Degenerative arthritis refers to the wear of articular cartilage, thickening of the subchondral bone, deformation of the joint, loss of elasticity, and joint inflammation, resulting in limited activity and affecting daily life. Degenerative knee arthritis is the most common among patients seeking treatment.

According to statistics, after the middle age, "degenerative knee arthritis" may occur, and the older the age, the higher the incidence rate, the incidence after the age of 50 is about 20~30%, to seven or eight When you are ten years old, you can be as high as 70%. As for the cause, it is closely related to age, gender, weight, and occupation. Women have twice as many degenerative knee arthritis as men.

The typical symptom of degenerative knee arthritis is that patients often complain of knee pain, joint stiffness, deformation, enlargement, thickening, and even redness, and sometimes joint activity can cause noise, joint activity is limited, and so on. The most common complaints of patients are the inability to squat (especially the difficulty of getting up and down stairs). Often the patient's activity or standing for too long, the pain will be sore and the symptoms will become increasingly obvious and unable to walk.

6 major risk factors
The cause of degenerative arthritis is unknown. Most people previously thought that the disease was caused by excessive use of the articular cartilage, but this did not happen in all patients. Some people work in agriculture for a lifetime or do heavy work, but the joints are healthy. Some people work in the office, but they have not retired but have already had joint deterioration. Although we don't know the exact cause, some of them are risk factors we already know:

Gene, which is physique. This is a fact that cannot be changed by birth. Some people's chondrocytes are more prone to aging, and the cartilage layer is more prone to wear.

Age and gender. The older you are, the higher your chance of joint deterioration. And women are more than men, which may be related to hormones, but the exact cause is unknown.

Obes. Obese people are at a much higher risk of knee joint degeneration than normal-weight people, about seven times more likely.
Lower limb alignment. Not everyone's feet are straight. The O-leg will make the inside of the knee more wearable, and the X-leg will increase the force on the outside of the knee and wear the cartilage.

Sports injuries. Some people also have misunderstandings that excessive exercise can cause joint deterioration, but it is not. If the movement causes joint deterioration, the worst joint is definitely a marathon runner. In fact, according to statistics, marathon runners are less likely to suffer from degenerative arthritis than when they are old. What causes joint deterioration is not the movement itself, but "sport injuries" such as ligament rupture and meniscus injury. Therefore, it is necessary to properly handle sports injuries to avoid the sequelae of arthritis in the future.
Unexpected injury. A fracture caused by an accidental injury may change the force of the joint, subject the joint to uneven pressure and accelerate cartilage wear. In addition, if the fracture breaks all the way to the joint surface, causing unevenness, it will also accelerate cartilage wear. The best way to avoid "post-traumatic degenerative arthritis" is to reset the displaced bones as soon as possible.

Overview of the above risk factors, genes, age, gender, and lower limb alignment are not something we can change. But "control weight to avoid overweight", "avoid and properly deal with joint damage" is the direction we can work hard.

The author of this article is: Da Dawei, Department of Orthopaedics, Chengda Hospital (Orthopaedic Surgeon, Bone Quality Loosing Specialist, Doctor of Medical Engineering, CrossFit Level 1 Sports Coach, Specialization: Degenerative Arthritis, Osteoporosis, Minimally Invasive Artificial Joint Surgery). The relevant content is for reference only and does not constitute a therapeutic recommendation.
Article from: https://bonedavid.com/1923/