The knee joint is a joint that is prone to injury, and about half of all sports injuries involve the knee joint. In particular, rival sports such as basketball and soccer are most likely to cause knee injuries. In addition, the knee is an age-related disease, and as we age, the chance of knee disease increases. Epidemiological studies show that more than 50% of people over 60 years old have osteoarthritis of the knee, and more than 60% of people over 70 years old have the disease. Jiang Yongfa, Department of Orthopedics, Guangzhou Huadu District People’s Hospital, Guangzhou, China I. Why is the knee joint the most injured? The knee joint is both strong and prone to injury aging joints, in all joints of the human body belong to play an important role, both to bear all the weight from the body, but also to a large range of activities, when we run, climbing stairs or climbing mountains, the knee to bear the load than the usual increase of several times. The knee joint is located in the human body and determines the role of the knee joint to carry the top and bottom, like two rigid pillars that can extend and flex the activity, its anatomical structure is more complex than the hip and ankle joints, natural protection than the hip joint less, and unlike the ankle joint can have the auxiliary protection of shoes. Second, joint injury, herbal external application? The early symptoms of knee injury or aging are soreness and discomfort or even pain in the knee joint, aggravated after exercise and reduced after rest, difficulty squatting, pain up and down stairs, many people also have increased skin temperature, joint effusion and other synovitis manifestations, and individuals show obvious knee pain when driving on the clutch. If the above symptoms occur in the knee joint, you must go to the hospital as soon as possible to see a specialist, especially for people who like to play sports after an acute injury accompanied by acute joint swelling and pain, when the joint is mostly ligament or meniscus injury. Don’t ever think that you will be fine if you apply herbal medicine and the swelling and pain are reduced in a few weeks! In Guangdong, which believes in orthopedic “bruising”, this situation is very common, which makes many joint surgeons or sports injury specialists feel distressed and helpless! The correct treatment after an acute knee injury: braking + ice + specialist investigation to confirm the diagnosis. Third, what can save you? –1. Diagnosis and treatment should be done before it’s too late. The core of knee sports injury management is the word “early”, early diagnosis and early treatment. Many people think that as long as the bone is not broken the knee is fine, this is a serious misconception. Although most of the time there is no fracture in the knee, the injury usually involves the ligaments and cartilage of the knee joint and causes joint instability. If left untreated at this point, the wear and tear on the bony structures of the knee will increase, eventually leading to osteoarthritis of the knee. In fact, most fractures heal completely and are as good as the original, but almost no damage to the ligamentous cartilage can be fully restored to the “original”. The purpose of early treatment is to minimize greater damage, restore the joint to its pre-injury function as much as possible, and avoid premature aging of the joint.2. Exercise should be appropriate exercise can exercise the body, but inappropriate exercise can also harm the body, each person should strike a balance according to their own situation, such as running. Before running, it is necessary to prepare activities so that the cartilage, ligaments and muscles of the joints have good coordination and communication before strenuous exercise. It is recommended to choose a softer sports place for running exercise, the ground of the place is soft to the ankle and knee joint reaction impact is small; should try to avoid running up hills and steps to avoid knee ligament and cartilage damage; each running time should not be too long, more should avoid the bad sports habits of three days fishing and two days sunbathing; exercise such as joint pain, interlocking and other symptoms, need to stop the activity immediately. If the symptoms of knee pain still exist after rest, go to the hospital as soon as possible to investigate and diagnose. 3. don’t be good cardio injury knee Many people think that the more exercise the better, the more vigorous exercise the better the body. Recently, many friends in the circle of 35 to 45 years old like long-distance running, or like super-long-distance hiking and climbing, constantly challenging themselves. I also often encounter some health care workers over 50 years old, who usually rarely exercise, but like to climb high-level stairs at work as the only means of exercise. These are behaviors that accelerate the aging of knee joint damage. The exercise of the heart and lungs, at the expense of the joints, is like a car, the engine is still good, the wheels will soon be scrapped and become a pile of scrap metal. 4. simple economic, safe and effective exercise methods in the seated position to perform resistance knee extension and flexion exercise is a very safe and effective method, whether it is the different stages of rehabilitation after joint injury surgery, or the entire health care of the knee is effective. It is best to straighten the knee or intermittently flex and extend the knee during seated recreation or paperwork, to avoid fixing the knee in a bent position for long periods of time. 5. Warm your knee, walk and cherish your knee There is very little muscle fat around the knee and the skin is very thin. Although weather changes are not a direct cause of arthritis, most patients with joint pain are sensitive to weather changes, and the knee joint has become almost a private weather forecaster for some patients. Therefore, it is important for the joints to prevent wet and cold. During the cold winter months, keep your knee joints warm by rubbing around them from time to time to make them feel warm. Take care of your joints sooner rather than later. This article is published with the permission of Dr. Jiang Yongfa, please do not reproduce without authorization.