Between working from home and being glued to the television watching the latest election updates, many of us are guilty of increased “couch potato” behavior lately. And we’ve all heard of the dangers of sedentary lifestyles contributing to obesity, etc., but did you know that *not* moving can actually weaken your knees and increase your chances of osteoporosis?
Continue reading for more from Noyes Knee Institute and the Journal of Public Health.
Do you spend a lot of time sitting? Maybe you work at an office where most of your time is at your desk, or maybe when you’re at home, you prefer to rest on the couch instead of being on your feet. Many people live a mostly inactive lifestyle, but they might not realize that inactivity can be the reason why they experience increased joint pain.
Learn the reasons why inactivity can hurt your knees and what you can do to change it.
Weakens Your Knees
If you live a life or limited activity, your body adapts to that lack of motion. Essentially, when you aren’t using your legs muscles, ligaments, and joints for moderate levels of activity, you are losing them. Your knees become weaker as you require less of them.
One runner found that as she took time off running to rehabilitate an injury, she could not run after completing her recovery because of knee pain. She had to complete additional physical therapy because the rest had caused her to develop a condition called chondromalacia of the patella.
Essentially, her kneecap would not follow the proper range of motion because she had developed some weakness in the joint. It’s a common condition for people who are not active. Even something as simple as going up or down the stairs can make your knees ache.
If you spend your day sitting, you also experience pain in other areas that can also aggravate the knee. Your quadriceps become tight, which exert a pulling sensation on your knees.
You can help your knees feel better by focusing on flexibility. Stretch daily, and participate in joint-stabilizing exercises like yoga. Try to be more active during the day. Stand at your desk, or take time to walk around the office a few times. Use the stairs instead of the elevator.
Increases Your Risk of Arthritis Pain
If you start to experience joint pain as a result of arthritis, your first instinct is to rest more, because walking, running, biking, or other activities cause pain. However, resting when you have knee pain is often the worst solution.
Resting will cause the muscles that give the knee support to weaken. As a result, they become less able to bear your weight, which results in greater joint pain. Reduced strength in the knee joint also translates to reduced stability, which can increase your risk for accidents and make exercising even more difficult to do safely.
If you have arthritis or if you have a history of arthritis in your family, staying active is one way you can help to prevent it from getting worse. Ask a knee specialist for exercises that are safe and helpful for strengthening your knees without causing you too much pain during workouts.
Promotes Weight Gain
A sedentary lifestyle is often why people struggle to manage their weight. Gaining weight with age is common, and spending your days seated can make that problem worse. With every extra pound, the pressure on your knees increases by about four pounds. So, just 10 pounds of extra weight means 40 pounds of pressure on your knees.
All that stress naturally means that your knees start to hurt, and they can hurt even more when you try to be active again. Make sure you intentionally choose low impact exercise as first. Try a stationary bike or a brisk walk in supportive shoes to begin. Focus on losing weight through diet control.
After you lose some weight, you can increase your physical workouts if your doctor believes they will be safe. You might try incorporating some resistance training to really give your lower body some increased strength and stability, as long as you also spend time stretching and increasing your flexibility.
Increases Risk for Osteoporosis
From the Daily Mail
Being a couch potato weakens your bones: Adults in their 60s face greater risk of fractures if they spend hours sitting down each day – but walking 10,000 steps each day helps
- The study of 214 adults was published today in the Journal of Public Health
- It is the first to show a link between a sedentary lifestyle and osteoporosis
- Participants’ hips and spines were scanned to measure their bone density
A couch potato lifestyle leads to weaker bones in later life, particularly for men, researchers have found.
Experts discovered that men spent more time on average sitting still than women and therefore had weaker bones, particularly in their lower back.
But the new findings, conducted by academics from Durham and Newcastle universities, show that even just completing 10,000 steps a day can help to keep bones strong.
The study showed that people in their sixties who spent a lot of time sitting down had weaker bones which increased their risk of developing ‘fragility’ fractures.
