Take a knee and read this
Longevity is being accompanied by knees that are often aching and straining with fatigue.
We hear of more and more people having knee replacement surgery. At one time it was only really old people who were having this surgery but now it is common to hear of the relatively young doing so. The artificial joints don’t last forever so we are seeing people returning for a second joint replacement.
There are no doubt numerous things that factor in to this.
Our weight obviously affects how much strain is put on our knees. This is something we have control over although it can be very hard to loose weight and keep it off especially if you are not very mobile. An aching knee can make you wince at the very thought of going for a walk. Being significantly over weight has also been shown to increase your risk of developing osteoarthritis. So if we need an added incentive this will surely help.
Once we start to experience pain in a knee we have a tendency to protect it and consequently place more strain on the other knee, the one that doesn’t hurt. This can make matters worse. The muscle structure to support the sore knee can waste away as it gets less exercise giving less support and potentially making the situation worse.
If you do a little people watching in the mall or a parking lot it is frightening to see how many people are limping badly. Protecting a knee can mean throwing a hip off kilter creating another problem.
When you have an aching knee the last thing you feel like doing is exercising that knee and the pain can make it virtually impossible. There are treatments though that can relieve the pain temporarily. That can give you some time to do appropriate exercises to increase muscle strength to support your knee better.
It really is best to get a really good physiotherapist, perhaps a sports therapist, to show you the sort of exercises to do to regain your knee strength. Speaking from family experience it can be quite astonishing what can be achieved.
As always you should discuss your personal situation with your family doctor. It is important to tell your doctor though what you would like to achieve. Many people are content to do nothing other than wait for knee replacement surgery and in some cases that may be appropriate. If you are willing to take control of your health and put the effort into exercising appropriately it is important to express that to your physician.
Here’s to doing our part and here’s To Your Health.
To Your Health is a weekly column by Gillian Slade, health reporter for the News, bringing you news on health issues and research from around the world. You can reach her by email on call 403528-8635.
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