16 Squat Challenge Don't follow the trend! Orthopedics warn: If the knee bends more than "XX degrees", there is a risk of injury
16 Squat Challenge Don’t follow the trend! Is it likely to cause severe knee joint injury?
Taiwanese boy group Energy’s dance move “16 Squats” in their new song “Friday Night” demonstrates their strong core strength and has attracted many idol stars to imitate the challenge. After training, a firefighter easily completed the “16 squat” wearing 25 kilograms of equipment. However, improper use of knees in daily life will continue to aggravate knee joint injuries. We should re-emphasize the importance of knee joint health care.
In daily life, you can follow the principle of “bend less, bend slowly, and don’t bend for too long” to maintain and use your knees. “Degenerative” knee arthritis is not a true degeneration. As long as you take proper care of yourself, your knee joints will not degenerate in your old age. We use our knees every day from the moment we wake up, bending them an average of a million times a year. If you have unexplained knee pain, you need to pay special attention. Even people who do not have knee pain problems should pay attention to correct usage and early prevention.
Is it true that riding a bicycle or climbing stairs can hurt your knee joints? Will it hurt if the knee bends more than 50 degrees?
Over thousands of years, the knee joint has evolved into a precise four-corner linkage mechanism. Within the range of motion from 0 degrees to 30 degrees, the movement pattern between the cartilages of the knee joint is rolling against each other, and no destructive force will be produced on the cartilage surface. Friction; after 30 degrees, the cartilage begins to mix sliding motion with mutual friction; after 60 degrees, it is completely sliding motion with friction and destruction. The natural way of human movement: walking and running, during the force-bearing period of landing, the bending angle of the knee will not exceed 30 degrees, and the cartilage will not be damaged at all.
However, as civilization develops, our daily activities, such as riding bicycles and climbing stairs, can bend the knees at angles beyond the protection range of the four-corner linkage. So, in daily life, what actions require special attention? The figure below lists common activities and their knee bending angles for your daily health care reference. The damaging effect of “medial friction phenomenon” on the knee also depends on the bending angle.
Taking the medial folds of middle-aged people as an example, when the bending angle exceeds 50 degrees, the cartilage will be worn. However, acutely inflamed medial folds are eroding cartilage at any time, and slight bends may cause pinching, thereby aggravating pain symptoms.
If you have knee pain, don’t rush to the doctor to take medicine! Avoid “Situation 1” and fundamentally solve knee pain
Intermittent stress (such as running, jumping) can promote cartilage metabolism and will not damage cartilage. However, if the joint synovial bursa becomes fibrotic due to long-term repeated inflammation, the static pressure between the cartilages will increase, which will not only cause discomfort of tightness and soreness, but also cause the cartilage to gradually disintegrate. Excessive weight bearing and weight bearing during work will further accelerate the destruction of cartilage after the cartilage is destroyed to a certain extent.
Unless there is an obvious injury, the “medial friction phenomenon” caused by the medial fold is the most common cause of knee pain. Whether in daily life, sports or work, as long as you remember the image of “medial friction phenomenon” in your mind, you can properly protect your knees; the knee joints used normally will not naturally “degenerate”.
When you feel pain in your knees, it means there is inflammation inside and the cartilage is being destroyed as a result. The most common cause of knee pain is inflammation of the medial fold from excessive friction or a pinch. At this time, don’t rush to the doctor to take medicine or inject pain relief to cover up the problem. Instead, you should face it, be grateful and cherish the pain, and regard it as a kind warning sent by the body to us: telling us that there is something wrong inside the knee. As long as you carefully review which actions cause medial fold inflammation and seek improvement for these reasons, you can fundamentally solve the problem, the pain will be relieved naturally, and you can heal without medication.
How to keep your knee joints healthy? Medical appeal: Grasp the “three major principles of knee protection”
Adjusting daily life behavior patterns and reducing “medial friction” can improve the health of the knee joint and effectively prevent “degeneration” of the knee joint. Dr. Lu Shaorui suggested that the three simple principles for protecting knee joints in daily life are as follows:
Principle 1: bend less. Minimize activities that require repetitive knee bending (e.g., climbing stairs, riding a bicycle). If it cannot be avoided, it is recommended to slow down the bending speed to reduce the damage caused by “inside friction phenomenon”.
Principle 2: Bend slowly. Whether you are sitting down, squatting or crossing your legs, you should do it with slow movements to avoid the medial folds from being pinched and reduce the damage caused by “medial friction phenomenon”.
Principle 3: Don’t bend for too long. Maintaining the same posture for a long time, such as sitting at work or riding in a car for a long time, will cause the medial folds to become inflamed due to long-term impact. Not only will it cause pain and discomfort, but the inflammatory substances will also cause damage to the knee joint cartilage. It is recommended to move the knee joint every twenty to thirty minutes to promote blood circulation and reduce stiffness.
Throughout our daily life, we can follow the principle of “bend less, bend slowly, and don’t bend for too long” to maintain and use our knees.
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