It is well known that weight-bearing and muscle strengthening exercises are important for building bone strength and preventing osteoporosis.
The study, published in the Journal of Public Health, is the first to show that a sedentary lifestyle in men is associated with weaker bones and osteoporosis.
More than half a million fragility fractures – where a fracture occurs from a fall at standing height or less – happen each year in the UK. It is estimated that by 2025, that number will have gone up by 27 per cent.
Dr Karen Hind, of the Department of Sport and Exercise Sciences at Durham University, said: ‘We know that excessive sedentary time can lower someone’s metabolism which can lead to being overweight and Type 2 diabetes.
‘What we now know is that being inactive is also associated with lower bone strength and an increased risk of osteoporosis.
‘Osteoporosis is a disease that affects older people but by encouraging this age group to keep active, it will help improve their bone health.’
The research team followed 214 men and women, aged 62, from Newcastle University’s Thousand Families Study.
Each participant wore a monitor for seven consecutive days which measured their physical activity and sedentary time. The number of daily steps was also recorded, and then compared with public health recommendations.
The participants’ hips and spines were scanned to measure their bone density.
Participants involved in 150 minutes of light physical activity a week had better bone strength than the more sedentary participants, according to the findings.
The men who spent more than 84 minutes per day sitting still, compared to the average of 52 minutes, had 22 per cent lower bone density in their spine.
The researchers say the impact on their bone density is similar to that of smoking, which is also a risk factor for osteoporosis.
The economic and personal costs of osteoporosis are substantial – in the UK the direct costs of fragility fractures are estimated to be £4.4billion which includes £1.1billion for social care.
The participants all lived in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and Public Health England statistics indicate that the North East has the greatest proportion of physically inactive adults and the highest incidence of hip fractures compared to the rest of the UK.
The researchers said that the message from their findings is: stay active and reduce sedentary time.
They emphasised that the study shows that hitting the daily target of 10,000 steps and avoiding long periods of sedentary time will increase bone strength.
They say that even making daily lifestyle ‘hacks’ can make a difference – such as parking the car further away from the shopping centre or taking the stairs instead of the lift.
Dr Hind added: ‘Currently there are no specific guidelines for this age group to encourage light physical activity or to reduce sedentary time.
‘Yet, as people retire they are more likely to increase the time they spend watching television and reduce their daily step count.
‘It would be great to see initiatives that specifically target this group to increase their awareness of the importance of staying active and reducing the amount of time spent sitting still.’
Learn more about bone health
The Orthopedic & Sports Medicine Center of Oregon is an award-winning, board-certified orthopedic group located in downtown Portland Oregon. We utilize both surgical and nonsurgical means to treat musculoskeletal trauma, spine diseases, sports injuries, degenerative diseases, infections, tumors and congenital disorders.
Our mission is to return our patients back to pain-free mobility and full strength as quickly and painlessly as possible using both surgical and non-surgical orthopedic procedures.
Our expert physicians provide leading-edge, comprehensive care in the diagnosis and treatment of orthopedic conditions, including total joint replacement and sports medicine. We apply the latest state-of-the-art techniques in order to return our patients to their active lifestyle.
If you’re looking for compassionate, expert orthopedic surgeons in Portland Oregon, contact OSM today.
Phone:
503-224-8399
Address
1515 NW 18th Ave, 3rd Floor
Portland, OR 97209
Hours
Monday–Friday
8:00am – 4:30pm
How COVID Has Impacted Bone Health and What You Can Do About It Right Now
in Bone Health, COVID-19, OsteoporosisFrom YouAreUNLTD by Feel It In Your Bones
Osteoporosis is often described as “a silent disease.” During COVID, this has never been more true. Bone health took a back seat. Health assessments, bone density testing and sometimes treatment itself were upended by the pandemic. This disruption in care may have serious, long-term consequences for patients.“The impact is going to be seen both immediately and down the line, as we see people not getting diagnosed, not getting treated,” says Dr. Vivien Brown, a family physician, assistant professor with the department of family and community medicine, University of Toronto. “And ultimately, we may see an increase in fracture risk and fracture rate. And now, six months into COVID when we’re referring patients for bone density tests, there is a backlog.”
