Shall we go hiking together? Orthopedic doctor: Mountain climbing is 'the dumbest exercise'!

Recently, the suspenseful web drama "The Hidden Corner" has continued to heat up. All the leading actors are acting online, making everyone's back feel cold when they hear "Are you going to climb a mountain together?", and even netizens voted "Mountain Climbing" as the most terrifying activity of the year.

In fact, mountain climbing has long been considered a good aerobic exercise that helps build muscle groups in the thighs and buttocks and improves cardiorespiratory fitness.

But in the eyes of orthopaedic surgeons, mountain climbing is "the dumbest exercise" that can cause irreversible damage to the knee joint.

Why does mountain climbing hurt your knees?

First of all, the knee joint is the hinge of the leg, and the surrounding muscles are weak, mainly ligaments, but silently bear the weight of most of the human body, so the knee joint is most vulnerable to injury during sports.

When walking, the weight on the knees is about 2 times the body weight; when climbing, the weight on the knees increases to 3-4 times the body weight.

Therefore, if you use mountain climbing to exercise your body, you can imagine the degree of compression on the knee joint.

In addition, when climbing downhill, in addition to your own body weight, you have to bear the force of the downward thrust, which will further increase the burden on the knee joint.

Where did mountain climbing hurt the knee joint?

cartilage damage

Since knee cartilage has no vascular, lymphatic and nerve distribution, its regeneration and repair ability is poor.

Therefore, when knee cartilage is injured, there is no inflammatory reaction and regeneration, so that everyone jokes that articular cartilage is a "disposable product for the human body".

There was once a piece of news on the Internet: the knee cartilage of a senior ALICE friend was polished.

It is mentioned in the article that this senior traveler has a history of climbing mountains for nearly 20 years. When he came to the hospital for examination, he found that all the cartilage of his knee joint was completely polished, and he needed a total knee joint replacement surgery to solve it.

This also indirectly proves that if the knee cartilage is worn out, we can hardly expect it to grow back to its original shape.

Meniscus damage

The meniscus is composed of two fibrocartilaginous plates in a "C" shape, which play the role of increasing lubrication, nourishing joints and reducing friction.

Like all fibrocartilage, the meniscus is susceptible to sustained stress and acute trauma.

During mountain climbing, the knee joint is bent, the surrounding ligaments are loosened, the thigh will involuntarily twist laterally, and the meniscus will be worn away. After a long time, the meniscus will be torn.

Chondromalacia

If the knee joint cavity is compared to a room, the patellar cartilage is similar to the wall skin of our room, and the patella is softened, just like the room is soaked in water, the wall skin softens, peels off, and cracks.

Mechanical tests have shown that when a person bends the knee joint when climbing a mountain, the patella bears 3.3-4 times the body weight. It can be seen that mountain climbing is definitely a kind of damage to the patella.

How to detect knee joint abnormalities early?

It is recommended that you stop climbing immediately when your knee gives you the following signals:

Signal 1: There is a sound when the joint moves.

If the articular cartilage wears or degenerates, the bones under the cartilage at both ends will be exposed, and a "rustle" sound will be heard when touching each other;

If the meniscus is damaged, snapping or twisting may also occur.

Signal 2: Joint pain.

If the joint is heavily loaded and the friction is frequent, it will stimulate the nerve endings under the cartilage, making people feel pain, especially when going up and down the stairs, and the joint movement angle increases, the pain will become more obvious.

Signal three: joint movement is limited.

Once there is pain in joint movement, the human body will instinctively reduce the range of joint movement in order to avoid pain, resulting in limited joint movement.

Signal four: joint swelling.

Whether it is knee arthritis caused by articular cartilage wear, or aseptic inflammation caused by meniscus damage or ligament tearing, the synovium can be involved, causing joint effusion and swelling of the joint.

Prepare for the climb

get ready

It is best to choose professional sports shoes and hiking shoes, the size should be appropriate, and the soles, toes, and heels should not be under too much pressure; the clothes should be loose, preferably sportswear and mountaineering clothes.

Climbing posture is exquisite

Move the center of gravity forward when going up the mountain, lower the center of gravity back and slightly lower when going down the mountain, bend your knees slightly, and land lightly.

Some people will go down the mountain quickly in a hurry, so that the impact force on the knees can reach 5-8 times their body weight. It is recommended to walk a little slower than the flat ground.

Master the frequency of climbing

Under normal circumstances, it should not be more than 3 times a week. If the mountain road is too steep and difficult to travel, it is necessary to reduce the number of mountain climbs and use jogging and brisk walking instead.

Last but not least, be sure to warm up before climbing! warm up!

Let the knee joint warm up with a lighter amount of activity, overcome the viscosity of surrounding tissues, increase the stretch and elasticity of muscles and ligaments, and reduce the risk of injury.