Life is a long journey, joints must be protected

Author: Wang Wei, deputy chief physician, Peking Union Medical College Hospital

Reviewer: Lin Jin, Chief Physician, Peking Union Medical College Hospital

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When people reach middle age, they sometimes experience sore knees and knee pain after walking too much. As they age, this situation will become more and more obvious. Sometimes they can't take a step when they stand up after sitting for a long time, and they need to slow down before they can walk. Sometimes they will feel sore in the knees after walking for a long time, and even affect the calves, and they will have to rest for a while before they can walk. If these situations occur, you should pay attention, because it may be arthritis.

There are many types of arthritis. The most common is osteoarthritis caused by aging and degeneration of joints. It starts with occasional soreness and swelling, which gradually progresses to pain and weakness. When you really get old, you may find it difficult to go upstairs, go downstairs, squat, and your legs become bow-legged. When osteoarthritis reaches an extremely severe stage, you may even need surgery - "joint replacement". In order to avoid having to lie on the operating table, you can actually take measures to maintain and protect your joints from youth and middle age.

1. Keep warm, apply hot compresses appropriately, and protect your "old cold legs"

Our Chinese people prefer heat to cold, which is very different from other foreign races. It is also closely related to the environment in which we grew up, our diet and our living habits. So young people should not be greedy for coolness. When it is cold, they should stop showing off their "beautiful legs". In summer, they should also consider wearing long pants in a relatively cold air-conditioned room. People in middle age should pay special attention to this. Because coldness will reduce blood circulation around joints, it is not conducive to the supply of nutrients to collective tissues and the removal of harmful substances. So it is still reasonable to keep warm and avoid catching cold.

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Moreover, when the knees are uncomfortable due to the cold, in addition to adding clothes to keep warm, we can do the opposite, that is, hot compress. Hot compress is a very simple and easy treatment method. You don’t even need to go to the hospital. You can do it at home. And hot compress does not have to be restricted to a certain form. You can use hot water bottles, hot towels, warm treasures, electric blankets and other means. If conditions permit, you can also try to take a hot bath or hot spring. Hot compress may not be convenient when the weather is hot, but now we are gradually entering winter. Taking a reasonable hot compress method in the northern region is not only beneficial to the health and maintenance of the joints, but also makes people more comfortable.

Of course, there are certain precautions for hot compresses, because not everyone's arthritis is suitable for hot compresses, and some infectious arthritis is not suitable for hot compresses. In addition, patients with certain cardiovascular diseases may not be suitable for hot baths or hot springs. At the same time, because everyone's physique is different, although most people feel comfortable when applying hot compresses, there are indeed some people who feel that hot compresses have no effect, or even feel more uncomfortable, so you need to judge whether you need to apply hot compresses and whether you need to adhere to the hot compress treatment method based on your own physical feelings. One point that needs to be emphasized here is that we have seen some elderly patients in the past who felt that the effect was good after hot compresses, so they adjusted the temperature of the hot compress higher and higher until burns occurred. So please remember when applying hot compresses: too much is as bad as too little, and everything will be reversed at the extreme.

2. Choose exercises that suit you and improve local blood circulation

In addition to physical warmth and hot compresses, some reasonable exercises can also help improve local blood circulation. For example, you can gently massage the lower limb parts that feel uncomfortable, including the knee joints or calves. Another thing is to engage in reasonable physical activities and decide what kind of exercise to take according to your age and physical condition. From a relatively gentle walk to a slightly more intense bike ride, if your body can bear it, you can even try a more intense running exercise. Because everyone's physical condition and previous exercise foundation are different, even for the same person, the intensity of exercise that can be tolerated at different times is different, so there is no universal standard for exercise mode, but everyone should choose an appropriate exercise method according to their own physical conditions, and decide whether this exercise method and intensity are suitable for them based on their body's feedback.

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Simply put, if you feel nothing after exercise, it means that this exercise method is safe. If you feel uncomfortable after exercise, but you can get rid of it immediately after a rest, it means that this is the ceiling of what your body can bear. If you feel soreness and pain after exercise for a long time and cannot be relieved, it means that the current exercise mode and exercise volume far exceed your body's tolerance. Long-term adherence to such exercise will do more harm than good. Special attention should be paid to weight-bearing exercises on the ground, including running, skipping rope, squats, climbing stairs, etc. These exercises can certainly help increase muscle strength, but at the same time, the burden on the knee joints may be heavier, so these exercise methods should be carefully selected.

3. Balance nutrition and beware of partial eclipse

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Although there are so-called folk remedies and secrets such as "what you eat replenishes what you need" and "like replenishes like", in fact, in the theoretical system of Western medicine, there is no type of food that is specifically used to supplement the nutrition of the knee joint. So just make a balanced daily dietary supplement, that is, to evenly distribute necessary nutrients such as protein, vitamins, and cellulose in home-cooked dishes. The main sources of protein are various plant proteins and animal proteins. The most common sources of plant protein include various bean products. The main sources of animal protein include various lean meats, seafood, etc. The sources of vitamins are very wide, and the most common ones are the various fruits we eat. Cellulose is also an indispensable nutrient for us, and its main sources include various coarse grains and vegetables. The folk belief that bones and joints can be supplemented by drinking bone soup has not been supported by sufficient data in the clinical practice of Western medicine.

As ordinary people, we should be especially wary of the habit of "partial eating", because partial eating will lead to the lack of unique nutrients in certain types of food. Therefore, as ordinary people, we don't necessarily have to know what nutrients a certain food contains and how much it contains. The important thing is to have a balanced diet. Even if you don't like a food, you should eat a small amount every year, so that it is not easy to lack nutrients. The other extreme of partial eating is to eat the things you like every day and every meal. This is also wrong, because it will lead to an excess of nutrients in the food, which cannot be absorbed. Not only is it a waste, but excessive consumption of certain ingredients in certain foods may even cause harm to the human body.

4. Rational use of health products and medicines

With the improvement of people's living standards in my country, health care products have gradually appeared in the public's field of vision. When choosing health care products, you should pay special attention to the instructions of health care products, because the instructions of regular health care products have been reviewed and approved by relevant national institutions and departments, and they cover the scope of application and precautions of health care products. It should also be noted that some elderly people have been clearly diagnosed with arthritis, and health care products cannot be used instead of medicines at this time. You should still go to a regular medical institution for treatment and receive reasonable and standardized treatment.

As the world gradually enters an aging society, arthritis has gradually become one of the health killers, threatening the people's life and happiness. The strategy of starting early, starting from young people, and preventing diseases before they occur can help people stay away from hospitals and doctors as much as possible and embrace a healthy, happy and joyful life.