Is the increase in your weight worsening your leg pain? Do feel an extra load or stress on your knees while walking, climbing stairs or getting up from a chair?
If yes, then this could be an alarm to remind you about the consequences of knee pain as a result of obesity.” Researchers have found that Knee pain could increase with increasing weight, and in extreme cases surgery becomes the most likely course of action due to early degeneration.” Surgery often tends to have an impact on overall quality of life due to reduced activity, reduced walking speed, post-surgical compilations such as reduced strength, reduced range of motion, and chronic pain.
Scary, isn’t it? Well, here’s how you can skip the surgery. But before we reach to the solution, lets first understand progression of knee pain.
The Weight-Knee Pain Connection:
Carrying excess body weight increases stress on distal joints particularly knee which can gradually increases Pain & Dysfunction.
A person suffering from osteoarthritis can show symptoms such as morning stiffness, joint line tenderness and pain, inflammation of joint, decreased range of motion, clicking of joint, joint instability.
This symptom can lead to dysfunctions like, difficulty in walking, transitions such as getting out from bed, car or chair. Inability to squat. Inability to climb stairs & stand for prolong duration of time.
Pain and Dysfunction tends to become a vicious cycle as shown in the diagram above. Thereby
causing problems such as
Decreased Muscle Strength
Waddling walking gait: painful walking with wide and short steps.
Increase Risk of Falls
Altered muscle mechanics causing low back pain, hip joint pain, ankle and foot pain.
Neglecting Further can Progress to Disabling Condition called,
Osteoarthritis: -
Osteoarthritis causes further degeneration of knee joint which causes damage to cartilage and narrowing of joint space. As the severity increases can led to bow leg deformity thereby
needing surgery.
To avoid these Health consequences because of obesity
Prevention is always a solution
Nutrition Counselling: -
In overweight and obese adults with knee OA, caloric restriction combined with an appropriate calorie distribution (15–20% from protein; < 30% from fat; 45–60% from carbohydrate) should be the focus of any dietary intervention.
Physiotherapy:
Exercise therapy
Movement is an essential part of an OA treatment plan. Getting 150 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous exercise per week should be the goal, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. A good exercise program to fight OA pain and stiffness has four parts:
Strengthening exercises build muscles around painful joints and helps to ease the stress on them.
Range-of-motion exercise or stretching helps to reduce stiffness and keep joints moving.
Aerobic or cardio exercises help improve stamina and energy levels and reduce excess
weight.
Balance exercises help strengthen small muscles around the knees and ankles and help
prevent falls.
Weight loss training
Excess weight puts additional force and stress on weight-bearing joints, including the hips, knees, ankles, feet and back, and fat cells promote inflammation. Losing extra weight helps reduce pain and slow joint damage. Every pound of weight lost removes four pounds of pressure on lower-body joints.
Practicing these habits can slow down OA, keep you healthier overall and delay surgery as long as possible. It is important to pursue a number of different self-care approaches simultaneously as mentioned above.
Reach out to us at PhysioQinesis to help us help you diagnose your condition for a fitter, healthier and a pain free life.