SPORT CONS OSTEOARTHRITIS

All those who suffer from osteoarthritis, the wear of the cartilage that occurs with age and causes severe pain, know the dilemma: when playing sports, their joints are reluctant, and when they do nothing, it still worse! What to do?

Sport increases he risk of arthritis?

The sport submits the joint strain. With each movement, it creates pressures that crush the cartilage a few tenths of millimeters, causing discomfort that can turn pain. It has been shown by example that the thickness of the mantle that covers the cartilaginous tibial plateau decreased from 4 to 5% after only 5 km running. But the crash did not last and the cartilage regains its normal size within two hours after the end of the effort. In addition, this thinning is not proportional to the number of miles traveled. Thus, it can run 10, 20 or 40 kilometers, the loss will still only 4 to 5%. The runners have a priori little reason to worry ... in fact there are fewer victims ofosteoarthritis in their ranks than among former football players for example who regularly suffer from hip and knee.

Move against osteoarthritis

For years, the rest has been advocated to slow the degenerative process and thus theonset of osteoarthritis. Today, we know that the cartilage weakens when it ceases to be subject to the usual stresses. In addition, physical inactivity promotes weight gain, which increases the risk of osteoarthritis. In short, it is better to stay active. In an experiment conducted for two years on people of both sexes (57 years average age), it was shown that the loss of cartilage thickness measured by MRI at the knee was slower in those who, notwithstanding pain, kept an activity physics major. For specialists, thesport is "chondroprotective". Clearly, it protects the cartilage (*). And regardless of the discipline of choice is "in charge" (such as jogging, tennis, golf or dance sport) or as a "sport focused "(bike, swimming, water sports) . The simple fact seems to be active enough to keep the musculoskeletal system. The European and international recommendations now state thatphysical activity is indeed an essential component of non-pharmacological treatment ofosteoarthritis of the hip and knee, provided to avoid injuries which explains why certain practices sweetest are popular among surgeons: golf, hiking, jogging soft, biking, swimming.