Hiking and Osteoarthritis: What's the Connection?A recent review on the topic of hiking and osteoarthritis caught my eye. It was published in the journal Arthritis Research and Therapy: Prevention of injury-related knee osteoarthritis, 2010, 12:215 edition. Always on the lookout for information on hiking related injuries, I gave it a thorough reading. There's a potential "golden nugget" of truth here for hikers. But first, let's define our terms. Osteoarthritis refers to wear-and-tear inflammation of the synovial (freely movable) joints of the body ("osteo" for bones, "arth" referring to joint, "itis" for inflammation). As hikers, we bear weight when we carry packs, as well as put our knee cartilage through vigorous usage, on every hike. Body weight comes into the equation as well. Carrying a few extra pounds in your pack, added to a few extra pounds on your skeletal frame, spells more work for your knee joints on every hike. This increases the potential for knee damage, which could lead to inflamed knee joints over time. The researchers, Charles R. Ratzlaff and Matthew H. Liang, are employed by the School of Population & Public Health in Vancouver, British Columbia. The authors declare no competing interests, meaning that they're not taking money from companies related to the diagnosis and treatment of arthritis. Their research was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, but also by the Molson Foundation and the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research. Now for their findings: joint injury will increase a person's risk of developing knee osteoarthritis. For example, they state that research shows that 50% of anterior cruciate ligament injuries or meniscal tears will develop knee osteoarthritis.
Here's a diagram of the knee How to explain this research finding? Well, the knee is a complicated joint, and bears weight as it maintains its mobility. Knees can go out of alignment, just as tires on a car do. This creates areas of "wear" on the cartilage (again, like tire tread fading with usage). If the meniscus is injured, load bearing and shock absorption will decrease while joint stability also decreases. If ligaments and the joint capsule are injured, pressure distribution across the cartilage will change, placing the precious, hard to regenerate cartilage at risk. Add in one more component: muscular reaction to knee injury. If your knee hurts, you're going to walk funny and begin to lose strength in the muscles of that thigh and leg. The relationship between the nerves and the muscles will change, and put the injured knee joint at risk for increased loads and shear forces when a person is caught off guard - getting out of bed in the morning and forgetting how painful the knee is, resulting in a lurch forward, for example. The authors of this research article counsel prevention, especially for young athletes. Sound advice, but perhaps that ship has sailed! If you are hiking with osteoarthritis, now what? Avoidance of weight gain will protect the knee. So will a conscious effort to insert daily load bearing activities into your daily schedule (moderate exercise such as walking or swimming) to protect your knees. So here's what hiking and osteoarthritis boils down to: If you've had a knee injury, you have to be extra-vigilant to prevent osteoarthritis in that joint. I'm sure you won't be surprised by the following sensible advice: Keep your weight within reasonable limits. Enjoy daily exercise to keep your joints lubricated and your muscles strong Eat well to keep your body capable of regenerating normal micro-trauma.And lace up those hiking boots whenever possible to keep osteoarthritis out of your life. Oh, and when you receive lovely little postcards from your joints (twinges, pain, limitations on range of motion, for example), it's time to consider some anti-inflammatory self care. Hiking and osteoarthritis can co-exist, but the good news is that there is a lot you can do to keep pain and inflammatory issues at bay. |
