Strength Training
Muscle Protects the Knee
Stronger thigh muscles can prevent knee replacement surgery. Research shows that strength training significantly reduces the risk.
Strength Training
Stronger thigh muscles can prevent knee replacement surgery. Research shows that strength training significantly reduces the risk.
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Many years ago, a respected doctor wrote in a blog post under the heading "Strength Reduces Pain" that a study had identified "muscle weakness as a causal factor of arthritis."
Now, about a decade and a half later, this finding has been confirmed once again. Science magazine ScienceDaily reports it this way:
Stronger thigh muscles can prevent knee replacement surgery
In a nationwide study commissioned by the National Institutes of Health – the highest health authority in the United States – researchers examined 134 participants, half of whom received a "new knee."
Through detailed measurements, the researchers concluded that the volume of thigh muscle was significantly associated with a lower probability of knee replacement surgery.
In short: the stronger the thigh, the lower the risk of a damaged knee.
In the study, this applied to both the muscles on the front and back of the thigh. This means you must actually train to engage all the thigh muscles.
This was also crucial according to the study: the ratio of the muscle groups to one another. This is another advantage of strength training—at least for those who train somewhat balanced and work all muscle groups.
Many people believe in a religion or in a God. Often they don't understand that it's really about deep trust in life or in something. The English term "faith" is more fitting than the German word Glaube.
In our culture, belief is somewhat negatively charged. In reality, it's a prerequisite for good things happening to us. Because only those who believe actually do.
This is always well illustrated by the example of sport. Everyone who does sport believes that good things will come if you push yourself a little. None of us read a biochemistry textbook first (or did we?).
We don't know exactly how sport works in its effects—science won't be able to tell us that precisely in 20, 30, or 40 years either, simply because the biochemical basis for it is far too complex…
Yet research shows us again and again that something as simple as sport can spare us even serious diseases or—as shown here—expensive operations.
Many people simply don't believe in it.
Perhaps someday schools will offer a subject called "Strength Training." How do you move a barbell correctly? How do you do bench press, squats, and deadlifts? That would be sustainable education—and a blessing for society.
In the meantime, we prefer to focus on the here and now. You can start with sport today, specifically: strength training. Most of us: right now.
Take a step back from your desk and into a squat. And back up. We all could do that once, even at the age of 1-2 years. You don't even need a guide for that.
ScienceDaily. (n.d.). Stronger thigh muscles may prevent knee replacement surgery.
