Because the most common cause of Osteoarthritis of the knee is age, almost everyone will eventually develop some degree of osteoarthritis. The several factors such as age, weight, and repetitive stress injuries, etc. can increase the risk of osteoarthritis leading to the pain of knee.

            Most patients may experience pain swelling and stiffness when they are 40 years old. Moreover, 50 % of patients age over 60 years recently are facing Osteoarthritis of the knee since the main causes of Osteoarthritis are age, genetics, the past accidents and obesity. However, women are more likely to have Osteoarthritis in knees rather than men due to many factors such as Hormone, the less strength of muscles, and tendon.

Symptoms of Osteoarthritis of the knee

1.  Knee pain starts from the front and the back of knee or area around calf of the legs. It may increase more severe pain when walking.

2.  You may hear cracking or popping sound coming from your knees and feel the pain.

3.  Knee swelling since inflammation

4.  Experience a bow legged look, which is difficult to walk and painful

5.  The joint can also stick or lock up so you cannot bend it or straighten it out when you want.

Treatment of Osteoarthritis of the knee

1.  Arthroscopic Surgery is suitable for patients with less severe of Osteoarthritis. Doctors will use medical devices to repair or remove damaged tissue.

2.  Operation to fix bowlegs can be done in people age less than 60 years. This method needs to cut some part of your bone leading to longer period of time.

3.  Operation for knee replacement. The results of operation allow patients have less pain and to live their life normally.

Recently, advanced technology increases the potential of medical diagnosis. Minimal Invasive Surgery is an innovative medical method, less side effects and complications, and shorter recovery.  It also reduces the size of incisions from 15-20 cm. to 8-10 cm. Moreover, patients will be able to resume normal activities even the day after surgery.

      However, if you feel joint pain or hear cracking or popping sound coming from your knees, please meet Orthopedic doctors in order to prevent severe problems from Osteoarthritis of the knee. Do not take medicines without consulting doctors or let the pain become more severe until it is too late.

Discomfort from playing sports and exercise

Recently, Thai people are more likely to play sports and exercise. However, playing sports can normally lead to sport injuries, which several more serious conditions can have symptoms similar to a routine sprain or strain. Many injuries occur after repetitive overuse of the structures of the spine including sport injuries from structural abnormalities of an athlete.

Sport Injuries include:

1.   Sprains are classified by severity, which are sprain (mild), sprain (moderate), and sprain (severe). Severe sprain can cause significant instability and makes the joint nonfunctional. This severe level may need to be treated by operation.

2.   Strains are classified by severity, which are mild, moderate, and severe (similar to sprains).

3.   Pain from impact injuries that include fractures caused by sliding and being hit while playing sports. This pain may leave bruising and swelling on your skin

4.   Pain from broken bones. Pain from significant fall or hard hit while playing a contact sport can cause cracked bones and broken bones around knee, feet, and joints.

Significantly, in order to avoid sport injuries, you need to warm-up sufficiently before beginning strenuous activity. A sufficient warm-up session involves gently stretching and exercising muscles to prepare them for the strenuous activity to flow of blood to reach the muscles. Moreover, it is important that you cool down sufficiently after physical activity. This helps to prevent stiffness of the muscles after exercising, and allows recovering steadily from physical activity. In case you are having sport injuries, please do the first aid and then meet the doctors.

Exercise in Osteoporosis patients

Osteoporosis can be mostly found in older women, which can severely impair your mobility and independence. The most concern in Osteoporosis is having a bone-weakening disorder.

In case backbone and hipbone break, you need to lay down on the bed since too much movement can cause complication. Significantly, X-rays or scanning bone for diagnosing Osteoporosis need to focus on backbone (spine) rather than others. Recently, there is a scan at other parts such as heel, which is not counted as Osteoporosis.

3 Exercise methods for Osteoporosis patients

     1.)  Exercise to strengthen muscles

For upper back muscle(Trapezius muscle) and Deltoid muscle, exercise to strengthen muscle can reduce bone marrow loss. The exercise include free weights, resistance tubing that comes in a variety of strengths, and water exercise, which any movement done in the water makes your muscles work harder. Doing resistance exercise may strengthen thoracic spine, which reduce the risk of thoracic spine collapse.

     2.)  Aerobic dancing such as walking, and light dancing should be done appropriately. Therefore, it is recommended to avoid running, jumping that can increase the risk of broken bones. The results of light walking and dancing may help in balance system, which not cause older people to fall.

Water exercise is another aerobic exercise. It reduces stress on muscles, tendons and ligaments. Water provides resistance to the movement and support for the body, which is beneficial for Osteoporosis patients.

     3.)  Stretching can improve flexibility of muscle.

You should do stretching in every part of your body both before and after exercise. The benefits of stretching are to reduce the pain of muscles while exercising and improve balance disorder of older people.