Heavy-lifting bad for knees
.jpg?w=728)
By Song Sang-ho
Korea's grandparents mention that they tend to have more severe knee joint pain during rainy days.
If you are Korean, you might have heard the following expression at least once.
“It looks like it's going to rain. My knees are aching.”
Actually, when elderly people complain about joint pain, that day tends to become overcast or rainy.
The complaints of the elderly are well grounded.
This is because pain is intensified when nerves distributed in a synovial sheath inside the joint is stimulated as the internal pressure of the joint increases as there is low atmospheric pressure when the rainy season begins.
In the case of tissue with existing inflammation, the symptoms can be exacerbated with more swelling.
Poor blood circulation due to low pressure can cause aching symptoms.
Since body moisture cannot evaporate and left in the body due to the rising humidity, it can increase the swelling and pain in the joints.
In order to reduce or prevent knee joint pain during the rainy season, you need to avoid direct exposure of the joint to wind from an air conditioner.
It is good to immerse the joint in warm water or apply a warm poultice. In addition, since this is closely related to humidity, it is important to maintain the proper temperature and humidity.
If you cannot go out or perform activities, the pain can become rather severe as the muscles and bones around the joint can become weakened due to a lack of exercise.
When this happens, it is desirable to steadily carry out exercise indoors such as light gymnastics, stretching, indoor cycling and so forth.
If joint pain continues in spite of these efforts, I recommend treatment in hospital.
If patients are unable to sleep due to severe knee pain or have difficulty carrying out daily life, cartilage damage, which requires specialized treatment, should be suspected.
Since the above symptoms are typically those of the final stage of degenerative arthritis, they require the treatment like artificial joint surgery.
The surgery is a treatment method that reduces pain and restores functions by removing the damaged knee joint and inserting an artificial joint.
The method that is recently receiving the most attention has the advantage of faster recovery and lowered the risk of complications by minimizing the incision area using the “minimum incision surgery” that preserves muscles and tendons.
This is because this operation not only reduces bleeding, pain and scar marks but also shortens the recuperation period by reducing unnecessary muscle and ligament damage using an incision of less than 8c.m.
In addition, since the surgery takes only around one hour and enables a quick rehabilitation and early return to daily life, it has high patient satisfaction.
Walking for rehabilitation is possible just four hours after the surgery and independent walking is possible five days after the operation.
Such early rehabilitation not only prevents muscle weakness around the joint and improves athleticism but also helps to increase the flexibility of the joint by preventing soft tissue synechia at the surgical site.
In addition, it enables patients to have confidence in their recovery and acts positively during convalescence.
Ahead of the full-blown rainy season, those who are concerned about joint pain heave a long sigh.
However, it can be prevented with temperature and humidity control as well as steady motion.
Furthermore, since mild to moderate knee pain can often be successfully treated, please continue to check your joint state.
If you postpone treatment thinking that it might be all right after the rainy season, it may lead to no choice but artificial joint surgery.
The writer is the president of Wellton Bone and Joint Hospital.