WHY ARE KNEE JOINT MORE PRONE TO AGING？

Our knee joint is the largest joint in the human body. When walking on the ground, going up and down and squatting, this is all about the knee joint.

Generally, knee joint pain will appear earlier than other joints. By the age of 50, most people will have knee pain, and some people even have knee pain before the age of 50. Why are knee joints more prone to aging?

Reason 1: Overuse injury, practice moderate exercise
Every human movement in the standing position is connected to knee joint, such as walking, running, jumping and squatting. Under normal use of the knee joint, it has been overworked and damaged. If there has additional exercise, it may have the effect of strengthening the body within a certain range, but the excessive exercise may accelerate the wear and aging of the joints.

You can do any kind of exercise but without discomfort or pain of the body during or after exercise and there can be mild fatigue. This kind of exercise is called moderate. With the increase of physical fitness, the amount of exercise can gradually increase. After the increase, the pain and fatigue can be relieved more quickly, which is the amount of exercise that we can withstand that is conducive to health.

Reason 2: The burden is heavy, control the body weight
The knee joint is the joint that bears the most body weight. It is not only bearing the body weight but also movement, such as squatting and going up and down stairs.
Overweight people will inevitably increase the load on their joints. Conversely, if you want to reduce the load on the knee joint, you must reduce your weight. Keep your weight within the normal range and reduced the load on the knee joints, thus slow down the aging of joint.

The weight is not as light as possible, underweight will also affect the strength and stability of the joints. For example, people who are underweight are prone to osteoporosis, which can also lead to early cartilage degradation.

Reason 3: The structure is complex, avoid joints injury
Due to the complex structure of the knee joint, what we can do is try to avoid knee injuries. Once injury is difficult to repair due to its complex structure, it is impossible to completely recovery and caused decrease in the stability and firmness of the joint thus speed up joint aging.

Reason 4: Keep your knees warm
There is no muscle protection around the knee joint, the knee joint is easily contracted by cold. After being cold, blood vessels contract led to a decrease in blood flow, resulting in insufficient oxygen supply to the joints. As the joint is worn out, the metabolism cannot be repaired in time, which will cause the joint cartilage to be easily worn and the synovial edema and inflammation. Over time, developing an irreversible damage to the knee joint.

Knee joints are not tolerated to cold, so try to keeping your knee warm, especially as the joints age.

Reason 5: Regeneration and repair of knee cartilage occurs very slow
When the knee cartilage is under tremendous pressure, impact, friction, instability or poor nutrition will affect the integrity of the cartilage. Over time, the cartilage may be cracked, peeled off and loss. Once the cartilage is damaged to a certain degree, eventually it cannot be regenerated.

The best maintenance method is avoid damage to knee cartilage and strengthen the cartilage. Currently, there are some drugs that supplement the components of articular cartilage, such as glucosamine, chondroitin sulfate and keratan sulfate. The cartilage can still be repaired when it is healthy or slightly damaged, but the repair effect is limited and varies from person to person.

Reference:

北京青年报。为啥人老先老腿？知道这五个真相 且行且珍膝。Viewed on 5 Jan 2022, from: http://health.people.com.cn/n1/2021/1221/c14739-32313236.html