If you have suffered injury even if it isn’t severe, you need to take note that this can compromise a joint over time and lead to premature cartilage wear and weakening. Usually a joint is often destabilized due to injury, unconsciously we tend to adjust and accommodate for it while walking. This isn’t good for us because the affected joint will no longer be aligned properly and will speed up the wear in the cartilage more quickly due to the pressure isn’t distributed evenly at the joint point.
For acute injury, it can undermine the joint (e.g. damage to the anterior cruciate ligament) with more acute problems (e.g. ripping in the knee’s meniscus). People with acute injury will experience painful joints as a result of the biomechanical stresses arising from the injury. Acute injury can be happened from say a rough landing, a crooked step off a high curb or a direct blow to a joint and so on.
Joints ache is common for people who are obese and obesity is the contributing factor causing joint problems. The excess body weight will add significant pressure to the cartilage (note: according to studies, the impact is about seven times of the body weight), particularly on our knees and hips. With time, the cartilage will become damaged and begin to break down more quickly. Can you imagine what is going to happen if we gained 10 pounds but with our knees burdened with 70 more pounds of pressure!
Joint pain can also be caused by autoimmune disorders. This is a situation when our body immune system attacks the healthy cells in the synovium (note: Synovium is the soft tissue lining the joints that produces synovial fluid to lubricate and nourish the cartilage and bones inside the joint capsule). The attack will trigger inflammation causing debilitating joint pain. An autoimmune disorder is often associated with rheumatoid arthritis.
Wear and tear is something that can’t be avoided. This often causes thinning of the cartilage in our joints, notably in our hands, knees and hips. Wear and tear also known as osteoarthritis and is the most common form of arthritis.
Best,
Tan Kok Hui
Nutrition Made Simple, Life Made Rich