Screening for osteoporosis is critical, according to Dr. Brown, especially for women over the age of 50. More than breast cancer, more than heart attacks or stroke, women are most likely to experience a fracture due to weakened bones. Medical intervention to prevent or treat osteoporosis, as well as the adoption of healthy lifestyle behaviours, may be needed. Failing to diagnose the disease can lead to serious outcomes.
“Until they’ve had a fracture, until they’ve had an event, people don’t really have osteoporosis on their radar as a concern,” explains Dr. Brown, who just updated her book, A Woman’s Guide to Healthy Aging (to be published in January 2021). When COVID hit, the focus for healthcare was on providing essential services only. Bone density testing was not considered essential.”
Long-term consequences of the care gap
These interruptions have caused a care gap, making incidents like hip fractures an even greater concern. The research is alarming – 28 per cent of women and more than 37 percent of men over the age of 80 die in the first year after a hip fracture. “It can be a life-altering event, if not a life-ending event,” she says. “We really need to still maintain our level of vigilance around osteoporosis. And I don’t think that’s happening day to day in the medical community.”
Furthermore, she points out that hip fractures can become family tragedies, according to Dr. Brown. “Some patients can’t return home to live independently. They may not be able to walk without assistance. They may not ever be able to drive again. It really alters their quality of life, which impacts the entire family…. The way I think about osteoporosis is that it is not just a bone disease. Osteoporosis is your independence on the line.”
As the impact of COVID has rippled across the country, continuity of care for osteoporosis patients has suffered. For those who were prescribed injectable medications, missed shots were an issue. “The consequences are really significant because the benefits of an injectable medication are completely reversible,” points out Dr. Brown. “That means when you get past that six-month window where you’re supposed to get your next injection, if you go more than a month or so, you start to reverse the benefits you’ve had because the drug is out of your system. That reversal actually increases your risk of fracture. It’s really important to stay on schedule with this medication. It means being creative – either seeing your doctor for the injections, getting it from a pharmacist, or learning how to self-inject. Just delaying an injection is not acceptable.”
During COVID, the focus on osteoporosis decreased. Good lifestyle habits also waned as people stayed home. Sedentary behaviour and poor dietary habits increased, while the ability to exercise in a gym and access to healthy food was negatively impacted. “A number of my older patients who live at home alone and don’t want to go to the grocery store are not eating healthy diets,” she says. “And if they’re not checking in with their doctor and not being reminded of what they need to do – something gets forgotten or left by the wayside.”
“The Way I Think About Osteoporosis Is That It Is Not Just A Bone Disease. Osteoporosis Is Your Independence On The Line.”
Issues with fracture follow-up
The pandemic has had a profound impact on our social support systems, too, especially when someone goes into the hospital with a fracture. Due to safety protocols, they cannot have their partners or someone else with them to be present to listen to a doctor’s instructions post-discharge. It’s concerning to Dr. Brown who fears that something will be overlooked. “If you’re in the hospital by yourself, it may be scary and you may be in pain,” she says. “You may not hear what the doctor is saying clearly. You get your cast or have the fracture treated, then get sent home. I don’t know that people are getting good follow up care.”
That lack of follow-up has a direct impact on continuity of care – a key component in successful osteoporosis management. “In some ways, osteoporosis is like hypertension. Patients often don’t feel it,” she notes. “Maybe they take their drugs for a couple of months, but then stop taking them if the meds are not easily accessible, if they don’t understand them, or not feeling the impact of the disease… It’s important to adhere to whatever has been prescribed.”
Now, it’s time to get back on track and to make bone health a priority again. How do we do that? Here are a few pointers from Dr. Brown:
6 ways to get back on track with your bone health during COVID
The Orthopedic & Sports Medicine Center of Oregon is an award-winning, board-certified orthopedic group located in downtown Portland Oregon. We utilize both surgical and nonsurgical means to treat musculoskeletal trauma, spine diseases, sports injuries, degenerative diseases, infections, tumors and congenital disorders.
