Knee surgeries linked to obesity
Running, jumping, bending and even the simple task of walking are all actions that require the use of your knees. These essential hinge joints are a combination of bones, muscles, ligaments and tendons working together to provide large range of movement.
It’s safe to say that knees are one of the most important body parts required for active living and should not be taken for granted.
In recent years, however, people’s delicate knees have undergone more replacement surgeries than ever before with numbers more than tripling between 1993 and 2009. A recent study published in the June 2014 Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery(JBJS) has linked this spike to the increasing number of overweight or obese individuals in the U.S.
Before concluding their results, researchers reviewed at least 10 years of national data to rule out other possible factors. Data included the number of knee replacements, length of hospital stay, in-hospital mortality and orthopedic workforce trends.
“We found that this differential growth rate in total knee replacement procedures could not be attributed to changes in physician or hospital payments, length of hospital stays, in-hospital death rates, or surgical work force characteristics,” said lead study author Peter B. Derman, in a statement.
Further research revealed that the increase in volume of overweight individuals (those having a Body Mass Index greater than 25), accounted for 95 percent of the increased demand for knee replacements.
The study also highlighted that younger patients are especially being affected by this relationship as those ageing from 18 to 64 are experiencing a faster climb in overweight conditions compared to those ages 65 and older. As a result, the number of younger patients undergoing knee replacements rose 56 percent between 1993 and 2009.
“We already know the more stress a bone’s joint experiences, the shorter its lifespan as it wears down,” says Dr. Paul DeHaan, an orthopedic surgeon on staff at Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital in Barrington, Ill. “This study emphasizes how easily extra pounds can exhaust a knee joint to the point of surgical replacement. In fact, every pound in excess of your normal weight adds about three additional pounds of pressure on your knee each time you take a step.”
“As obesity rates continue to rise, we can expect the demand for knee replacement surgery to increase as well,” Dr. DeHaan adds. “To prevent this problem, people need to not only stay at healthy weights, but should also try to regularly stretch, strengthen leg muscles and wear proper shoes.”
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health enews staff is a group of experienced writers from our Advocate Health Care and Aurora Health Care sites, which also includes freelance or intern writers.
I would have that this was common sense, that obesity would put undue strain on knees – and ankles, hips, and back. Oh, well, I guess medical tests very often just confirm what everybody really knows in the first place, but the tests cost money and common sense doesn’t.
I wonder if this study should be expanded to include what type of activities people had before knee replacement. Starting in my mid-50’s knee pain occurred with my BMI well under 25. Had arthroscopic meniscus/cartlige repair which worked well for about 7-8 years, then a second scope, then “joint oil” injections which lasted for about 14 months. I think the key is to ask what was your life style before severe knee pain. I my case, high school football, baseball, tennis etc. After starting a family, tennis running/jogging, walking the dog, softball,treadmills when on the road travelling for business. Then playing , running, sprints, baseball with the grand kids.
Maybe as Indiana Jones said in Raiders of the Lost Ark – ” it’s not the age, it’s the mileage”.
Wyatt is right. I’m 62. I spent 2 hours plus daily on Chicago Board of ED & CPD asphalt from age 8 through 18 playing 12″ & 16″ softball, touch football, basketball, and such to tear my right knee’s meniscus in 3rd grade; more tears in 8th and knee pain on Basketball courts ever since. I stayed on wood courts, Tennis courts and Bicycle rides at speed with pace lines (18 to 25 mph) at ages 18 to the present. Last cartilage tear in left knee in my forties. I received a diagnosis of Ankylosing Spondylitis at age 28 after severe back, butt, and leg pain from age 18. That’s when tissue typing testing came into being through orthopedic docs @ testing hospitals with super lab techs ( like my sister). I’ve Ben typed with a label of HB27 and fall into the grouping ‘male, onset in college, sports nut…
What about people like me who had arthroscopic surgery of my right knee and kept on dedicated exercise program of 90 minutes of exercise every other day that incorporated exercises learned from physical therapy and still got very bad osteoarthritis.The 90 minutes of exercise includes all muscles of the body. Why can’t very bad osteoarthritis be the culprit instead of obesity as reason for a knee replacement?