Can't eat bananas if you have arthritis? Debunking 4 myths about joint protection

Joints are one of the important tissues for body activities. In outpatient clinics, the most common knee disease is osteoarthritis, which is divided into primary degenerative arthritis and secondary arthritis (such as rheumatoid arthritis) according to different pathogenic mechanisms. Although the pathogenic mechanisms are different, they both affect the body's mobility. Many people have myths about protecting joints, such as: "Can taking glucosamine protect my joints?", "Can't I eat bananas if I have arthritis symptoms?" Let's listen to professional doctors explain in detail.

Li Zhongqian, director of the Department of General Orthopedics and Sports Medicine at New Taipei City United Medical College, pointed out that as the weather turns cooler in autumn, people are more likely to suffer from back pain and joint pain, especially the elderly. Due to the drastic changes in the weather, their joints are prone to dull pain that varies from time to time, making the body like a weather station, seriously affecting the quality of life.

Knee injury affects mobility

The knee joint is the most vulnerable joint in the body. From an anatomical analysis, the muscles around the knee joint are weak, and the lever formed by the upper and lower bones is long, bearing 86% of the body's weight. Therefore, the knee joint is most vulnerable to injury during exercise. If it is affected by external force or aging, the body's mobility will be further impaired.

Clinically, knee injuries can be divided into "symptomatic" and "asymptomatic". The so-called "symptoms" mainly refer to knee pain during activities or weight-bearing, especially when going up and down stairs, climbing slopes, squatting or kneeling, as well as limited knee joint mobility, which makes it impossible to fully bend or straighten the knee. In addition, patients may feel stiffness after sitting or standing for a long time, or after waking up, and sometimes the knee joint may even accumulate fluid and swell.

Protect your joints and break four myths

In fact, protecting joints starts with dispelling myths. There are four common myths in outpatient clinics, which are:

Myth 1: Can taking glucosamine help protect your joints?

• The main function of glucosamine is to stimulate chondrocytes to produce collagen and proteoglycans, which helps to repair damaged cartilage tissue and enable the cartilage to absorb sufficient joint lubricating fluid to maintain joint health. Simply put, it mainly replenishes the lost cartilage. However, there is currently no medical evidence that taking glucosamine can help restore bone growth in worn joints.

Myth 2: Eating more gelatinous pig's trotters can protect joints?

• Eating pig's trotters to nourish joints is a traditional concept of "like cures like", which is basically one of the myths. Studies have found that although pig's feet contain a lot of gelatin, it has not been proven to be directly helpful for joints. If you consume too much, the excess amino acids will be metabolized by the body to produce nitrogenous waste, which will increase the burden on the kidneys.

Myth 3: Can’t eat bananas if you have arthritis symptoms?

• There is currently no literature at home or abroad that directly confirms the popular saying that "bananas hurt bones and muscles." Even athletes whose joints are worn out more than the average person can eat bananas. In addition to providing high calories and being easy to carry, bananas can also provide rich potassium, which helps balance electrolytes in the body.

Myth 4: Arthritis patients should not eat seafood?

• Generally, those who are forbidden to eat seafood, offal, and hot pot soup are gout patients, not all arthritis patients, because these foods contain purine, which can cause the body to absorb too much purine and lead to hyperuricemia, causing uric acid sodium to be deposited in the joint cavity, which can easily cause gouty arthritis. Therefore, they should avoid eating high-purine foods such as animal offal, beans, fish skin, mushrooms, bamboo shoots, beer, etc. Other types of arthritis do not have this taboo.

Dr. Li Zhongqian emphasized that taking good care of the knees, including a balanced diet and regular exercise, can delay joint degeneration. There are four bad habits in life that can harm the knee joints, so people should not take them lightly.

[Avoid joint injuries and beware of 4 major landmines]

1. Squat, kneel, cross-legged

• Although the knee joint is a weight-bearing joint, kneeling or squatting makes the knee bear a load of up to 20 times the body weight, causing frequent dull pain and tissue inflammation in the kneecap area.

• Recommendation: The elderly or people with knee injuries should avoid squatting. It is best to choose a sit-down toilet when going to the toilet, with handrails nearby for support, and try to stand up as slowly as possible.

2. Climb stairs

• Although climbing stairs helps enhance cardiopulmonary function and burns calories, it is a weight-bearing exercise. The joints below the waist have to bear the weight of the whole body, especially the knees, which bear the most weight.

• Recommendation: It is best to climb in sections and take a break after climbing half a floor. If a housewife buys a lot of vegetables to carry home, or moves furniture, it is best to move it in batches, with a limit of 5 kilograms per trip, to reduce knee injuries.

3. Hiking

• When climbing a mountain, the weight borne by the knees is about 2 to 3 times the body weight when going uphill and 5 to 7 times the body weight when going downhill. Therefore, it is easy to cause the cartilage of the knees to wear out due to excessive use, leading to knee arthritis.

• Recommendation: Choose low-tension, partial weight-bearing aerobic exercises, such as cycling and swimming. You can train more muscles such as the quadriceps on the front of the thigh and the biceps on the back of the thigh to increase the stability of the knee joint and reduce joint wear. At the same time, you must do enough warm-up before exercise and stretching to cool down after exercise to avoid acute strain or sprain of the knee.

4. Uncontrolled weight

• Maintaining a normal weight is an important way to protect your knees. Degenerative arthritis is usually common in women aged 50 to 55, and men over 55, especially in the elderly over 65, especially those who are obese, have osteoporosis, or have suffered joint injuries.

• Recommendation: Lose weight to keep your body mass index (BMI) between 18.5 and 24. If you need to lift heavy objects at work, or have injured your knees during sports, it is recommended that you use knee braces under the guidance of a rehabilitation physician or physical therapist to reduce the risk of joint injuries.