One simple action can tell if your knee pain is caused by a problem! Come and see if you have been affected

As the saying goes, the legs are the first to age. The knee joint is one of the most important weight-bearing joints in the human body. It has a complex and flexible structure, and is therefore the joint that is most likely to get "sick" among all the joints in the body.

According to statistics, 60% to 70% of men over 60 years old suffer from osteoarthritis, and the incidence rate of women is even higher. Knee osteoarthritis can cause joint pain, especially during activities. In severe cases, joint dysfunction may occur, and even disability may occur, causing inconvenience to daily life and seriously reducing the quality of life.

However, many people still lack knowledge about knee-related diseases, and there are many cases of excessive wear and tear of the knee joint, aggravated injuries, and even delayed treatment. When the knee begins to experience friction, coldness, tightness, pain, etc., this is a reminder that you need to pay attention.

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A small action can tell

Do you have any problems with your knees?

If you don't know what the condition of your knee is, take two steps as follows.

You need to slowly squat down to the deepest position, and then walk forward by alternating your left and right legs like a little duck.

If you feel a stabbing pain in the front of your knee or feel your knee is sore and swollen while squatting, it means that the patellar cartilage of the knee joint may be damaged.

If your knee gets stuck and you can't move it while walking, or if you feel obvious pain on the inside or outside of your knee, it means that your meniscus may be damaged.

If you don't feel any discomfort after the test, congratulations, you still have a pair of healthy knee joints, so you should take care to protect them! If you feel there is a problem, please go to the orthopedic department as soon as possible, and if necessary, complete knee joint X-ray, MRI, ultrasound, CT and other examinations to avoid delaying the disease.

Note: This method requires certain thigh muscle strength and body coordination, and is not recommended for people over 50 years old. Take good protection before testing, or be accompanied by others. If the joints already have severe pain, swelling and other symptoms, it is not recommended to do this test to avoid aggravating the pathology of the knee joint.

If the duck walk still doesn’t satisfy your desire to test yourself, you can also try the following highly accurate test: Thessaly test.

First, stand on flat ground, bend the tested knee to 20 degrees, and gently lift the other foot. You can also step one foot on top of the other to maintain balance.

Image credit: Samarpan Physiotherapy Clinic

Ask the family to hold the testee's hands and help the testee maintain balance, and let the testee rotate his knees in this position, with one knee rotating inward and the other knee rotating outward. While rotating, the testee needs to feel whether there is pain or discomfort, and also pay attention to whether the knee feels stuck or unstable.

The medial and lateral menisci were tested separately, with each rotation performed 3 times, with each rotation lasting approximately 5 seconds.

The test is considered positive if it causes pain or sticking. Pain with internal rotation: indicates a lateral meniscus injury, pain with external rotation: indicates a medial meniscus injury.

Pay attention to the following two issues when testing:

The rotation can be performed with the knee joint in a normal position to train the test subject.

The knee flexion angle must be kept constant during the test.

Finally, I would like to remind everyone again that self-testing methods cannot completely replace the diagnosis of professional doctors. Therefore, it is recommended to consult a professional doctor as soon as possible when symptoms occur in the knee joint, and conduct a comprehensive examination and diagnosis.

Avoid these knee-injuring habits

So, what can we do to protect our knee joints?

1. Sitting or standing for long periods of time

Sitting or standing for long periods of time can be said to be the mortal enemy of orthopedics. This habit will cause chronic strain of the lumbar spine, hip joints, and knee joints. Why?

Because the knee joint uses compression to deliver nutrients from the synovial fluid into the cartilage cells, if you sit still, the joints are not bearing weight, but the articular cartilage does not undergo the compression-relaxation process like a sponge absorbs water, so it naturally cannot absorb nutrients. Similarly, any posture you maintain for too long will have the same effect on the knee joint.

Over time, continued malnutrition will cause joint cartilage to become loose and fragile. Nowadays, many young people do not do much, but their knees are inexplicably sore and often cold. When they find the reason, it is mostly because they sit in the office for a long time.

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In addition, sitting for a long time will cause leg muscle atrophy, because muscles are the main organs for maintaining the stability of the knee joint. If the muscles become weak, the stability of the knee joint will deteriorate and it will be more prone to wear and tear if you walk or run a little more, and your knees will hurt.

2. Squatting and kneeling

When people do kneeling exercises, flexed half squats (such as practicing Tai Chi) or climb stairs, the patella will be subjected to very large tension and pressure. This force can usually reach 4 to 5 times the body weight, and can reach as much as 8 times when kneeling!

Repeated and constantly changing stress acts on the knee joint, and the bones, cartilages and ligaments of the knee joint often need to work overloaded, which will cause discomfort or pain in the knee joint.

If the knee joint is in this high pressure state for a long time, it will increase the wear of the cartilage. Once the cartilage is damaged, the knee joint loses the protection of the cushion, the bones begin to grind against each other, and pain will occur until it develops into arthritis. Therefore, whether you are working or resting, you should try to avoid squatting and kneeling.

3. Cross-legged sitting

People who like to sit cross-legged should pay attention! The collateral ligament of the knee joint is like a rubber band, which is elastic. When sitting cross-legged, the collateral ligament of the knee joint is continuously stretched. Over time, the ligament will gradually loosen, reducing the stability of the knee joint and increasing the risk of knee joint wear.

