Joints are important elements of the support and movement system and enable movement. All over the world, the number of people suffering from various joint diseases is increasing dramatically, and the patients are getting younger and younger. Almost a third of the population of Latvia has experienced joint pain during the year. Sometimes something hurts after more intense sports, but there are more and more patients whose pain becomes chronic. What can we do ourselves to make our joints last longer? Recommendations are provided by the ORTO clinic traumatologist and orthopedist, Andrejs Peredistijs, a doctor with more than 30 years of practical experience in traumatology, orthopedics and sports traumatology.
– What are the most common joint injuries?
– I work more with shoulders, knees and hips. Most of the injuries are related to everyday life, sports injuries are also common. But in principle, it is difficult to single out something, because I have very different patients.
-What lasting damage can injuries cause to joints?
-It is a premature wear and tear of the joints, which usually occurs in those who have had injuries from a young age or due to overuse. As a result, the so-called arthrosis occurs, and it does not matter in which joint. It is a problem that is most often observed in people over 35-40 years of age.
-What can everyone do to protect their joints from a young age? It is understandable that young people’s tissues are able to heal and regenerate faster even in cases of overload. On the other hand, when aging, repairing damage to cartilage, ligaments, and tendons takes longer and the consequences are more permanent.
– That’s right, our tissues cannot regenerate in time with age. Excessive loads were common for many in their youth, but as they get older, overloads damage the joints and the body in general. As you mentioned, cartilage, tendons, ligaments – all connective tissues suffer from it.
– Can something be done about this? We cannot turn back the years, as it is, we have to live like that!
-Age is hard to fight. In principle, all we can do is adapt and adapt. It is natural that there are people who are able to keep their body in good shape longer, but for the majority (I think they are about 90%) under heavy loads, regardless of whether they are related to sports, work or household, unfortunately, they have to adapt. When it comes to the joints in particular, any excessive load can lead to the fact that the joint also wears out prematurely or is damaged.
-Can we at least slow down the process by walking or running, being physically active or using nutritional supplements?
– I completely agree with that. Taking care of your body is the foundation of the basics. This can only be achieved through regular exercise. Whether it’s yoga, classes with a physiotherapist or pilates, which have also become very popular recently. Of course, I will not list all the possibilities. I don’t mean those sports where there is contact with opponents, because there is a real possibility of getting all kinds of injuries if people are amateurs. Other times they get too excited, especially in football, hockey, and as a rule they are men. They are the most frequent contingent in our clinic. So, regular exercise and preparing your body for all kinds of loads definitely reduces the risks of joint injuries and allows the body to last longer.
– But if, let’s say, a person moves less and less over the years, and says that he will not do anything, but will sit quietly so as not to hurt even more. How about in that situation?
– Modern physiotherapy is able to adapt exercises or, more precisely, adapt a person to specific exercises. No matter how old you are or in what condition you are, there are always ways to clean up your body. It’s a disclaimer that I gained weight because I couldn’t go to the gym or the gym for two years during Covid. You don’t need a gym to exercise, it’s enough if you have one horizontal surface at home on which you can do different types of exercises. Currently, the Internet is full of all kinds of offers on how to exercise and what to do. If there are no significant health problems, we can choose physical activities ourselves. But if there are any complaints, whatever, pain in the knee, shoulder or elsewhere, a physiotherapist is meant for such cases, who can draw up a program. All you have to do is get fit and exercise at least two or three times a week. Maybe not too much, maybe 20-30 minutes a day to devote to your body is enough.
-What are the first signs that the joints start to wear out?
– The primary is pain. Also, movement restrictions, the patient can no longer do what he was able to do before. These are the first signs. In such cases, it is really necessary to perform various types of available examinations, starting with X-ray and ending with magnetic resonance. It all depends on what the complaints are, which part of the body is affected. I think it is the specialist’s competence to prescribe the appropriate type of investigation to understand what is ultimately happening in that part of the body that makes the patient seek help.
-What about the pain?
-It is worse if the patient’s joints hurt at rest. This means that its problem is probably much more serious than just discomfort when moving. Often, pain during movement is associated with overuse, but if there are any degenerative changes, then the complaints are much more severe.
-What should be done immediately to stop or at least slow down this process – joint wear and tear?
-Regular exercise, weight control, treatment and combating of all kinds of side diseases. This also applies to other things related to proper eating, nutrition and supplement use.
– How to achieve that we can maintain the possible amplitude of movements throughout our life as long as possible?
– It would be enough if people moved all their joints every day, then everything would be fine. It is possible and not that difficult. Movement and exercise.
-What is the most important thing that everyone should know about their joints in order to preserve their basic elements – surfaces, bursa and cavity?
– The main thing is not to injure the joints. Of course, heavy professional sports, especially at a young age, are definitely not good for health. It is unambiguous. Yes, you should do sports, but everything should be in moderation. It all depends on one’s goals. Naturally, if he has been a professional, where the loads are huge, the risks are high. Then you really have to take into account that there could be problems in the future. But if we want to keep the support and movement system as long as possible, we need a reasonable load and regular exercise.
-What needs to be done to strengthen joint ligaments and muscles?
– It is not possible to improve the ligaments alone, you can only train the muscles. It is absolute physiology. Muscles lose strength over the years, so you need to exercise regularly to maintain their capacity. You can keep your joints in good shape by exercising and doing a variety of both stretching and strength exercises.
– How to maintain muscle tone and ensure that they work in harmony at all age stages, protecting the joints from overload and ensuring good blood supply to the surrounding tissues?
