The number of patients visiting doctors due to sudden pain in their knees increase during the summer holidays. Today, let’s learn about knee cartilage inflammation, including its causes and symptoms, so you can better plan your summer vacation by understanding what you should and should not do.
What is degenerative arthritis of the knee?
Degenerative arthritis of the knee occurs as a result of the degeneration and deformation of the knee cartilage over time, which accompanies loss of strength and function in the surrounding knee joint, ligaments, and muscles. To avoid this grave outcome, it is critical that we eat and exercise well while we are still healthy.
Food for preventing degenerative arthritis
A nutritionally well-balanced diet is key to preventing degenerative arthritis. As people get older, loss of appetite becomes common, which leads to skipping meals and avoiding healthy food. This leads to malnutrition, one of the main causes of worsening pain in the knee.
If you already have a healthy diet, you may begin to increase your intake of food that are specifically good for preventing degenerative arthritis. In general, fish, rich in omega-3 fatty acids, calcium-abundant milk, and fruits known for their antioxidant contents, like apples and oranges, are good for slowing degenerative arthritis.
Recommended exercises for degenerative arthritis of the knee
If you are in serious pain due to arthritis, it is impossible and inadvisable to keep exercising. Therefore, it is important for you to manage and mitigate pain first before starting on any regular and rigorous exercise programs.
The simplest exercise you can do is to keep your knees extended straight. This may not seem like much of a workout, but it is an effective exercise that you can try even when you have some pain in your knees. Lie down on your back. Place towels underneath your knees. Tighten the muscles in your thighs and knees and then stretch your knees out as much as you can. Maintain your knees stretched out for 6 to 10 seconds, and then take at least a 10-second break afterward. Repeat this two to three times.
If your degenerative arthritis has already progressed to a serious extent, you may require the help of a medical support device in order to carry out your exercise program. The DDS KneeTrac is a knee support device that allows the user to strengthen his/her muscles and ligaments by regularly exercising his/her knees. Wear the device on your knee and keep folding and stretching out your knee to enjoy the traction therapy it provides. This can effectively delay the progression of degenerative arthritis.