What Helps: Maintain A Healthy Weight
Weight loss can really help your knees. Drop 10 pounds, and youâll take as much as 40 pounds of force off them, depending on what youâre doing.
Losing even a small amount can help. And the earlier you do it, the better. Keep the weight off, and you wonât be as likely to get arthritis later in life.
It isnât just the weight. Fewer fat cells might mean fewer hormones to inflame your knees and other joints. This makes gout less likely by lowering levels of uric acid in your body. Itâs especially helpful if you do it with good diet and exercise habits.
Talk to your doctor about your ideal body mass index, a measure of body fat based on height and weight.
Go To Physical Therapy
Did you know that physical therapy can help you lose weight after a knee injury? Your physical therapist or physiatrist will give you exercises that will burn calories while restoring function to your knee. You will likely be assigned a physical therapist if you injured your knee in a workers compensation accident or a car accident. Even if you havent been in an accident, you can go to physical therapy if needed, though.
What Are The Best And Worst Exercises For Bad Knees
As discussed above, the worst exercises for bad knees include running, full-arc extensions, and deep lunges and squats. On the other hand, the best exercises for bad knees are those that do not demand a lot of effort from the knees.
They include calf and leg raises, step exercises, yoga, and tai-chi, among others. However, you must always seek the go-ahead from your doctor before attempting any workouts, especially if you have bad knees.
Don’t Miss: How To Reduce Swelling In Knee Quickly
Reduces Inflammation In The Body
For years, OA was considered a wear and tear disease caused by prolonged excess pressure on the joints, particularly the knees, which, in turn, caused inflammation.
But recent research suggests that inflammation is a key OA risk factor, rather than a consequence of OA. Being overweight may increase inflammation in the body that can lead to joint pain. Losing weight can reduce this inflammatory response. One study suggests that just a 10 percent reduction in weight can significantly lower inflammation in the body. Another study found that even simply overeating triggers the bodys immune response, which increases inflammation.
Being overweight or obese significantly increases a persons risk for developing OA.
According to John Hopkins Medicine, women who are overweight are four times more likely to develop OA than women who are a healthy weight. And men who are overweight are five times more likely to develop OA than men who are a healthy weight.
But losing even a small amount of weight can be beneficial. For women who are overweight, every 11 pounds of weight loss can reduce the risk of knee OA by more than 50 percent. Men who drop into the overweight category and men who drop into the normal weight category can reduce their risk of knee OA by 21.5 percent.
Weight Loss Will Help You Feel Better And Help Your Joints
The more weight you lose, the more benefits your knee osteoarthritis will get, the Arthritis Care & Research study found. While everyone in the study who lost pounds saw improvements, people who dropped 20 percent or more of their body weight got an extra 25 percent reduction in some osteoarthritis disease markers compared with people who lost from 10 to 20 percent.
You May Like: Inversion Table Knee Pain
Why Is Obesity A Risk Factor For Osteoarthritis
When discussing knee osteoarthritis, one might assume that the added load caused by obesity is what causes the joint degeneration present in knee osteoarthritis but that would be only partially correct. Studies show that obese people also have more arthritic changes in their neck and in the joints of their fingers. The current explanation is that fat changes the metabolism of the whole body increasing chances of osteoarthritis.
Why Weight Matters When It Comes To Joint Pain
If you’re having the occasional twinge of joint pain when you go for a walk or climb stairs, or you’re worried about arthritis because a parent had it, one step toward prevention is to check your weight.
There are two ways that being overweight raises your risk for developing osteoarthritis . First, excess weight puts additional stress on weight-bearing joints . Second, inflammatory factors associated with weight gain might contribute to trouble in other joints .
Let’s look at weight and your knees. When you walk across level ground, the force on your knees is the equivalent of 1½ times your body weight. That means a 200-pound man will put 300 pounds of pressure on his knees with each step. Add an incline, and the pressure is even greater: the force on each knee is two to three times your body weight when you go up and down stairs, and four to five times your body weight when you squat to tie a shoelace or pick up an item you dropped.
Losing a few pounds can go a long way toward reducing the pressure on your knees and protecting them. For example, research has proven that a sustained 10- to 15-pound weight loss in obese young people can translate to a much lower risk of osteoarthritis later in life.
Read Also: How Much Does Aflac Pay For Knee Surgery
How California Scientists Concluded That Losing Weight Can Decrease Knee Joint Deterioration
The MRI study, mentioned above, investigated the association between different degrees of weight loss and the progression of knee cartilage degeneration in 506 overweight and obese patients from the Osteoarthritis Initiative, a nationwide research study focused on the prevention and treatment of knee osteoarthritis. The patients either had mild to moderate osteoarthritis or risk factors for the disease. They were divided into three groups: a control group who did not lose weight, a second group who lost a little weight, and a third group who lost more than 10 percent of their body weight. The researchers then used MRI to quantify knee osteoarthritis.
