Overweight makes knees crunch

The knee is the largest joint and is extremely resilient. For a short time it can carry up to 1.5 tons. Nevertheless, many people suffer from osteoarthritis-related knee problems. The higher the body weight, the greater the risk of  osteoarthritis . Below you will find out what risks there are for your knees as a result of being overweight.

Rheumatic pains in the knee

An estimated ten percent of all Germans know what it means when every movement becomes torture: They suffer from rheumatic pains. Rheumatism (Greek) means “pulling, tearing pain” and is a collective term for a large number of very different painful diseases of the musculoskeletal system. Rheumatism can be caused by inflammation or by constant wear and tear. A distinction is made between

• Soft tissue rheumatism in which muscles, ligaments, tendons and bursa are painfully altered
• degenerative forms of rheumatism, e.g. B. Osteoarthritis.

In addition, there are also inflammatory forms of rheumatism such as rheumatic  fever  and chronic  arthritis , which are characterized by inflammation of the joints with stiffness, pain and swelling.

Measures against rheumatism

The quality of life can be significantly restricted in rheumatism. While there are effective anti-inflammatory drugs that reduce rheumatic pain, prolonged use can cause stomach ulcer symptoms and other side effects.

But there are things you can do to prevent joint wear and tear. It is well known that obesity promotes the occurrence of osteoarthritis. Ideally, you should try to maintain a normal weight.

Common disease arthrosis

Arthrosis-related complaints (arthrosis = joint wear and tear) are common and the spine, knee and hip joints are predominantly affected by these changes. It must be taken into account that 75% of all people over 50 years of age have problems with their joints, which can be traced back to the physiological aging process. Only premature or excessive signs of wear and tear are regarded as pathological changes.

The shifted center of gravity overloads the knees

The knee is the largest joint and extremely resilient. Nevertheless, arthrosis-related complaints in the knee area are very common: almost 25% of all people with arthrosis complain of pain in the knee joint. The higher the weight, the greater the risk of osteoarthritis developing – with overweight damaging the knee joint much more than e.g. B. the hip.

Particularly in the case of trunk-accentuated  obesity,  the entire spine and the lower extremities are overburdened. The balance of back and abdominal muscles is disturbed; This leads to a tilting of the pelvic region. As a result, the center of gravity is shifted, which leads to an overload of the knee joint.

What complaints arise?

Typical signs of overuse damage to the knee are painful pulling or stabbing. If the  knee joint arthrosis is  already advanced, the typical cartilage rubbing noises (crunching) occur.

Other factors that promote the development of knee problems include:

• excessive load during sports activity
• Metabolic diseases ( diabetes : one of the possible  consequences of being overweight )
• misalignment of the legs
• injuries from accidents
• broken bones that have not healed properly 

The consequences of arthrosis are pain, flare-ups of inflammation as well as thickening and deformation, with the extent being very different for each joint and each stage. Osteoarthritis usually progresses in stages. In the affected patients, symptom-free phases (lasting months) alternate with painful intervals.

Take the pain out of the joint more easily

Since being overweight leads to mechanical overstressing of the cartilage and is therefore a possible cause of knee damage, the excess kilos should be reduced accordingly. Regular physical activities such as swimming, cycling and gymnastics also play an important role as a preventive measure against “crunching in the knee”.