changes, and sodium hyaluronate decreases, making the synovial fluid lubrication, buffering, and nutrition of cartilage weakened, resulting in the cartilage surface being more easily worn.
② Overweight. The greater the body weight, the greater the weight on the knee joint, and the greater the weight may also lead to unbalanced stress on the joint surface and deformation of the joint, both of which can lead to early onset of degenerative knee disease.
③ Trauma. Damage to the ligaments and meniscus in the knee joint can cause instability in the knee joint, leading to cartilage susceptibility to wear and tear.
(iv) Overuse of the knee joint. Strenuous exercise, long-term weight bearing, climbing, walking up and down stairs, wearing high heels, etc., all tend to cause damage to the knee joint, leading to degenerative knee joint pathology.
(5) Joint deformity. Inward knee deformity (O-leg), outward knee deformity (X-leg) and other causes of poor joint alignment and unbalanced knee joint stress can easily lead to articular cartilage damage.
(6) Infection. Septic arthritis, osteomyelitis invading the joint cavity and joint tuberculosis can cause damage to the articular cartilage surface.
⑦Other. Insufficient calcium intake or impaired absorption, cold in the joint, etc.
(2) How can I tell if I am at risk for osteoarthritis of the knee? If you have “yes” to any of the following, you should be careful.
Middle-aged or older people over 40 years old, especially women;
Obesity, with weight above the normal standard;
People with heavy workloads, such as construction and lifting;
Athletes or sports fans who often play basketball, soccer, etc;
Dancers, and mountain climbers;
People with deformities such as O-leg or X-leg;
People who have been standing, sitting or squatting for a long time, and those who lack exercise for a long time;
People who have suffered serious knee injuries or bruises;
Women who like to wear high heels and short pants and skirts in winter.
How to prevent degenerative knee disease?
In fact, we can see how to prevent degenerative knee disease by looking at the causes of degenerative knee disease in two different groups: young people, middle-aged and elderly people.
(1) What can young people do to prevent degenerative knee disease?
As we said before, the degeneration of knee cartilage starts after the age of 20, so what should young people do to prevent it in advance?
Don’t let the knee joint get injured. Most knee pain in young people is related to trauma, which is a risk factor for osteoarthritis.
Don’t let yourself gain weight. Young fat people are all over the place these days, and for every point of weight gain, the knee joint wails some more!
Avoid poor posture. Avoid standing, sitting, squatting, crossing your legs, and other bad postures in life;
Don’t let the knee joint suffer for a long time. Just because you are young, you can’t ignore the harmful effects of strenuous exercise, stair climbing, mountain climbing, etc. on your knee joints.
Stop smoking and drink less alcohol and cola. Smoking, drinking alcohol and coke, the three things many young people do, are damaging the health of bones and joints.
Don’t let the knee joint get cold. Young people often do not want to temperature for the sake of wind, in the winter season also let the knee joint exposed, in the summer all night to the wind blowing air conditioning, can lead to the occurrence of osteoarthritis.
(2) How can middle-aged and elderly people prevent degenerative knee disease?
For middle-aged and older adults after the age of 45, the incidence of degenerative knee disease is increasing, so it is important to make lifestyle changes and strengthen exercise to prevent.
① Maintain a healthy weight. Many middle-aged people have a “fattening” crisis, which is related to the fact that middle-aged people are busy with work and neglect exercise, especially those who are sedentary for a long time, which is not only easy to gain weight but also not good for knee health.
② Avoid bad posture and strenuous exercise. Middle-aged and elderly people should avoid poor posture such as sitting and standing for a long time, especially squatting and kneeling, which are extremely burdensome to the knee joint. Strenuous exercise, on the one hand, can aggravate the wear and tear of knee cartilage, on the other hand, may also lead to ligament and meniscus damage, middle-aged and elderly people should try to avoid strenuous exercise.
③ Reasonable exercise. Exercising the quadriceps muscle can help improve the stability of the knee joint, and middle-aged and elderly people can carry out corresponding functional exercises under the guidance of doctors. In daily life, you can do aerobic exercises such as brisk walking and swimming, which are good ways to maintain muscle strength, but be careful not to overdo the exercise.
④Take joint nutritional drugs. The representatives of which are glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate. Chondroitin sulfate is also one of the main components of cartilage and is often used in combination with aminosaccharide. Chondroitin sulfate is also one of the main components of cartilage and is often used in combination with aminoglycans. Middle-aged and elderly people can take these two cartilage protectors under the guidance of their doctors.
⑤ Comprehensive nutrition in daily diet. As mentioned above, insufficient calcium intake or impaired absorption is also a risk factor for osteoarthritis, and osteoarthritis and osteoporosis both occur in middle-aged and elderly people, especially in women after the age of 50, who should ensure adequate calcium intake in daily life.
(6) Pay attention to warmth and avoid getting cold. Cold joints are also a factor in the development of osteoarthritis. As a middle-aged or elderly person, you should add clothes in time to keep your joints warm in cold weather. In the hot summer, when blowing fans or air conditioners, avoid the wind to keep your joints from getting cold.
As a middle-aged or older person after the age of 45, if you experience early symptoms of degenerative knee disease such as knee stiffness or hidden pain, seek medical attention in a timely manner. If the disease is diagnosed, make immediate lifestyle and exercise changes, as well as non-pharmacological treatments such as weight loss, exercise therapy, and physical therapy under the guidance of a doctor, so as to relieve symptoms and control the progression of the disease. Do the above in your life to try to avoid or delay the occurrence of degenerative changes in the knee joint and make your quality of life more secure.