In the various sports and exercises that modern people are keen on, stair climbing is recognized and welcomed by everyone for its exercise of cardiorespiratory function, casual accessibility, and not bound by clothing and venue. Wait to go to a meeting on the 5th floor, by the way climb a staircase …… back home from work on the 12th floor, remembered that today has not exercised, climb a staircase …… weekend weather is good, go to the head of the mountain climbing stairs … … But for these, orthopedic surgeons may think differently, and some orthopedic surgeons even think that climbing the stairs will cause serious damage to the knee joint, saying “never climb the stairs if there is an elevator”! So is climbing the stairs harmful to the body or not? Can the stairs still be climbed? If you happen to also have these doubts, then the following content should take a good look! Climbing the stairs hurt the body? From an anatomical point of view, the muscles around the knee joint are weak, the upper and lower bones form a long lever, bearing 86% of the body’s weight, so the knee joint is most vulnerable to injury in sports. For example, for a person weighing 60 kg, the knee bends close to 90° when going up the stairs, in order to ascend a flight of stairs, the quadriceps need to generate a tension of almost 200 kg, and if we add the ground support force, the pressure on the patella and quadriceps of the knee will reach 280 kg each. In other words, for each flight of stairs, the cartilage surface of our knee joint will be subjected to a pressure of more than 4 times our body weight. So, from a mechanical standpoint alone, any climb up the stairs is a tremendous amount of pressure and wear on the patellofemoral and tibiofemoral cartilage surfaces, and the damage is greater going down than going up! The normal knee joint has a thin layer of cartilage, which acts as a “lubricant” between the bones, and without its protection, the bones will grind against the bones when walking, which can be very painful. The key is that the articular cartilage surface because there is no blood supply, once the damage is irreparable. Because of this, people who work more physically and use their legs more when they are younger are more likely to have knee pain, earlier knee degeneration, and more likely to get osteoarthritis. Therefore, the orthopedic surgeon’s statement “never climb stairs if you have an elevator” is not just a casual remark. Are there any benefits to stair climbing? Then, according to the above statement, is it not the case that climbing stairs has no benefit at all, but also damage to the knee joint, so why not climb! Of course not! Stair climbing certainly has its benefits! Although climbing stairs is damaging to the knee joint, but it has a good training effect on cardiorespiratory function. Stair climbing is a medium-intensity exercise, which consumes three times as much energy as walking at 4 km per hour. Continuously climbing stairs for more than 30-40 minutes (basically equivalent to climbing a mountain) will be a very good cardiorespiratory endurance exercise, which is very good for improving cardiorespiratory function. In addition, because stair climbing is very convenient, even if there is no continuous stair climbing exercise cardiorespiratory function, the number of accumulated stair climbing a day can also consume enough energy, for friends who want to lose weight and diabetic patients, are very good exercise Stair climbing or not, how to choose? Doctors suggest that two factors can be considered from weight and age: 1, younger, lighter weight: knee stability is relatively good, you can choose to climbing exercise. If you don’t have enough time to exercise, you can also climb stairs as exercise after your daily work life. 2, younger, heavier: If there is no history of knee injury, occasional stair climbing in working life can be, but climbing is not recommended for weight loss or cardiorespiratory endurance training. 3, seriously overweight, or older, already have knee pain, degeneration: for these people, climbing stairs is indeed the “dumbest exercise”, should at all times try to avoid climbing stairs, let alone climbing mountains. Swimming or brisk walking is more suitable. Tips: Do not think that only running, fitness, these intense exercise only need to do warm-up, climbing stairs, hills, brisk walking as well as to do a good warm-up. You can use both fingers to rub the lower edge of the knee to promote the secretion of joint lubricating fluid, to minimize knee injury yo.