Being overweight or obese adds stress to the knee joints
Other causes of knee pain can include being overweight or obese, which increases stress on the knee joints and also increases risk of osteoarthritis.
- According to the Johns Hopkins Arthritis Center, even 10 extra pounds of body weight can place a significant strain on arthritic knee joints.
- A force of between three and six times one’s body weight presses into the knee when you’re walking. That means for every extra 10 pounds you weigh, an additional 30 – 60 pounds of force is put on your knees with each step!
- Data from the first National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (HANES I) demonstrated that overweight women have nearly 4 times the risk of developing knee osteoarthritis compared to non-obese women. For overweight men, the risk is nearly 5 times greater!
- Losing as few as 11 pounds can reduce the risk of developing knee osteoarthritis by 50 percent in some people.
- Severely overweight people undergoing knee joint replacement may be more likely to suffer from failure of the replacement joint.
These statistics point to the same result: Controlling body weight is key to slowing the progression of osteoarthritis in weight-bearing joints such as the knees. More on Arthritis, Obesity and Weight Loss.