Our mission is to return our patients back to pain-free mobility and full strength as quickly and painlessly as possible using both surgical and non-surgical orthopedic procedures.
Our expert physicians provide leading-edge, comprehensive care in the diagnosis and treatment of orthopedic conditions, including total joint replacement and sports medicine. We apply the latest state-of-the-art techniques in order to return our patients to their active lifestyle.
If you’re looking for compassionate, expert orthopedic surgeons in Portland Oregon, contact OSM today.
Phone:
503-224-8399
Address
1515 NW 18th Ave, 3rd Floor
Portland, OR 97209
Hours
Monday–Friday
8:00am – 4:30pm
Did You Know That Inactivity is Actually HARD On Your Knees?
in Bone Health, General Orthopedics, Knee Injuries, OsteoporosisBetween working from home and being glued to the television watching the latest election updates, many of us are guilty of increased “couch potato” behavior lately. And we’ve all heard of the dangers of sedentary lifestyles contributing to obesity, etc., but did you know that *not* moving can actually weaken your knees and increase your chances of osteoporosis?
Continue reading for more from Noyes Knee Institute and the Journal of Public Health.
Do you spend a lot of time sitting? Maybe you work at an office where most of your time is at your desk, or maybe when you’re at home, you prefer to rest on the couch instead of being on your feet. Many people live a mostly inactive lifestyle, but they might not realize that inactivity can be the reason why they experience increased joint pain.
Learn the reasons why inactivity can hurt your knees and what you can do to change it.
Weakens Your Knees
If you live a life or limited activity, your body adapts to that lack of motion. Essentially, when you aren’t using your legs muscles, ligaments, and joints for moderate levels of activity, you are losing them. Your knees become weaker as you require less of them.
One runner found that as she took time off running to rehabilitate an injury, she could not run after completing her recovery because of knee pain. She had to complete additional physical therapy because the rest had caused her to develop a condition called chondromalacia of the patella.
Essentially, her kneecap would not follow the proper range of motion because she had developed some weakness in the joint. It’s a common condition for people who are not active. Even something as simple as going up or down the stairs can make your knees ache.
If you spend your day sitting, you also experience pain in other areas that can also aggravate the knee. Your quadriceps become tight, which exert a pulling sensation on your knees.
You can help your knees feel better by focusing on flexibility. Stretch daily, and participate in joint-stabilizing exercises like yoga. Try to be more active during the day. Stand at your desk, or take time to walk around the office a few times. Use the stairs instead of the elevator.
Increases Your Risk of Arthritis Pain
If you start to experience joint pain as a result of arthritis, your first instinct is to rest more, because walking, running, biking, or other activities cause pain. However, resting when you have knee pain is often the worst solution.
Resting will cause the muscles that give the knee support to weaken. As a result, they become less able to bear your weight, which results in greater joint pain. Reduced strength in the knee joint also translates to reduced stability, which can increase your risk for accidents and make exercising even more difficult to do safely.
If you have arthritis or if you have a history of arthritis in your family, staying active is one way you can help to prevent it from getting worse. Ask a knee specialist for exercises that are safe and helpful for strengthening your knees without causing you too much pain during workouts.
Promotes Weight Gain
A sedentary lifestyle is often why people struggle to manage their weight. Gaining weight with age is common, and spending your days seated can make that problem worse. With every extra pound, the pressure on your knees increases by about four pounds. So, just 10 pounds of extra weight means 40 pounds of pressure on your knees.
All that stress naturally means that your knees start to hurt, and they can hurt even more when you try to be active again. Make sure you intentionally choose low impact exercise as first. Try a stationary bike or a brisk walk in supportive shoes to begin. Focus on losing weight through diet control.
After you lose some weight, you can increase your physical workouts if your doctor believes they will be safe. You might try incorporating some resistance training to really give your lower body some increased strength and stability, as long as you also spend time stretching and increasing your flexibility.
