Click ..pop..gritting... These are some of the sounds made by our knees as a call for some help or precautions to be taken before its too long to mend it .
Our knee joint is made up of three bones thigh bone (Femur),shin bone (tibia) and knee cap (patella).
It's the most incongruent joint of the human body , hence is very prone to injuries .
Now with high number of professions demanding prolonged sitting has not only put our backs but also our knees at equal.
Risk of early degenerations or wear and tear. Among the three bones that forms the knee joint the joint between patella and femur is affected the most. As we sit for long hours the muscles on the back of the knee becomes stiff thereby
Pushing the patella against the femur, this leads to erosion of a cartilage under the patella that prevents friction. If proper care not taken on time this can lead to arthritis of the patellofemoral joint.
It's a very slow process so sometimes we might miss a symptom thinking it's just some regular aches or strain .
So if we have discomfort in knee straightening in last 30 degrees getting up from a low sitting sofa, getting up in a movie interval, gritting sounds while climbing stairs.
These are the early signs.
Advanced stages may have swelling , pain and difficulty in bearing weight on the knees.
What can we do for our knees?
As we discussed its the most unstable joint thus it depends on the musculature around it to maintain balance. VMO its a short but important muscle to be strengthened , Hamstrings are the muscles behind knee which needs to be stretched to off load the patellar grinding.
At office we must make it point to stand after every 30 mins and avoid stair climbing as an exercise if your knees hurt.
Sitting on a chair try to stretch your knees by slowing gliding the heel on the floor to straighten your knees then try to point your toes towards you for some people who are short can slip to the edge of their chair if done correctly you will feel a nice pull or stretch on the back of your leg. Hold it for 15 counts and do it several times in a day .
Different movements have different amount of weight transfer on our knees like just walking puts 0.5 times the body weight on each knee ( it means if we are 60 kgs its into 0.5 times on one knee ), running is 11 times , stair climbing 18 times and squatting approximately 22.7 times the body weight. Hence one should first begin working on knee muscles in non weight bearing then progress to weight bearing exercises.