Going down the stairs is a small thing, but the damage to the knee joint is far more than we can imagine. Taiwan’s “Health” magazine cited a study in the United States showing that the weight on the knee is almost zero when people lie down, 1-2 times their weight when they stand up and walk, and 3-4 times their weight when they descend the stairs! Imagine a normal person weighing about 60 kg, each step down the stairs puts an additional 240 kg of pressure on the knee. “For middle-aged and elderly people whose knee joints have developed degenerative aging, sometimes going down stairs can bring more impact to the knee joint than going up stairs because of the lack of muscle strength in the legs.” At this point, letting the toes hit the ground first, so that the arch of the foot is subjected to a portion of the force, can increase the buffer distance and provide some protection for the knee joint. In addition, in order to reduce the damage to the knee joint, you can also go down the stairs sideways, holding the stair handrail with both hands. For the elderly, this can also increase the safety factor and prevent falls. Wearing soft-soled shoes can also play the same role. It should be reminded that middle-aged and elderly people are better off not taking stair climbing as a form of exercise to reduce damage to the knee joint. Dr. Sun Wei of the Department of Orthopaedics at the China-Japan Friendship Hospital of the Ministry of Health points out that increasing the strength of the quadriceps can alleviate the damage to the knee joint from exercise, the easiest way is to straighten the legs while lying down and lift them in turn, holding them for 3-5 seconds each time, a group of 15-20 can be done, 2-3 groups per day is appropriate. In addition, strength exercise is also necessary, the lack of strength exercises will make muscle atrophy, weakening the ability to self-protection. You can also choose walking, jogging, swimming and other exercises that are less damaging to the knee joint.