Increases Risk for Osteoporosis
From the Daily Mail
Being a couch potato weakens your bones: Adults in their 60s face greater risk of fractures if they spend hours sitting down each day – but walking 10,000 steps each day helps
A couch potato lifestyle leads to weaker bones in later life, particularly for men, researchers have found.
Experts discovered that men spent more time on average sitting still than women and therefore had weaker bones, particularly in their lower back.
But the new findings, conducted by academics from Durham and Newcastle universities, show that even just completing 10,000 steps a day can help to keep bones strong.
The study showed that people in their sixties who spent a lot of time sitting down had weaker bones which increased their risk of developing ‘fragility’ fractures.
It is well known that weight-bearing and muscle strengthening exercises are important for building bone strength and preventing osteoporosis.
The study, published in the Journal of Public Health, is the first to show that a sedentary lifestyle in men is associated with weaker bones and osteoporosis.
More than half a million fragility fractures – where a fracture occurs from a fall at standing height or less – happen each year in the UK. It is estimated that by 2025, that number will have gone up by 27 per cent.
Dr Karen Hind, of the Department of Sport and Exercise Sciences at Durham University, said: ‘We know that excessive sedentary time can lower someone’s metabolism which can lead to being overweight and Type 2 diabetes.
‘What we now know is that being inactive is also associated with lower bone strength and an increased risk of osteoporosis.
‘Osteoporosis is a disease that affects older people but by encouraging this age group to keep active, it will help improve their bone health.’
The research team followed 214 men and women, aged 62, from Newcastle University’s Thousand Families Study.
Each participant wore a monitor for seven consecutive days which measured their physical activity and sedentary time. The number of daily steps was also recorded, and then compared with public health recommendations.
The participants’ hips and spines were scanned to measure their bone density.
Participants involved in 150 minutes of light physical activity a week had better bone strength than the more sedentary participants, according to the findings.
The men who spent more than 84 minutes per day sitting still, compared to the average of 52 minutes, had 22 per cent lower bone density in their spine.
The researchers say the impact on their bone density is similar to that of smoking, which is also a risk factor for osteoporosis.
The economic and personal costs of osteoporosis are substantial – in the UK the direct costs of fragility fractures are estimated to be £4.4billion which includes £1.1billion for social care.
The participants all lived in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and Public Health England statistics indicate that the North East has the greatest proportion of physically inactive adults and the highest incidence of hip fractures compared to the rest of the UK.
The researchers said that the message from their findings is: stay active and reduce sedentary time.
They emphasised that the study shows that hitting the daily target of 10,000 steps and avoiding long periods of sedentary time will increase bone strength.
They say that even making daily lifestyle ‘hacks’ can make a difference – such as parking the car further away from the shopping centre or taking the stairs instead of the lift.
Dr Hind added: ‘Currently there are no specific guidelines for this age group to encourage light physical activity or to reduce sedentary time.
‘Yet, as people retire they are more likely to increase the time they spend watching television and reduce their daily step count.
‘It would be great to see initiatives that specifically target this group to increase their awareness of the importance of staying active and reducing the amount of time spent sitting still.’
Learn more about bone health
The Orthopedic & Sports Medicine Center of Oregon is an award-winning, board-certified orthopedic group located in downtown Portland Oregon. We utilize both surgical and nonsurgical means to treat musculoskeletal trauma, spine diseases, sports injuries, degenerative diseases, infections, tumors and congenital disorders.
Our mission is to return our patients back to pain-free mobility and full strength as quickly and painlessly as possible using both surgical and non-surgical orthopedic procedures.
Our expert physicians provide leading-edge, comprehensive care in the diagnosis and treatment of orthopedic conditions, including total joint replacement and sports medicine. We apply the latest state-of-the-art techniques in order to return our patients to their active lifestyle.
If you’re looking for compassionate, expert orthopedic surgeons in Portland Oregon, contact OSM today.
