Why do people’s leg get old first
Our knee joint is the largest joint in the human body. When we walk on the ground, go up and down stairs, and squat, it is mainly the knee joint that plays a role. The flexion and extension of the knee joint is the key factor to complete the above actions.
Each of us experiences pain symptoms in our knees earlier than other joints. By the age of 50, the knee joint is more or less painful, and some people even have knee pain before the age of 50. It just caters to the old saying: “Old people get old first”. Why is it that such important joints are more prone to aging? If we know the reason, we can take targeted care to maintain the knee joint and prevent the occurrence of aging arthritis.
Every movement of a human being in a standing position is inseparable from the knee joint. Walking, running, jumping, squatting, the role of the knee joint is essential. A normal person needs about 10,000 steps in daily life, not counting the steps for exercise. Therefore, the knee joint is already overworked and damaged under normal use. If there is additional exercise, it will strengthen the body within a certain range, and once it is excessive, it will accelerate the wear and aging of joints.
Every day, the knees should be flexed and extended at least 10,000 times under weight-bearing conditions. In addition to the flexion and extension of the knees when sitting and lying in bed, the number of flexion and extension of the knees should be about 20,000 times.
The knee joint is so “hard”, so how can people who love sports, people who want to exercise to improve their physical fitness, people who want to exercise to lose weight, and people with diabetes who need exercise to control blood sugar, how can they control the amount of exercise, not only to achieve the purpose of exercise, but also As for the accelerated aging of the knee joint?
The principle of our movement is – it varies from person to person and from time to time; gradually increase the amount and stop when it is enough.
Everyone is born with a different physique. The bones, joints, tendons, muscles and other sports tissues, as well as the strength of the cardiopulmonary system, are naturally different. The amount of exercise that can be tolerated is naturally different, and the same exercise standard cannot be used to measure everyone. How to control the amount of exercise? Mainly depends on each person’s own feelings.
Since the position determines the weight of the knee joint, what we can do is to control our weight. Fat people, that is, people who are heavy, will inevitably increase the load on their joints. Conversely, to reduce the load on the knee joint, one must lose weight. Keeping your weight within the normal range, without extra load on the knee joint, will slow down the rate of aging.
You can perform any kind of exercise. There is no discomfort in the body during exercise, no pain in various parts of the body after exercise, and mild fatigue, and there is no feeling of excessive fatigue and rest that cannot be relieved the next day. The amount of exercise at this time is suitable. With the enhancement of physical fitness, the amount of exercise can be gradually increased. After the increase, the pain and fatigue can be relieved quickly, which is the healthy amount of exercise we can bear.
Among the four major joints of shoulder, elbow, hip and knee with the greatest range of motion, the knee joint is located at a low level, so the knee joint bears the most weight among these four joints.
The shoulder and elbow joints are located in the upper extremities. Except for the weight of the upper extremities, they bear almost no weight. Therefore, the degeneration of the upper extremity joints is relatively late, and the degree of articular cartilage wear is correspondingly light. But the knee joint is different from it. It is a typical weight-bearing joint. It can be said that weight-bearing is the main task of the knee joint. In particular, it is necessary not only to bear weight but also to move. For example, when squatting up, the quadriceps femoral muscle contracts strongly, pulling the patellar tendon, which in turn presses the patella, causing the joint surface between the patella and the femur to bear much more than usual. load.
Similarly, when we go up and down stairs, the articular cartilage between the patella and the femur is also under tremendous pressure. When going down the stairs, the articular cartilage between the femur and the tibia also bears the impact of the body’s descending potential energy, that is, the weight plus the impact, so the damage to the joints is greater when going downstairs.
Since the position determines the weight of the knee joint, what we can do is to control our weight. Fat people, that is, people who are heavy, will inevitably increase the load on their joints. Conversely, to reduce the load on the knee joint, one must lose weight. Keeping your weight within the normal range, without extra load on the knee joint, will slow down the rate of aging.
However, it should be noted that for people of normal weight, there is no need to lose weight. Because the weight is not as light as possible, too light weight will also affect the strength and stability of the joints.
For example, people who are too light are prone to osteoporosis, so the joints composed of bones are bound to be damaged in strength. Specific to the knee joint, osteoporosis will lead to a decrease in the strength of the subchondral bone on the medial tibial plateau. For example, if the foundation of a house is not strong, the cartilage on the surface of the subchondral bone will be unevenly stressed, which will lead to early cartilage degeneration.
The structure of the knee joint is complex. It consists of three bony structures: the distal end of the femur, the proximal end of the tibia, and the patella. The surface of the bony structure is covered with hyaline cartilage, which reduces friction and cushions stress. Femoro-tibial joint. There is a meniscus between the tibia and femur, which is a fibrocartilage pad that increases the contact area between the tibia and femur during activities, stabilizes the joint and distributes stress and reduces impact; there are also anterior cruciate ligaments and posterior cruciate ligaments , The two delicately cooperate to maintain the stability of the knee joint during the flexion and extension process. If these two ligaments are damaged or even broken, the knee joint will be unstable and accelerate the wear and aging of the joint. The proximal and distal ends of the patella are connected to the patellar and quadriceps tendons, respectively, and the medial and lateral collateral ligaments on either side of the knee.