In addition, sitting cross-legged will cause increased pressure in the medial compartment of the knee joint, and long-term high pressure on the medial compartment cartilage will also cause cartilage damage.

4. Practice skipping rope on hard ground

When jumping rope on a hard ground, the concrete ground has no force buffering, and the impact force generated by landing is directly reflected to the knee joint. The faster the speed and the heavier the weight, the greater the recoil force.

Similarly, doing aerobics barefoot at home, playing basketball in ordinary sneakers or cloth shoes, etc. will also put a great impact on the knee joints. If it lasts for a long time or if similar movements are performed frequently, it will also accelerate knee joint injuries.

5. Not keeping your knees warm in winter

Because low temperature will affect the blood flow rate, if the blood flows too slowly, the inflammatory substances produced by joint wear cannot be carried away in time, which will further stimulate the knee joint and aggravate the discomfort of osteoarthritis such as chills, swelling, and pain.

Therefore, in the cold winter, we should not only keep the body warm, but also pay attention to keeping the knees warm. When sitting still, put a blanket on the knees. The elderly can also wear knee pads. It should be noted that the knee pads should be of appropriate tightness. If they are too tight, they will hinder local blood circulation and aggravate the condition.

6. Climbing hills and stairs

It is not a big problem for healthy young people to climb stairs or mountains, but it is not recommended for people with knee injuries, overweight or the elderly to climb mountains or stairs as a method of exercise.

Because when going up and down a mountain, the weight on the knee joint is 3 to 4 times the body weight, especially when going down a mountain, there is a lack of gravity buffering, and the instantaneous gravity of the body will be concentrated on one side of the joint, causing more serious damage to the knee joint. People with knee problems should be able to feel that when climbing a mountain, it is usually more difficult to go down a mountain than to go up a mountain, and going down stairs is more uncomfortable than going up stairs.

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7. Obesity

Obesity is one of the important risk factors for osteoarthritis. The weight of obese people is mostly higher than the normal weight that the knee joint can bear, which leads to uneven force on the knee joint, increased joint load, increased friction on the edge of the cartilage, accelerated cartilage loss and osteophyte formation. Obesity can also lead to changes in posture, gait and exercise habits.

In fact, in the past, some people who did physical labor for a long time, such as carrying heavy goods or carrying loads, were also the most vulnerable to arthritis, even though they were thin.

In addition, obesity can indirectly affect joints through other metabolic complications, such as impaired glucose tolerance and dyslipidemia, which can disrupt the internal environment of human joints and indirectly promote the occurrence and development of osteoarthritis.

I suggest you do these actions more often

1. Supine straight leg raise

If your knees aren't in great shape, start by doing a simple strengthening exercise for your quadriceps (the muscles in the front of your thigh). This exercise puts little stress on your knees.

Lie on your back on the floor or other flat surface. Bend one knee and place your foot flat on the floor. Keeping your other leg straight, raise it to the height of your opposite knee.

Repeat 10 to 15 times in three sets.

Image credit: Samarpan Physiotherapy Clinic

2. Prone straight leg raise

Lie flat on your back with your legs straight. Tighten your buttocks muscles and the hamstrings of one leg, then lift toward the ceiling, hold for 3 to 5 seconds, and lower.

Repeat 10 to 15 times.

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3. Side-lying straight leg raise

Lie on your side, stack your legs, bend the leg closest to the bed to increase support, straighten the upper leg and raise it to 45 degrees. Hold for 5 to 10 seconds, put it down and relax briefly.

Repeat 10 to 15 times.

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4. Wall Squat

Stand with your back about 50cm away from the wall, with your feet shoulder-width apart. Slowly bend your knees and press your waist, back and buttocks against the wall to assume a half-squat position. The direction of your knees should be in line with your toes and facing forward; your knees should not exceed your toes in front of you and your knees should not bend inward.

30~60 seconds per set, 1 minute rest between sets, 3 sets in total; choose to increase the degree of squatting according to your own ability, but not more than 90°; you can also lift the toes of both feet with only the heels touching the ground, depending on your personal athletic ability and training situation, to increase the intensity of training; those with swollen or painful knees should not do this.

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5. Knee-to-knee ball lift

Sit on a chair, keep your back straight, place a ball or water bottle between your knees, squeeze your legs together, and gently stand on your heels. You will feel your leg muscles working. Hold on for 40 seconds (the picture is just a demonstration of the action, the stay time is short), slowly put it down and rest, then continue, do it 10 times in a row, once in the morning and once in the evening.

Image source: wikiHow

Note:

1. When doing any exercise, please remember: do it within your ability and proceed step by step. If the pain gets worse during exercise, stop practicing or reduce the amount of exercise, do not insist on it blindly.

2. If your knee joint is in acute pain, it is recommended that you seek symptomatic anti-inflammatory and analgesic treatment from a doctor first and do not do any exercise.

Author: Deng Ting, attending physician of orthopedics department of Changsha Third Hospital

Reviewer: Ji Gang, deputy chief physician of orthopedics, the First Hospital of Hebei Medical University