Generally, people consider that obesity only causes health problems related to heart diseases and diabetes, and yes it is right; but however, obesity is also amongst the primary cause of certain types of arthritis; and also worsens the symptoms of arthritis.
Let’s know in detail, how obesity affects the knee problems:
Obesity and Osteoarthritis:
Osteoarthritis or arthritis has a direct link to the obesity, the more weight on a knee joint, the more stressed it gets, and the more chances it will get degrade and this increases the chances of the need of knee replacement.
Obesity leads to more weight which plays an important role; it puts stress on weight-bearing joints like knees and hips. In fact, every 1 kg increase of weight exerts 4kg of extra pressure on the knee joints. That means a person having 20 kg of extra weight will exert 80 kg of extra pressure on joints.
Hence, people who are overweight are having more chances of arthritis and in turn Total Knee Replacement. And it is not only the excess weight but the fat also releases chemical compositions which can cause inflammation. These chemicals affect the development of Osteoarthritis.
How weight loss is helpful in knee pain?
Firstly, losing weight is helpful in a number of diseases such as:
- Heart diseases
- Type-2 diabetes
- High blood pressure
- Certain cancers
In knee problems, less weight or no obesity help in two ways:
-
Less weight-bearing pressure on knees:
As mentioned above, losing 1 kg of weight can help knee joints from bearing 4 kg weight, hence, losing 10 kg will help by 40 kg joints.
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Decrease in inflammation in the body:
Arthritis is a wear and tear disease causes by the excess stress on the joints, especially in knees, which causes inflammation. But actually, according to many pieces of research, inflammation is the key factor of arthritis instead a cause of it. Obesity leads to the inflammation which leads to joint pain. Therefore, losing weight can reduce this inflammation.
In conclusion, Obesity or excess weight leads to chronic knee joints problems such as arthritis for which you may require knee replacement surgeries. So maintain a healthy weight and live a healthy lifestyle.
At JaipurJoints, Jaipur, you can get the best treatment of knee replacement and joint problems by the best joint replacement and arthroscopy surgeon in Jaipur, Dr. Lalit Modi.