Phone:
503-224-8399
Address
1515 NW 18th Ave, 3rd Floor
Portland, OR 97209
Hours
Monday–Friday
8:00am – 4:30pm
Breast Cancer Awareness Month: 3 Steps to Early Detection
in Health & WellnessA bit of a departure from our typical post, we feel it is important to share important health information from a variety of resources on relevant topics beyond Orthopedics and bone health. In honor of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, we’d like to share a few tips regarding early detection. There’s a good chance you or someone you know will be affected by this disease in their lifetime and early detection is the key to better outcomes. Please share this information with the women in your life.
From the National Breast Cancer Foundation Read more
7 Things to Know About Your New Knee
in Total Knee ReplacementFrom WebMD
Congrats on your new knee! You’re one of 600,000 Americans who get the joint replaced every year. You may be thrilled to walk again without pain or no longer face staircases with dread.
But don’t expect superhuman powers just yet. Here are seven things to know about your newest body part. Read more
Total Hip Replacement Exercise Guide
in Hip Replacement, Total Joint ReplacementFrom OrthoInfo & the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons
Regular exercise to restore strength and mobility to your hip and a gradual return to everyday
activities are important for your full recovery after hip replacement. Your orthopaedic surgeon
and physical therapist may recommend that you exercise for 20 to 30 minutes, 2 or 3 times a day
during your early recovery. Read more
Daily Stretching Routine for Seniors
in Prevention, Wellness TipsFrom AAPTIV
Tight muscles, stiff joints, and aches and pains—aging can take a toll on your body, but the good news is that stretching can help you feel better.
Research indicates that stretching improves flexibility, promotes balance, and has the power to reduce pain or stress. Additionally, stretches that focus on posture and mobility can support daily activities and limit your risk of falling or injury. Read more
What Is Spinal Fusion?
in Spinal Surgery, Spine, UncategorizedFrom WebMD
Spinal fusion is surgery to join two or more vertebrae into one single structure. The goal is to stop movement between the two bones and prevent back pain. Once they’re fused, they no longer move like they used to. This keeps you from stretching nearby nerves, ligaments, and muscles that may have caused discomfort.
Spinal fusion involves techniques designed to mimic the normal healing process of broken bones. During spinal fusion, your surgeon places bone or a bonelike material within the space between two spinal vertebrae. Metal plates, screws and rods may be used to hold the vertebrae together, so they can heal into one solid unit. Read more
Work-from-Home Ergonomics 101: Setting Up Your Remote Office
in Ergonomics, Working From Home- TipsFrom Rachel Pelta at FlexJobs
Since many of us are working at home right now (and weren’t expecting it), lots of people are improvising their “workstation.” For some, that means working at a desk, and for others, that means sitting on the couch or commandeering the kitchen table during work hours.
We’ve got some advice on how to set up an ergonomic workspace at home. While it’s best if you can buy the right equipment, that doesn’t mean you have to. Sometimes simple works, so we’ve included some DIY work-from-home ergonomic hacks you can use with things you’ve probably got at home. Read more
20 Tips for Working from Home
in COVID-19, Working From Home- TipsWe found this great article on PCMag. by Jill Duffy and wanted to share… Great tips for working from home!
The outbreak of the coronavirus has more people working from home than ever. If you’re new to working remotely, these tips from a home-office pro can help you stay productive and maintain balance. Read more
What is Spinal Stenosis?
in Spinal Stenosis, Spinal Surgery, SpineCervical Spinal Stenosis
Spinal stenosis is a condition, mostly in adults 50 and older, in which your spinal canal starts to narrow. This can cause pain and other problems.
Your spine is made up of a series of connected bones (or “vertebrae”) and shock-absorbing discs. It protects your spinal cord, a key part of the central nervous system that connects the brain to the body. The cord rests in the canal formed by your vertebrae.
For most people, the stenosis results from changes because of arthritis. The spinal canal may narrow. The open spaces between the vertebrae may start to get smaller. The tightness can pinch the spinal cord or the nerves around it, causing pain, tingling, or numbness in your legs, arms, or torso. Read more