In today’s era of increasing demand for bone health knowledge, if you hear family members or friends mention joint pain in daily life, you should pay attention to it, as it be the mischief of bone and joint diseases. And as a common disease in orthopedics, the harm of osteoarthritis should not be underestimated. In fact, early changes of the human joint begin as early as 20 to 30 years old, and by the time symptoms appear at 40 to 50 years old it is often too late to pay attention. Knee joints, hip joints, hand joints, ankle joints and other parts of the human body are prone to bone and joint diseases, the symptoms of each part are different. 

How to judge osteoarthritis and related examinations

Osteoarthritis has long been a neglected disease, considered normal manifestation of aging, and has not received enough attention from patients. So, how to judge osteoarthritis? What examinations do we need to do? The typical symptoms ofoarthritis include slight joint pain, stiffness, and discomfort in the early stage, sometimes accompanied by joint swelling; gradually, there is pain when sitting and getting up and taking the step, the symptoms are relieved after walking a certain distance, but the pain will reappear when walking too long or going up and down stairs; in the late stage of the disease the joint is deformed, it is difficult to squat and get up, and acute inflammatory manifestations may occur in the event of strenuous activity or exposure to cold.

The reasons for the increasing youth of osteoarthritis

1.Modern people generally lack exercise, and high-intensity and excessive exercise will increase the burden on the joints. For example, excessive walking or going up and down hills, climbing mountains, will increase the pressure on the pat joint, and the patellar cartilage is prone to problems after long-term friction. Continuous excessive exercise can also aggravate the original slight injuries and cause joint pain, even may trigger arthritis.

2.The change of dietary structure has led to an increasing number of young patients with gout.

3.Long-term desk work, sitting a long time, standing for a long time, long-term air conditioning, young people do not pay attention to joint warmth, is also one of the main reasons for the increasing of arthritis.

Precautions for protecting joints

1.Appropriate calcium supplementation: actively treat diseases such as osteoporosis, endocrineities, etc., and take enough calcium supplements, which can reduce the formation of bone spurs and reduce the wear of articular cartilage.

2.Maintain posture: avoid facing the computer for a long time, prevent the cervical spine, lumbar spine and knee joints from working in a fixed posture for a long time. You should move, especially for the correct exercise of joints. At the same time, avoid standing for a long time, walking for a long time, especially avoid standing and walking with heavy weights, as not to aggravate knee joint damage.

3.Lose weight: Losing weight can reduce the burden of the knee joint. Excessive weight will increase the load the weight-bearing joints of the body, making the articular cartilage excessively damaged and overworked, and then causing bone spurs. For people who are overweight, weight loss can prevent osteophytes in the spine and joints.

4.Pay attention to warmth: Do not “freeze” for beauty, do not wear short skirts to your knees in cold weather, and do not wear too thin clothes. Cold can cause and aggravate the condition.

5.Choose the right exercise method: Advocate beneficial activities such as exercise under non-weight-bearing or less weight-bearing conditions, walking, jogging, cycling, swimming, etc. In a popular sense, it is to exercise knee joint in a sitting position, supine position, prone position, plus less than half the weight of the body.

This not only exercises the knee joint, but also helps protect the joint by strengthening the support of muscles, tendons and ligaments, while avoiding the damage caused by weight-bearing exercise of the knee joint.