Hello,
Thanks for your query at DoctorSpring.com
I understand your concern
Osteoarthritis is leading cause of knee replacement surgeries. Age-related wear and tear and destruction of joint cartilages and obesity are common causes of osteoarthritis.
It is good that you are living a healthy lifestyle. Exercise would help to shed extra weight. Cycling, swimming, walking (not running) are good exercises to strengthen muscles around your joints. I would advise avoiding running to prevent joint damage.
I would also advice
1. to avoid cross leg posture or sitting on the floor.
2.Do quadriceps strengthening exercises. You may learn them from a physiotherapist.
3.Doing non-weight bearing range of movement exercises are helpful in this.
4.Slow pace reverse walking has also been shown very good results in this.
5.Take some supplements like glucosamine.It has shown good results in this.
Also, you can use knee braces to support knee joints with the prescription of your doctor. Try taking plenty of vegetables, fruits and fibres in your diet.
Hope it helps
Feel free to discuss further.
Regards
Patient replied :
Thank you. There's good information in your answer. I didn't know that sitting cross legged is bad for my knees. I do it all the time. I even cross my legs lying in bed. I'll work on stopping it. It's also interesting about walking in reverse. That's completely new to me. I'll look into it.
I do have a question about knee braces. It seems to me that for most people, a brace would actually weaken the knee because it's reducing how much the muscles are being exercised. I'm striving to strengthen myself. It seems to me that a brace would be productive only in cases where the knee was seriously damaged or where the person is very overweight. Am I correct?
I'm not overweight yet (5' 10", 165lbs) and hope to reduce my weight as I increase the intensity of my exercise. I eat a very healthy diet with lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, low saturated fat, few processed foods, lots of fiber (including nuts and psyllium) and salmon 3-4 times per week.
I've begun taking Glucasomine and am looking into quadriceps strenghtening exercises.
Completely eliminating running will be difficult, however. Few things feel better than running on mountain trails.
Thank you for your advice.
Welcome.
Yes,you are right knee braces should not be worn without reason.These are generally prescribed in case of knee instability or when there are problem with malaligned patella as in chondromalacia in some cases.
You are doing good by taking good and nutritious diet.
I wish you best for your health.