5 Tips On How To Prevent Knee Pain In Old Age
Your knees handle a lot of weight and are responsible for your ability to get around effectively. In addition, knees contain many moving parts, ranging from ligaments and cartilage to muscles and bones. One of these can become damaged either from injury or wear and tear as you age, making it difficult to stay more active and perform even your routine activities.
Fortunately, Dr. Tushar Ubale is an expert in joint preventive care and offers the following tips to help and protect the knee joints with age:
Diet
Inflammation can easily damage your joints, and daily diet plays an important role in managing your body’s inflammation. Processed foods, often made with flour, oil, and sugar, are a major culprit in inflammation. In addition, a diet high in dairy, meat, and eggs can also lead to high inflammation.
Try an anti-inflammatory diet with lots of fruits and vegetables, whole grains, beans, fish, and at least eight glasses of water daily. Some particularly anti-inflammatory foods include onions, garlic, shallots, and leeks.
Try supplements
Our grandmothers had the right idea about taking cod liver oil. Cartilage is important in preventing bones from rubbing together, which may create the need for joint replacement.
Several studies show that another supplement, SAM-e can reduce joint inflammation and may also repair injured cartilage in various cases.
Other natural supplements that can be used as a remedy for knee pain in old age and found in health food stores and some pharmacies include:
- Turmeric
- Bromelain
- Tart cherry juice
- Boswellia
Maintain a healthy weight
Every time you stand or walk, your weight stresses your joints, especially your knees. If overweight or obese, you’re much more likely to damage the cartilage between your joints, resulting in joint pain.
If you’re only 4.5 kg overweight, you’re putting 18.1 kg of additional pressure on your knees; but if you’re 22.5kg overweight, that’s 90.7 extra kgs of pressure.
When you put a light on how much you walk around daily, it’s easy to see why your knee joints are worn out if you’re overweight. Losing weight is a very significant factor in knee joint preservation.
Also Read: Knee pain Causes and Treatment in Young Adults
Use targeted exercises to build muscle
Moderate exercise is a good way to protect your knee joints and keep them healthy. Building up the muscles around the knees helps reduce the pressure on your joints. In addition, your outer, middle, inner thigh, and calf muscles help support injured knees.
Your local gym may offer exercise classes with specially trained instructors to work with people over 50. If you’d rather work out alone, check in with a knowledgeable trainer about senior exercise needs.
At your next visit, remember to ask your doctor to check your leg strength.
Physical therapy can help strengthen your muscles if you’re weak, and the therapist can show you beneficial exercises for your knees.
Wear proper shoes
With age, foot size may increase significantly? First, check your shoes to ensure that you are not pinching your toes and have enough space across the top.
After years of wearing high heels, women usually experience knee pain. This is because, with your heel in the up position, your quadriceps muscles strain to keep your knees in line instead of flat. The knees will be healthy and recover well if you wear flat shoes.
Also Read: Early Morning Back Pain: Causes, Symptoms, and Treatment
Another tip: Be barefoot in the house and whenever you can. It reduces stress on your knees.
This article discusses the tips on preventing knee pain in old age given by Dr. Tushar Ubale. If you still feel pain and discomfort, contact and visit your doctor right away for knee treatments. If you are looking for an Ortho specialist in Mumbai, feel free to contact and book an appointment with Dr. Tushar right away.