– Exactly what I already mentioned – there must be movements. If people want to be sure that everything is fine with them, at least once a year, maybe even twice, they should take a course of physiotherapy – 10 or 15 lessons. Now there is a trend that everyone who wants to be healthy has their own physiotherapist. It is also necessary to maintain and control weight, especially in the lower limbs: knees, hips, feet. Excess weight is a risk for diabetes, vascular damage. All this also worsens the blood supply, so the tissues wear out faster. Therefore, each of us who wants to live longer with our body should start exercising as soon as possible. But in reality, it turns out differently – usually until the age of 30, everyone was intensively involved in sports, but families, jobs appear, and they leave the sport. Then, at the age of 40-45, he wakes up and starts exercising very intensively. But only if you continue to exercise regularly in your 40s, you can also do sports in parallel, choosing a form of contact sports.
– You mentioned that you should go to a physiotherapist for some 10-15 lessons. The D-group does it like this – they come, for example, twice to a specialist, he shows the exercises, and the individual does the exercises at home. And then, let’s say, once every six months he sees a physiotherapist.
– Very correct, that is also an option. Many people just can’t bring themselves to exercise, so they need that physical therapist to whip them into doing something. Here you need willpower rather than a physiotherapist.
– How to take care of the strength of the bones themselves, so that the bones are dense enough and resistant to the load, especially if the joints have already started to wear out?
-The same physical, moderate and regular load contributes to the maintenance of bone density. As an example, I can mention people who have to walk with crutches for a long time, they develop so-called local osteoporosis, as a result of which the bone loses its density and causes problems. Therefore, in traumatology and orthopedics, the tendency is that fractures are fixed at the beginning, but it is also very important to start loading the limbs early, so that osteoporosis does not form in the bones. Bone density depends on how much we train the body.
-But if the process has already started, is it irreversible? Can we save something by starting to move more physically?
-Often, if joint wear and tear is irreversible, all we can do is slow down the process. We can only achieve this by doing the right thing. First of all, we visit a traumatologist and an orthopedist regularly – at least once every two or three years – for appropriate examinations. If this process has started and is related to age changes, then there is not much we can change. Second, we can balance the load. If the joints start to wear out, it is very important that the muscles are in good condition and the patient is able to live with this ailment.
-What are the most common joint problems in women and men after reaching the age of 40+?
-These are all kinds of degenerative changes. Namely, arthrosis in various manifestations, starting with cartilage damage, degenerative tendon damage around them, etc.
– Our body should receive all the necessary substances through nutrition, unfortunately this does not happen. What is your opinion on supplemental intake of vitamin D, vitamin C, magnesium, collagen and other active substances?
– If a person’s diet is complete, it is possible that he also receives enough of the vitamins he needs. But how many of us are ready to say that they really eat right, especially those who have some special diet or some special habits! If I ask, usually everyone answers that they eat at least three times a day, but the question is, what do they eat? Of course, none of us is 100% sure of the quality of our diet. Undoubtedly, in such cases, as well as when we get older and the absorption of nutrients in our body decreases, nutritional supplements, including vitamins, are necessary. However, no one counts or calculates the formulas how much vitamin C, D or any other vitamin, as well as magnesium, he has taken with his diet! Therefore, you should go to the pharmacy and buy some nutritional supplements or vitamins. In other words, we need to periodically supplement our daily diet with the substances we need.
– Please tell me what collagen is.
-It is a protein that is already present in our body and gives structure to all tissues, such as bones, ligaments, cartilage, muscles, etc. It makes up about 25% of all proteins in the body. Collagen is like fibres, like filaments, that connect to other structures and form connective tissue. Our body produces collagen by itself, but as the years go by and the body gradually ages, the amount of collagen decreases, so it is believed that it should be taken extra from the age of 25.
About 28 types of collagen have been discovered. Collagen types I, II, III, and IV are mostly found in our body. About 90% of all collagen in our body consists of type I – it is found in the skin, bones, ligaments, and joints. On the other hand, type II collagen is found in cartilage, and type III – in muscles.
-You mentioned that it is important not to forget about supplements and vitamins. What exactly do our muscles, bones and joints need?
– A comprehensive complex consisting of type 2 new generation native collagen, magnesium and vitamin D3 will be suitable for the full health of our support – movement apparatus. This would help reduce muscle pain and joint stiffness, as well as maintain bone health. At the same time, such a complex would increase physical endurance, reducing fatigue and weakness.
-What is the latest generation type II collagen?
-Non-denatured type II collagen is minimally processed at low temperatures to keep its peptides largely intact. Natural collagen has a triple helix structure and can only be obtained from chicken cartilage. In this way, successively improving the health of the joints and reducing the inflammation in the joints. Directly hydrolyzed collagen in higher doses (40mg) can reduce joint pain by supplying amino acids used to repair damaged tissue.
-What should you pay attention to when choosing preventive measures for joint health?
– People still haven’t figured out how to fight the natural aging process in the body. There are even different types of clinics that fight against aging, but top alone is not enough, because all this is limited to the fact that it helps us maintain a normal appearance, but it is quite difficult to change the physiology itself. To a large extent, a lot also depends on what kind of genes a person has, it is not for nothing that one person ages faster, the other more slowly. There is nothing better for our body than exercise right now. Physiotherapists have proven this more than once. Those who exercise, especially Asians such as those in China or Japan, generally have much better joints than those living in Europe or North America. It may also be related to eating habits, lifestyle and culture. For today’s people, 15-20 minutes of exercise every day would certainly be beneficial. If the diet were adjusted, a lot of patients’ problems could be solved.