When the researchers analyzed differences in the quality of cartilage among the three groups over a four-year time span, they found evidence that weight loss has a protective effect against cartilage degeneration and that a larger amount of weight loss is more beneficial.
Will My Knee Pain Go Away If I Lose Weight
If you often experience pain around the knee, it might be time to observe your weight for obesity. If you are sure about the issue, start losing some weight, because research has proven that overweight people suffering from osteoarthritis has reduced the knee pain by about a half by exercising and combining healthy diet. Losing weight give benefits to knee pain in some ways:
- It decreases weight-bearing pressure on the knees.
- Your extra fat gives a significant load for the knee. Roughly calculated, each pound of weight loss reduces knee-joint load by four pounds. This is a significant number that make it possible for proper weight loss to eliminate knee pain.
- Putting less pressure on the knees means you are saving the knee joints and cartilage from wear and tear and thus, reducing the risk of severe osteoarthritis. Less cartilage wear and tear also means less possible caused pain when your knees are moved whether when you are standing, walking, or running. It also gives more flexible movements compared to knees with worn and torn cartilage.
Don’t Miss: Arthritic Knee Symptoms
More Weight Loss Tied To Less Knee Pain For Obese People
By Lisa Rapaport, Reuters Health
5 Min Read
– Obese people with knee osteoarthritis, a painful joint disease, may find greater symptom relief when they lose larger amounts of weight than when they shed fewer pounds, a recent study suggests.
Researchers examined data on 240 obese adults with pain from knee osteoarthritis who were participating in an 18-month experiment to see how diet alone or combined with exercise might impact their health.
Participants who lost 10 percent or more of their weight by the end of the study experienced a 50 percent reduction in pain and also reported significant improvements in mobility and daily function.
But more weight loss was even better. People who lost at least 20 percent of their weight experienced 25 percent less pain and better daily function than patients who lost no more than 10 percent of their weight, the study found.
Our previous work has shown that when combined with mild to moderate exercise, a 5 percent weight loss over 18 months reduces pain by 25 percent and improves function and mobility compared to a control group, said lead study author Stephen Messier of Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
Osteoarthritis is the most common joint disease in the U.S., affecting more than half of elderly adults. Compared with people at normal weight, obese individuals are much more likely to develop the condition and experience pain related to this joint damage.
Excess Weight Harms Many Body Parts
In addition to the benefits to knee arthritis found in this study, losing weight has been found to be helpful for overall health, as well as for many body parts.
A report published by the National Institutes of Health described how weight loss leads to decreased blood pressure, fewer unhealthy blood fats, more good cholesterol, and better balance for blood sugar levels, among other things.
The only downside of the weight loss found in this study was a slight reduction in bone-mineral-density a finding the authors suggest is more than outweighed by the boost in lifestyle and reduction in pain.
Read Also: Flying After Knee Replacement Surgery
Dropping Weight Slowly Is Important
Participants in this study lost their weight over an 18-month period. Because this was a reanalysis of the authorsprevious study, published in September 2013 in the Journal of the American Medical Association, which examined whether diet, diet plus exercise, or just exercise resulted in the most weight loss , participants lost the weight in a variety of ways.
Still, a program that combines the right diet plan and appropriate exercise along with learning tools to change ingrained behaviors is best for any significant weight loss effort, according to the NIH report. Medication and even weight loss surgery should also be considered for some people, the NIH says.
Losing weight slowly is best for the body. The NIH suggests that a reasonable time line is six months to drop 10 percent. Decreasing what you eat by 300 to 500 calories a day leads to a 1- to 2-pound weekly weight loss, a healthy rate.
Related: Is Weight Loss Surgery a Good Idea for People With Rheumatoid Arthritis?
How Can Weight Loss Affect Ankle Pain
If you have an ideal weight or a normal BMI, then it reduces the risk of developing many medical conditions like heart conditions, diabetes, hypertension and the like. Coming to the question of how losing weight helps ankle pain, it does so in two ways. Firstly, it decreases the pressure that is being put on the ankles by the weight of the body, which results in less wear and tear of the cartilages in the ankles meaning that the ankles stay healthier for a longer period of time. Secondly, it reduces inflammation in the body which decreases the risk of developing osteoarthritis and hence there is less wear and tear of the ankle joints.
Read Also: Inversion Table Knees
Articles On Knee Osteoarthritis
Want to find a way to make your knee osteoarthritis feel better that doesn’t involve popping a pill? A thinner waistline could be the answer. If you’re overweight, you can cut your pain when you shed a few pounds. A leaner “you” can ease pressure on your joints, reduce inflammation, and help you get around more easily.
Even if you don’t have knee OA now, you may cut your risk of getting it if you keep your weight under control.
