What are the preventive measures for arthritis?

The core of arthritis prevention is actually to reduce additional wear and tear on joints and improve their own tolerance. There is no one-size-fits-all solution, and there is no such thing as a certain type of food that can completely avoid arthritis. Different groups of people have very different priorities for prevention. I have been teaching bone and joint health in a community health service center for almost six years, and I have met too many patients who did not have to suffer from inflammation.

Last week at the free clinic, I met a 47-year-old Aunt Zhang, who is 1.56 meters tall and weighs almost 140 pounds. I heard on the Internet that trampoline exercise is fast at burning fat. She danced for forty minutes every day. After only three months, her knees began to become stiff and sore, and she had a faint pain when going up and down stairs. The signs of early cartilage wear can already be seen in the X-ray. It’s not difficult to understand. When walking on a flat road, the weight endured by the knees is 2-3 times the body weight, and when running and jumping, it directly increases to 6 times. The excess weight is like walking with half a bag of rice on the shoulders every day, and the joint cartilage is extra ground every day. It is not surprising that it is not bad. For people with a body mass index over 24, even if they lose only 5 pounds, the pressure on their knees can be greatly reduced. This is really the cheapest and most effective prevention method.

In addition to weight loss, small movements in daily life are also quietly wearing down your joints. Don't always think that "you can do whatever you want when you are young." Nowadays, many young people in their twenties like to squat on the ground to unpack express delivery, sit on a low sofa and play games all afternoon, and there are also girls who wear 8cm high heels for commuting all year round. These postures will put the joints in an abnormal state of stress, and they will not feel it for a short period of time. Over the past three to five years, the cartilage wear rate is more than twice as fast as that of people who maintain a normal posture.

Speaking of this, someone must ask, who should listen to the debate about whether exercise hurts joints that has been debated on the Internet for several years? In fact, both sides of the argument make sense: for people who sit for long periods of time, the muscles around the joints are weak, and their ability to wrap and protect the joints is poor. If you move even a little bit, the cartilage will be easily worn. ； But it’s not okay to exercise blindly, such as sprinting for a half-marathon without warming up, or doing high-intensity aerobics every day, which will definitely put a burden on the joints. I once met a 28-year-old young man who ran 10 kilometers every day in order to lose weight. He was diagnosed with patellofemoral arthritis after running for two months. Later, he switched to swimming and walking faster, combined with muscle training, and he recovered in half a year. Generally speaking, sports such as swimming, brisk walking on flat roads, and cycling that place little pressure on joints can exercise the surrounding muscles and truly protect the joints.

There is another misunderstanding that people often ask: Will catching cold cause arthritis? In fact, simple cold itself will not directly induce arthritis, but for people with joint discomfort, or basic diseases such as gout and rheumatoid, cold will worsen local blood circulation and prevent inflammatory metabolites from being discharged, and the pain will be particularly obvious. So wearing kneepads when riding an electric bike in winter is really not an IQ tax. Don’t expose your ankles and knees just to look good. It’s not a crime.

As for whether ammonia sugar and chondroitin, which are very popular nowadays, can prevent arthritis? The current clinical research conclusion is that eating it for people who have already experienced early cartilage wear and occasional joint soreness does help to improve it. Ordinary people who are completely healthy have no preventive effect after eating it. There is no need to follow the trend and stock up on a lot of health supplements.

In fact, many people wait until their joints hurt so much that they can no longer squat or walk before they think of coming to the hospital. There is really no need. If occasionally knee pain occurs when going up and down stairs, there is a popping sound when the joints move, or the pain persists for a long time after catching a cold, don't carry it on your own and don't buy painkillers blindly. See a doctor first. Early wear and tear can be cured by adjusting your living habits and cooperating with some physical therapy. If you delay surgery in the later stage, you will suffer a lot.