One of the above structures is damaged or has insufficient degenerative strength, which will affect the stability of the knee joint, thereby accelerating the aging of the joint.
This cannot be changed. What we can do is try to avoid knee injury as much as possible. Once an injury is difficult to repair due to its complex structure, it is impossible to repair it completely, which will inevitably lead to a decrease in the stability and firmness of the joint, and the speed of joint aging will inevitably accelerate.
If you are injured, you need to fully recuperate and try to maximize the recovery of the joint, otherwise it will be more difficult to deal with the residual symptoms.
The state of the knee joint can only be described as “skinny”, without the protection of the muscles around it. Because there are no muscles around the knee joint, and structures such as skin ligaments and joint capsules are less thick, the knee joint is susceptible to cold.
Vasoconstriction after being caught in the cold will inevitably lead to a decrease in blood flow, resulting in insufficient supply of joints and surrounding structures. After joint wear and tear, metabolism cannot be repaired in time, which will lead to easy wear of articular cartilage and inflammation of synovial edema. Over time, irreversible damage to the knee joint is formed.
Some people say that Europeans, Americans, Russians, and Japanese don’t have the habit of wearing long johns, and their knee joints are not bad. In fact, there is some controversy about this horizontal comparison. The racial constitutions of Europeans and Americans and Russians are quite different from ours, and they are more resistant to cold; the Japanese have bare legs at all times since birth. Perhaps because of this early adaptation to the cold, the blood vessels of their knee joints also adapted to work in the cold without being constricted by the cold.
The knee joints of our people cannot tolerate the cold, so we must pay attention to keeping warm, especially as the joints age, we need to keep warm. This is actually the easiest part of joint care to do.
The articular cartilage in the knee joint is under tremendous pressure. Impact, friction, instability, synovitis and poor nutrition will affect the integrity of the cartilage. Over time, the cartilage will be chapped, peeled off, and missing. Once the cartilage is damaged to a certain extent, the cannot be regenerated.
The best way is to prevent damage to the articular cartilage, or to strengthen the articular cartilage. At present, there are drugs that supplement articular cartilage components in clinical practice, such as: glucosamine, chondroitin sulfate and keratan sulfate. It has a certain repairing effect when the articular cartilage is still healthy or slightly damaged. This repair is limited and varies from person to person.
After understanding what is the key to maintaining normal leg function, stick to what good habits to delay leg aging and improve the quality of life, which is the key to our next action.
To keep the legs healthy, you can usually massage them properly, especially before going to bed, to relax the muscles and keep the blood circulation of the legs good.
Many people stand for a long time due to work, and sometimes they sit still for a long time, which can easily affect the normal blood circulation of the lower limbs, and also make the muscles tense, and sometimes the legs and feet will be sore. By massaging this method, the local muscles can be kept in a relaxed state, and the blood circulation is good, so that nutrients, blood, etc. can be provided to the important muscles and tissues of the legs, and the local nutrition can meet the needs, so that the aging speed can be slow, and the legs can be slowed down at the same time. stay healthy.
To take good care of the legs, the legs are prone to soreness after exercise, and the local lactic acid accumulation may be improved by soaking the feet. Many people insist on exercising their legs. After exercising, they can make their muscles developed. The rich muscles in the legs can protect the bones and prevent the joints of the legs from being hurt. If you want to relieve local soreness, you can also achieve it by soaking your feet. During the foot soaking process, your legs will relax, blood circulation will speed up, lactic acid can be metabolized in time, and sleep quality can be improved after foot soaking.
People who practice legs every day should pay attention to keeping their legs warm. Many people go to outdoor activities to strengthen their leg muscles. However, during outdoor activities, the legs are exposed to the cold environment and may catch cold, which is not conducive to local Blood circulation has an impact on body maintenance. If you can pay attention to keeping warm in the process of leg training, dress correctly according to weather changes, not be stimulated by cold, and maintain normal local circulation, you can ensure the health of your legs.
Choose an exercise that suits you, enhance your physique during exercise, promote calorie consumption, and also allow your muscles to be exercised and developed. Many people’s joints or bones are injured because the muscles of the legs are underdeveloped, and the muscle content is too small to achieve the role of support and protection, and it is difficult for the legs to be healthy.
And through the correct way of exercise can enhance the strength of the leg muscles, while keeping the joints flexible, the legs will be healthy and young. Exercises such as familiar walking and running are helpful for leg health. Usually, you can also maintain your body through some physical activities and leg stretching actions, which can also keep your legs flexible and relaxed.