If You Enjoyed This Article Please Feel To Share This With Your Network Of Friends And Colleagues Below Is Text You Can Cut And Paste Into Any Of Your Favorite Social Networks Or Emails
For Google +
Now I want to identify some steps you can take to mitigate the chance of knee pain if you are overweight. It’s time to get preventative! Let’s talk about protecting those knees while still taking steps to lose weight in pursuit of a healthy lifestyle. https://williamsterett.com/blog-dr-william-sterett/2017/3/27/how-to-lose-weight-and-prevent-knee-pain
For Facebook
Now I want to identify some steps you can take to mitigate the chance of knee pain if you are overweight. It’s time to get preventative! https://williamsterett.com/blog-dr-william-sterett/2017/3/27/how-to-lose-weight-and-prevent-knee-painFor Twitter
Want to lose weight while protecting your knees? Here’s what to remember. https://williamsterett.com/blog-dr-william-sterett/2017/3/27/how-to-lose-weight-and-prevent-knee-pain
For LinkedIn Description
Let’s talk about protecting those knees while still taking steps to lose weight in pursuit of a healthy lifestyle. https://williamsterett.com/blog-dr-william-sterett/2017/3/27/how-to-lose-weight-and-prevent-knee-pain
Also Check: Ginger Poultice For Knee Pain
Despite The Obvious Benefits Weight Loss Is Difficult To Achieve
A May 2017 study lead by Alexandra Gersing, MD of the Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging at the University of California, San Francisco concluded that overweight and obese people who lost a substantial amount of weight over a 48-month period showed significantly lower degeneration of their knee cartilage. The research was published in the medical journal Radiology.
This study was a continuation of Dr. Gersings work on the subject. In 2016 she lead a team of researchers who were able to suggest from findings that: weight loss has a protective effect on cartilage, which is detected in all compartments, and that a larger amount of weight loss is more beneficial in obese and overweight subjects in order to slow progression of cartilage matrix deterioration and worsening of clinical symptoms.
Knee Arthritis Improvements Were Substantial With Weight Loss
The study tracked 240 overweight and obese adults who had knee pain and documented osteoarthritis. Those who lost at least 10 percent benefitted in a number of ways: They reported significantly less pain, had better knee function, were able to walk farther in a six-minute test, and had decreased inflammation and bone-on-bone compression.
The improvements exhibited what researchers call a dose response, which means the more people lost the better they did.
Related: 10 Essential Facts About Metabolism and Weight Loss
Also Check: Bioknee Cost
Why You Should Lose Belly Fat With Bad Knees
Its essential to lose your gut, especially when you have bad knees. If you dont do anything about it now, when you are still able, your chance of success grows exponentially.
If you dont, and your belly, your body, keeps growing, its almost impossible to get back into shape with bad knees.
Not to mention that one of the leading causes of death in the world is obesity. Your belly fat is killing you.
Make this day the day you get up the couch, stop feeling sorry for yourself, and destroy your belly fat.
Related articles:
Obesity And Knee Pain
Although considered to be less harmful than diabetes and heart-related diseases, knee pain induced by obesity cannot be underestimated. According to various research, knee pain is the second most common effect of obesity undergone by Americans who are obese. More than 20 percent of these people suffering from knee pain are overweight and obese.
There is a close relation between obesity and the occurrence of throbbing pain on knee. This is a common sense you can easily observe in an overloaded truck, where the shock absorbers do not work as well as they would have with lighter load. Your kneesimilar to these shocks absorbers, may not work efficiently if you are overweightyour body carries more weight than it should have. As a result, the jolts cannot be soaked up properly, causing discomfort and pain around the knee. The bones that meet in your knees are covered in cartilage, and if you put excessive weight, you simultaneously put more force on that cartilage, causing it to wear quicker. This condition is referred as osteoarthritis.
Carrying extra body fat may also trigger the body to release the hormone leptin, which is believed to have a significant role in inducing osteoarthritis. In addition, body fat also releases substances promoting inflammation inside the body. These inflammation plays an important role in the cartilage covering your bones in the knee.
Read Also: Nano Knee Procedure
Pack Each Breakfast With Protein To Help Lose Weight With Knee Osteoarthritis
Americans are good at eating enough protein and fiber for lunch and dinner: a salad with grilled chicken, a turkey sandwich with a side of slaw, meat loaf with veggies.
But breakfast is where many fall short, says Lauren Harris-Pincus, RDN, a registered dietitian nutritionist in Green Brook, New Jersey. Bagels, croissants even healthier oatmeal have nowhere near the 20 to 35 grams of protein per meal that are recommended and that keep us feeling full, she says.
Harris-Pincus, author of The Protein-Packed Breakfast Club, says pairing protein with fiber makes for the best meals, especially when you are trying to lose weight.
Her go-to: overnight oats, which she makes by filling a jar with oats, plain Greek yogurt , a tablespoon of flavored protein powder, chia seeds, and fruit, then letting it soak overnight in the fridge. By switching up the fruits and the flavor of the powder , she gets variety in her daily oatmeal.
Eggs offer another good protein-fiber breakfast choice. Make a vegetable omelet, or pair scrambled eggs with high-fiber berries like raspberries or blackberries.