It is not a matter of whether you need to be fit, but how much.
A new study has found that people with an unhealthy lifestyle are much more likely to have a sore or painful knee in the future.
The study, conducted by the University of Sydney’s SUNY Health Sciences Center and the University at Albany Department of Medicine, looked at data from the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council’s (NHMRC) Joint Replacement Programme (JRP) study, which is designed to track and monitor people with knee injuries in Australia.
The study looked at knee replacement rates among those with knee problems from the age of 12 to 55, and then compared them to people who had no knee problems at all.
In addition, it also looked at people’s knee pain and stiffness in relation to their knee health.
It found that knee pain rates were significantly higher among those who had knee problems.
It is the first time this has been shown.
The researchers then compared the joint replacement rates of people with and without knee problems to those of healthy people.
They found that while people with lower joint replacement levels had significantly lower knee pain scores, the joint replacements were not associated with lower knee stiffness scores.
“The association between knee joint replacement and joint stiffness is consistent with previous research,” said lead researcher Professor David Smith, from the University’s Department of Medicine.
“There is a good relationship between joint stiffness and knee pain.
We found that those who were at the lower end of the joint range had significantly higher joint stiffness scores, which may be because of increased stiffness in the knee joint.”
“This finding is in line with the previous research, showing that the incidence of knee pain was higher among people with joint problems than those with no knee injuries,” he said.
“It is a well-established finding, with previous studies showing that joint stiffness can be associated with injury severity and function.”
It was not the only study to show a link between joint replacement level and knee injury.
The Australian Sports Medicine Research Network (ASMRN) released a study in April that found joint replacement was linked to knee injury in people with chronic pain.
The results of that study, however, were based on self-reported data, not data from patients.
“These results suggest that the results of this study are not necessarily generalisable to the general population and do not reflect the prevalence of knee problems in people,” Associate Professor Ian Breen from ASMRN said.
The new study adds to previous research that shows people with hip and knee injuries have a higher incidence of joint replacement.
Dr David Smith said the findings of the study were a positive sign.
“This is a positive result because the association between joint dysfunction and knee function has been suggested in previous studies, with higher joint dysfunction being associated with a lower rate of knee function improvement,” he explained.
“The fact that joint dysfunction is associated with the incidence and severity of knee joint injury is a strong sign that people should take steps to address their pain problems.”
