Watch Your Knees, Please

Suzanne Johnston never imagined that the hours she spent playing hard as a child would have the consequence they do today.

Now in her mid-50s, this resident of Santa Monica, California, experiences frequent knee pain. “I had no idea that spending time on my knees and playing sports would put a strain on them.”

Only after a close friend had knee replacement surgery did Johnston realize she had to start taking better care of herself. She is grateful that she has, too, for a number of reasons. She’d prefer to never have surgery, if she can avoid it. The expense of it all is another very strong motivator.

While prices vary among states and even within towns, the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association (BCBSA) reported that the average cost of knee replacement surgery today is $31,124. Maureen Sullivan, chief strategy officer with BCBSA, noted that patients are becoming more price conscious as they pay higher deductibles and co-pays.

[lz_related_box id=”86357″]

Gregory M. Martin, MD, an orthopedic surgeon in Boynton Beach, Florida, said close to 35 percent of Americans over age 54 now experience chronic knee or leg pain. Surgery is often the outcome.

“Some 7 million Americans have had knee replacement surgery,” Dr. Martin told LifeZette. “That’s a lot of pain and a lot of surgery. The truth is, nearly everyone’s knees will give them trouble eventually. Depending on age, at some point the knee just degenerates. As a knee surgeon who has helped thousands of patients with knee pain, I know there are treatments and options that don’t just reduce the pain but also postpone knee surgery — or avoid it entirely.”

His book, “Education 4Knees,” offers suggestions for caring for your knees and avoiding surgery. Among the best advice he shared:

1: Educate yourself. “This helps you have reasonable expectations for how your knees work and feel, and you maximize how they perform,” he said. “The more you know, the better you can communicate with your physician and understand the benefits and risks of medical and surgical options.”

2: Pay attention to the “what,” not the “why.” On the outside, our knees look small. However, the knee is one of the largest, most complex joints in the human body. Common causes of knee pain are arthritis, ligament tears, cysts in the back of the knee, pain behind the kneecap, or trauma to the knee bones, ligaments and tendons. What you do to treat the knee is more important than why it went “bad.” So look at what hurts — and have that treated.

[lz_related_box id=”103933″]

3: Commit to a knee-centric lifestyle. “The decision to change your lifestyle is a big step toward improving the health and strength of your knees,” said Dr. Martin. “Among knee pain’s causes, most are not serious or rare, and some are not even located in the knees.” Some studies even show that back pain and depression link to knee pain, said Dr. Martin. “So taking better care of your physical and mental health will further benefit your knees,” he explained.

4: Lighten up by cutting your portions in half. For each pound your body carries, your knees endure four pounds of pressure. So if you weigh 200 pounds, 800 pounds are exerted on your knees as you walk — and it’s more so during strenuous activities such as climbing stairs or jogging. Even losing 10 pounds relieves 40 pounds of pressure on your knees. Martin suggests that in addition to exercise, we watch what we eat by cutting portions in half.

5: Drink more water. Our knees contain cartilage. That’s the soft spongy tissue that lines the ends of our joints and enables pain-free motion. Cartilage is comprised mostly of water — up to 80 percent when we’re properly hydrated. But the older we get, the lower the water content gets, which can result in unhealthy cartilage. That can hasten the onset of degenerative joint disease.

[lz_ndn video= 29275624]

6: Take glucosamine and turmeric. Supplements are worth trying. Dr. Martin recommends glucosamine sulfate and turmeric because of their anti-inflammatory properties. The National Institutes of Health states that glucosamine sulfate is likely effective for treating osteoarthritis. And recent research found that turmeric eases pain as effectively as ibuprofen, said Dr. Martin.

7: Keep moving. Unlike most other tissues in the body, cartilage lacks blood vessels to carry nutrients into it. So knee cartilage depends on movement to stay healthy. Walking is a good activity. Dr. Martin, like so many other physicians and health experts, suggests walking for 30 minutes a day, five days a week, for optimum health.