For this week’s Therapy Talk, we are going to delve into the truth about your weight and how this can effect your knees.
How is body weight and my knees connected?
You may occasionally think about how your body weight can affect your knee pain, however you may not know how traumatic this effects you just by adding a few pounds to your body. Add body weight places an extra load on the joints that increases the stress the joint can handle. This also accelerates the breakdown of cartilage. But did you know that for every 1 pound of extra weight, the amount of force placed on the knee while walking can be up to 5 extra pounds? 10 pounds of added weight can make the knee feel the force of 50 pounds! Now multiply this by 1,000 steps a day and you are at a whopping 50,000 pounds of force on your knee!
No wonder the top 20 percentile for obesity has a 10 times the normal risk of knee osteoarthritis! Furthermore, just imagine walking down a hill versus walking on level ground. It can be even higher, up to 2-3 times the force. In fact, women who wear high heels are at a 23% greater risk according to studies conducted on knee pain.
What does this mean for me?
So as overweightness decreases, the development of osteoarthritis in the knee can greatly be reduced. For every 10 pounds of weight loss, those who were of average height lowered their risk by 50%. Researchers in a recent study at Duke demonstrated that a 10% reduction in body weight in elderly men decreased their risk by 20% and 32% for women.
Finally, when you are ready to contact someone in the Russellville, Dover, Little Rock areas, please give us a call at: (479) 331-3303 or come visit us at our location: 8952 Market Street, Suite 7b, Dover, AR 72837
We look forward to seeing you soon and have a great week.