Children that Exercise have Healthier Knees as Adults

Written by Jeff Behar & copied from: mybesthealthportal.net

Being more physically active in childhood is linked to greater knee cartilage and tibial bone area in adulthood, according to new research findings presented at the 2012 American College of Rheumatology Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C.

While physical activity in childhood is often recommended as a means to improve adult joint health and function, little evidence exists to illustrate the correlation between childhood physical performance measures and bone structure in adulthood later on. The goal of the study was to determine if physical activity in youth was associated with more knee cartilage and tibial bone area (the bone that forms the distal part of the knee joint) 25 years later, says Graeme Jones, MD, PhD, investigator in the study and professor of rheumatology and epidemiology at Menzies Research Institute in Hobart, Tasmania.

Real-time data was gathered in 1985 on the childhood physical performance in a diverse group of 298 people in Australian. Of these, 48.7 percent were female and ages ranged from 31 to 41. The participant’s knee cartilage and tibial bone area were measured using T-1 weighted, fat-suppressed magnetic resonance imaging.

Although Dr. Jones and his colleagues had questionnaire responses on the physical activity level of the children taken in 1985, they found that current-day measurements revealed more accurate information.

Adjustments were made for age, gender, body mass index (BMI) and past joint injuries that may affect the cartilage or bone area. The results showed that childhood physical activity, including physical work capacity, leg and hand muscle strength, sit-ups, and long and short runs had a significant, consistent association with greater tibial bone area. In addition, higher childhood physical work capacity measures were associated with greater tibial cartilage area. Other types of physical activity in childhood were associated with greater cartilage area, but these measures were less significant after adjusting for medial tibial bone area.

Dr. Jones and his colleagues do not know exactly why or how physical activity may build bone and cartilage years later. “The mechanism is uncertain, but I would contend that bone area gets larger to cope with the extra demands put on it by higher levels of physical activity, and then this lead to more cartilage, as cartilage covers the surface of bone,” he says.

While the study’s findings lend greater support to the effort in many developed countries to encourage children to be more physically active, cartilage and bone are still vulnerable to damage later on that could contribute to OA, says Dr. Jones.

“Physical activity is good, but if people have an injury while doing the physical activity, this is bad. So injury prevention is important. Avoiding a high body mass index is also important, and physical activity will help with this.”

This study was funded by NHMRC of Australia.

Get Strong! Stay Strong!

Chris

If Your Knee Hurts, It's Probably Your Butts Fault

From Dr Mercola.com

New research shows that a twice weekly hip strengthening regimen proved effective at reducing or eliminating the kind of knee pain referred to as patellofemoral pain (PFP) in female runners.  Stronger hips may correct running form errors that contribute to PFP.

The study used a pain scale of 0 to 10, with 3 representing the onset of pain and 7 representing very strong pain. The injured runners began the six-week trial registering pain of 7 when they ran on a treadmill, and finished the study period registering pain levels of 2 or lower.

According to Science Daily:

"PFP, one of the most common running injuries, is caused when the thigh bone rubs against the back of the knee cap. Runners with PFP typically do not feel pain when they begin running, but once the pain begins, it gets increasingly worse ... PFP essentially wears away cartilage and can have the same effect as osteoarthritis."

Vigorous physical activity in young children results in stronger hip bones.

More than 200 six-year olds participated in a study. Researchers measured bone mass and analyzed the structure of the hip and thigh bone. Physical activity was assessed for seven days.

According to Science Daily:

"The results showed that there was a relationship between time spent in vigorous activity and strength of the femoral neck, both in terms of shape and volumetric mineral density. This was independent of other factors such as diet, lifestyle and physical size."
Poor form during exercise can end up frequently hurting your knees and cause you to develop problems like patellofemoral pain (PFP) which frequently occurs in female runners. PFP occurs when your thigh bone starts rubbing against the back of your knee cap while running.According to a pilot study, this type of pain can be reduced or even eliminated simply by strengthening your hips. Granted, this was a very small, preliminary study, but your body almost always has the innate ability to rebalance itself when something is out of alignment, so the theory is quite plausible.The key is to determine which area needs to be strengthened to correct the imbalance.In this case, the theory that strengthening your hips to improve your gait, which in turn might correct the form error that contributes to PFP, makes sense, as stronger hips will help reduce the severity of the "q" angle on your leg alignment. The q angle is more severe on women because the distance between a woman's femur bones is greater for child-bearing reasons.  This ends up putting more pressure on women's knee joints. The hip-strengthening exercises prescribed during this study involved single-leg squats and resistance band exercises, twice a week for 30-45 minutes, for six weeks. The results were surprisingly positive as the majority of the runners no longer experienced onset of pain when running at the end of the trial.
So, if knee pain is bothering seek out a "qualified " professional who can evaluate you to find your imbalances and prescribe an appropriate exercise program for you.  Hint - if your laying on a table or the floor doing various leg lifts you are in the WRONG place!

