"The joints age before the person does"! 5 bad habits that accelerate joint aging!

How old are your joints this year? In the past, degenerative arthritis was considered a disease of the middle-aged and elderly. However, in recent years, clinical findings have shown that more and more people are experiencing "joint aging before the body", suffering from joint pain and soreness at a young age. Dai Dawei, attending physician of the Department of Orthopedics at National Cheng Kung University Hospital, believes that this is closely related to the five bad habits in life that accelerate joint aging!

Beware of these 5 bad habits that will accelerate the aging of your joints!

What are the common symptoms of degenerative knee arthritis?

Degenerative arthritis refers to a condition in which long-term exposure to gravity causes joint cartilage to wear away, subchondral bone to thicken, joints to deform, and joints to lose elasticity, resulting in inflammation of the joints, which limits movement and affects daily life. Among the patients seeking clinical treatment, degenerative knee arthritis is the most common. Patients are often unable to squat or go up and down stairs due to joint pain and deformation. As long as they move or stand for too long, they will immediately feel pain and soreness in the knees and suffer terribly.

Dai Dawei, attending physician of the Department of Orthopedics at National Cheng Kung University Hospital, said that according to statistics, people are likely to suffer from degenerative knee arthritis when they enter middle age, and the incidence rate increases with age. The incidence rate after the age of 50 is about 20% to 30%, and it can be as high as 70% when people are 70 or 80 years old.

5 bad habits that harm your joints

However, clinical studies in recent years have found that modern people generally have a tendency to prematurely age their joints. Many young and middle-aged people often complain of joint pain and weak knees before they reach the age of 40. What exactly is the reason why these people's "joint aging clock" speeds up? Based on his personal experience in diagnosis and treatment, Dr. Dai Dawei has summarized the following five bad habits in life and called on the public to establish correct concepts so that they can enjoy good health without being "stuck".

Bad Habit 1: Lack of Exercise

Some people have the misconception that the more you exercise, the more likely your knees will wear out. In fact, just like a car that has been driven for a long time, its parts will wear out, but don’t forget that if the car has not been driven for too long, even the engine may not start! Many studies have shown that marathon runners are the people whose joints are most overloaded in the world, but compared with the average person, they are less likely to suffer from joint degeneration. The key lies in solid lower limb muscle strength, especially thigh muscle strength.

Dr. Dai Dawei explained that strong lower limb muscle strength helps maintain joint stability and reduce injury or wear. As long as people do more exercises to strengthen their lower limb muscles, it will have a certain protective effect on the knee joints. In addition, during exercise, the synovial membrane of the joints will produce more lubricating fluid, which is equivalent to natural hyaluronic acid, and is also a good and simple way to maintain the joints.

As for what sport to choose? The most important thing is to do what you can. Patients with knee joint degeneration must choose sports according to their own physical condition and pain conditions, with the principle of not aggravating pain. For the elderly, it is recommended to do more moderate exercises such as walking, cycling, swimming, Tai Chi or aerobics.

Bad Habit 2: Allowing Weight to Get Out of Control

According to statistics, obese patients with a BMI of more than 30 are seven times more likely to suffer from degenerative arthritis than normal people. Dr. Dai Dawei said that the knee joints bear forces several times their body weight every day. If they are too heavy and do not have good muscle support, they will easily wear out. Biomechanical research shows that when we stand, the knee joint bears a weight almost equal to our body weight, 4 times our body weight when walking on flat ground, 7 times our body weight when climbing, and 15 times our actual body weight when jumping.

Therefore, for every 5 kg weight lost by an overweight person, the burden on the knee joints when walking will be reduced by 20 kg, and the load when jumping can be reduced by up to 75 kg! In addition, studies have also shown that patients with knee degeneration can reduce knee pain by more than half by losing 15 pounds (about 7 kilograms). This shows that "weight control" is definitely one of the most important ways to delay knee degeneration!

Bad Habit 3: Sugary Food Addiction

Excessive intake of sugar and starch will eventually be converted into fat and stored in the body. Moreover, after taking in sugar, the insulin level in the blood will rise rapidly, which will not only convert the sugar into oil and store it in the liver and fat cells, but also make you more likely to feel hungry at the next meal, forming a vicious cycle and eventually leading to obesity. In addition, sugar is a pro-inflammatory substance in the body, which can easily make already inflamed joints worse.

From this we can see that to control weight, controlling sugar and starch intake is far more important than controlling fat intake. In this regard, Dr. Dai Dawei shared his personal healthy eating pattern, which is actually the so-called "CrossFit block diet". He recommends: taking in enough meat protein, vegetables, nuts, seeds and some fruits, a small amount of starch, and not eating refined processed sugars.

Bad Habit 4: Superstitious belief in health foods

Taiwanese people love to eat health foods, and believe that eating is enough to maintain joints. However, according to the analysis of evidence-based medical literature by the American Orthopaedic Association (the most prestigious organization in the orthopaedic field), and after expert discussion, the latest "Guidelines for the Treatment of Osteoarthritis of the Knee, Second Edition" explicitly recommends not to use health foods containing glucosamine and chondroitin to treat degenerative knee arthritis, because "many studies have confirmed that these health foods have no therapeutic effect."

However, if you still insist on taking glucosamine and chondroitin to give it a try, that’s fine! Doctors say that this type of health food does not have much harm at present and is considered safe, but people should not expect too much from its effectiveness or delay proper medical treatment. In addition to taking health foods, controlling weight and exercising moderately are even more important!

Bad Habit 5: Ignoring Joint Injuries

It is not exercise but sports injuries that may cause joint degeneration! Clinically, it is found that most athletes with early joint degeneration have a history of sports injuries. Therefore, it is recommended that people deal with sports injuries correctly as soon as they occur. Only through adequate rest and protection, and receiving correct treatment, can the chance of sequelae be minimized. In addition, other joint injuries such as intra-articular fractures and ligament and tendon injuries caused by car accidents and falls may also accelerate joint degeneration. People should not take it lightly and should follow the doctor's advice for treatment and rehabilitation.