As the saying goes, people get old first when they are old, and lift their feet first when they are healthy. In daily life, we often listen to the old people at home chanting "old, useless, legs are not working." More and more elderly people have become "lame people", and the chief culprit is osteoarthritis.

"The human body is like a machine. With the use year after year, the machine will gradually age and wear, and human organs will also have degenerative diseases. " Wu Xiaojing, an attending physician in orthopedics at Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital, said that when joints are used to a certain age, they will age and degenerate, the joint structure will change, and synovial fluid secretion will decrease, followed by osteoarthritis. Joint degeneration is closely related to everyone, but not everyone will develop osteoarthritis at the same age. Its occurrence and progress are related to many factors, such as heredity, nutrition, history of trauma, exercise habits, living habits and so on.

Dr. Wu Xiaojing said that joint pain is only a symptom, not a disease name, and joint pain is not all caused by osteoarthritis. Synovitis, sports injury, infection, gout, autoimmune diseases, hematological diseases, tumors and other diseases can also show symptoms of joint pain.

Osteoarthritis is the "walking killer" of the elderly, which is often referred to as "degenerative arthritis", "senile arthritis" and "hypertrophic arthritis". Dr. Wu Xiaojing said that osteoarthritis is a common disease that plagues many middle-aged and elderly people. Its main manifestations are joint pain, tenderness, stiffness, joint swelling, limited movement and joint deformity, and its development is slow. Women are more miserable than men.

To prevent and treat osteoarthritis, how should the elderly protect and exercise joints? Dr. Wu Xiaojing gave nine suggestions:

1. A reasonable diet

Protein, calcium and vitamin D should be fully supplemented.

Control weight

For obese people, losing weight can relieve the pressure on the knee joint and reduce the joint burden.

keep warm

Avoid cold stimulation to aggravate pain.

4. Don't lie still

If someone thinks that lying still and resting is the best protection for the knee joint, it is wrong. Doing so will only make the muscles less developed, which will not support and protect the joints, but will aggravate the pain of the knee joint.

5. Scientific exercises

It is suggested to do some sports such as swimming, cycling and short-distance walking under the guidance of orthopedic surgeons, or do some sports such as squatting against the wall, resisting sitting and lifting legs, and stick to it all the time. At the same time, don't move heavy objects; Avoid walking and standing for a long time, and avoid running, dancing, climbing stairs, climbing mountains, squatting and other sports.

Avoid falling

Generally speaking, people with knee pain are more likely to fall down. Falling will aggravate the injury of knee joint, so try to avoid it.

7. Scientific treatment in acute phase

During the acute attack of osteoarthritis, the following methods can be used to relieve it: let the knee joint get a full rest; Lift your legs and put them in a higher position; Cold compress can be used for joint pain caused by improper exercise, and hot compress can help relieve pain in other situations.

8. Rational use of painkillers

If the above methods can't relieve the pain well, we should consider using drugs to relieve the pain under the guidance of a doctor. For mild to moderate osteoarthritis, the drug has a clear curative effect, and it is simple and easy to adhere to. Our commonly used painkillers, the full name of which is anti-inflammatory analgesic, do not block people's feelings of pain, but relieve inflammation through anti-inflammatory effect, and the pain will naturally disappear.

9. Ask a professional doctor for help

If you have just started to feel knee pain, you should see a doctor as soon as possible. Only in this way can we find the cause of pain in time and prevent further injury of knee joint. During the acute attack of osteoarthritis, it is also recommended to carry out drug treatment or rehabilitation treatment under the guidance of a doctor. In some patients with advanced osteoarthritis, knee joint degeneration is very serious. At this time, it cannot be improved by conservative treatment and adjustment of living habits, and surgery is needed.