Life is a sport. Get Strong! Stay Strong!
Chris

Help for Runners with Knee Pain

From Dr Mercola.com

New research shows that a twice weekly hip strengthening regimen proved effective at reducing or eliminating the kind of knee pain referred to as patellofemoral pain (PFP) in female runners.  Stronger hips may correct running form errors that contribute to PFP.

The study used a pain scale of 0 to 10, with 3 representing the onset of pain and 7 representing very strong pain. The injured runners began the six-week trial registering pain of 7 when they ran on a treadmill, and finished the study period registering pain levels of 2 or lower.

According to Science Daily:

"PFP, one of the most common running injuries, is caused when the thigh bone rubs against the back of the knee cap. Runners with PFP typically do not feel pain when they begin running, but once the pain begins, it gets increasingly worse ... PFP essentially wears away cartilage and can have the same effect as osteoarthritis."

Vigorous physical activity in young children results in stronger hip bones.

More than 200 six-year olds participated in a study. Researchers measured bone mass and analyzed the structure of the hip and thigh bone. Physical activity was assessed for seven days.

According to Science Daily:

"The results showed that there was a relationship between time spent in vigorous activity and strength of the femoral neck, both in terms of shape and volumetric mineral density. This was independent of other factors such as diet, lifestyle and physical size."
Poor form during exercise can end up frequently hurting your knees and cause you to develop problems like patellofemoral pain (PFP) which frequently occurs in female runners. PFP occurs when your thigh bone starts rubbing against the back of your knee cap while running.According to a pilot study, this type of pain can be reduced or even eliminated simply by strengthening your hips.Granted, this was a very small, preliminary study, but your body almost always has the innate ability to rebalance itself when something is out of alignment, so the theory is quite plausible.The key is to determine which area needs to be strengthened to correct the imbalance.In this case, the theory that strengthening your hips to improve your gait, which in turn might correct the form error that contributes to PFP, makes sense, as stronger hips will help reduce the severity of the "q" angle on your leg alignment. The q angle is more severe on women because the distance between a woman's femur bones is greater for child-bearing reasons.  This ends up putting more pressure on women's knee joints. The hip-strengthening exercises prescribed during this study involved single-leg squats and resistance band exercises, twice a week for 30-45 minutes, for six weeks. The results were surprisingly positive as the majority of the runners no longer experienced onset of pain when running at the end of the trial.
So, if knee pain is bothering seek out a "qualified " professional who can evaluate you to find your imbalances and prescribe an appropriate exercise program for you.  Hint - if your laying on a table or the floor doing various leg lifts you are in the WRONG place!
Life is a sport. Get Strong! Stay Strong!
Chris

Knee Pain?...No Problem!

Many suffer from knee pain.  It can range from intermittent aching to severe debilitating pain. The symptoms may include pain, stiffness, swelling, popping, difficulty climbing stairs, squatting and sitting for long periods. X-rays often reveal varying degrees of arthritis, but sometimes are normal.  Barring traumatic injury many of the symptoms of knee pain can be attributed to muscle imbalances and faulty biomechanics.  This leads to increased wear and tear and tendonitis from overuse.  Through advanced study and greater understanding of biomechanics and functional anatomy we realize that most knee pain has nothing to do with the knee.  The knee pain is a symptom, but the cause is usually elsewhere.  Many times we have found the foot and/or the hip to be the weak link. The foot and hip are  both very mobile joints, while the knee is primarily limited to flexing and extending.  The phrase “it’s all connected” is the central theme to human movement. For example, if the foot flattens out more than normal (overprontes) it will cause the knee to collapse more than normal towards the midline.  This will put stress on the medial knee joint, compress the lateral knee joint, cause the knee cap to track off center and subject the muscles to work harderto try to control and stabilize through a greater range of motion.  Another example would be tightness of the hip flexors and weakness of the gluteal muscles which are present in most people due to the fact that we sit a lot and sleep in the fetal position.  We refer to this as “dormant butt syndrome”. When the hip flexors are tight they cause weakness in the gluteus maximus (the butt, tooshee, cannon or powerhouse) through a phenomenon called reciprocal inhibition (when one muscle is tight it causes weakness in the opposite muscle).  The butt is a strong stabilizer/ motion controller of the lower extremity. When it is weak it also allows the knee to collapse into the midline placing more stress on the joint and soft tissues.  Over time the knee is subject to more wear and tear and many of the symptoms of knee pain begin to creep up. So if your knee pain persists it is a good idea to seek out a knowledgeable professional to help you. Knee pain doesn’t have to put an end to your fun, if the right approach is taken.

Get Strong! Stay Strong!

Chris