Long Johns Calling! Will Not Wearing Long Johns Cause Arthritis? The Truth Is…

The cold wave has been coming in force in recent days, and temperatures have dropped sharply in various places.

The older generation often says, "If you don't wear long johns now, you will get arthritis when you get old!" Is this true? Do you wear long johns? Follow Jiang Jiang and Su Su to talk about long johns and arthritis!

Will you get arthritis if you don’t wear long underwear?

Long Johns: I won’t take the blame for this!

What is arthritis? Arthritis in medicine includes a large category of joint diseases. It refers to inflammatory diseases that occur in human joints and surrounding tissues and are caused by inflammation, infection, degeneration, trauma or other factors.

The arthritis that we usually talk about is called osteoarthritis in the strict medical sense.

Known risk factors for osteoarthritis include:

Advanced age

obesity

Estrogen deficiency

Abnormal bone density (osteoporosis and osteosclerosis)

Excessive exercise

Smoking

Vitamin D deficiency

Mechanical factors such as trauma, abnormal joint morphology, etc.

There is no direct cause of arthritis due to the cold.

In other words, not wearing long underwear will not cause arthritis. But some people may have personal experience that joint pain occurs after catching a cold. What is the reason for this?

This symptom does exist, but there is no definite scientific explanation. Studies have shown that:

On the one hand, the sensitivity of the joint soft tissue will increase when it is stimulated by cold, which will lower the pain threshold and aggravate the pain. On the other hand, the blood vessels around the joints will contract when they are exposed to cold, which will lead to poor blood circulation, accumulation of inflammatory factors and acidic substances in the blood, which cannot be cleared in time and will cause pain.

We often realize that we are sick because of the pain, and naturally think that it is arthritis caused by cold, but we ignore that the joint disease has actually existed for a long time.

To sum up: cold itself cannot cause arthritis, but it will aggravate the pain of arthritis patients.

Exposing your legs and ankles without any pain? NO!

Because the weather is cold, if you do not pay attention to keeping your joints warm, it may increase the chance of accidental injury, cause indirect harm, or cause joint burden to a certain extent.

So, you still have to wear long johns when it’s time to do so.

Is arthritis a disease of the elderly?

No, no, no! Young people should also pay attention to prevention

My mother used to say, "If you don't wear long johns, you'll get arthritis when you get old!"

Here we fall into another misunderstanding : "Arthritis is an old age disease, young people will not get it!"

As mentioned above, arthritis is a broad category with many types, some of which are more common in the elderly and some in the young. We cannot assume that only the elderly will get arthritis. Therefore, young people should also take precautions.

How to prevent arthritis?

1. Avoid excessive wear and tear on joints. Reduce activities that are harmful to joints, such as mountain climbing, climbing stairs, and walking with weights. Excessive exercise frequency can also have a negative impact, accelerate the wear of knee cartilage, and lead to knee arthritis. It is recommended to choose walking on flat ground, running, swimming, etc.

2. Try not to carry weight. You can do some exercises to increase muscle strength. Strong muscles can relieve joint pressure and reduce joint wear and damage.

3. Eat a healthy diet, control your weight, and have a healthy lifestyle. Overnutrition and obesity can induce or aggravate osteoarthritis.

Can people with arthritis still exercise?

Listen to the doctor!

Some people think that if you have arthritis you can’t exercise. Is this true?

This depends on the doctor. Generally, if the joints are red, swollen, hot and painful due to injury, and are in the acute stage of joint inflammation, it is recommended to reduce exercise and take proper rest; but if it is not traumatic, it is recommended to do reasonable and moderate exercise under the guidance of medical staff, which is beneficial to joint recovery.

Reasonable physical exercise can help relieve the pain caused by arthritis, but long-term inactivity of the joints will gradually become stiff, muscles will atrophy, and movement will become increasingly restricted.

When exercising, pay attention to the following points:

Appropriate amount of exercise. Pay attention to increasing the range of motion of the joints .

Necessary warm-up . Choose to warm up slowly, march in place, or stretch your muscles to do a good job of warming up.

You should proceed step by step. The intensity and duration of exercise should be gradually increased, and you should not rush it.

In addition, I won't elaborate on rheumatism and rheumatoid arthritis here, but you have heard a lot of advertisements about them, which are often fake advertisements of folk remedies and secret recipes. Please don't believe them. When you need to treat an illness, remember to go to a local regular hospital, follow the doctor's advice, and persist in treatment.