Joint pain, “crunching” in the knees, is common during strength training. The main reason here will be mechanical since heavyweights put pressure on the rubbing parts of the bone junction in the joint and thereby exert increased friction on the cartilaginous coating, which is designed to reduce this friction.
If strength training is a prerequisite for joint problems, which is called arthritis, then the logical medical recommendation seems to be to remove this very mechanical irritation. However, if we take into account that arthritis also develops for other reasons, in particular, with age, and the prerequisites for its development are hyperkinesia (decrease in the volume of movement), deterioration in synovial secretion, then the area for solving problems with joint crunch lies not in stopping physical activities and, in particular, the rejection of squats, and in the general prevention of problems in the development of arthritis.
Osteoarthritis is a joint disease caused by cartilage damage. Cartilage tissue is replaced by bone, and the degree of friction of the articular surfaces increases, which causes pain.
Articular cartilage has a smooth surface, similar to glass. The cartilage needs to be as smooth as possible, “glassy” since it is precisely such a coating that will have minimal friction of the bones in the joint. The thickness of the cartilage is only 2.5 – 4 mm, it has no blood vessels and its nutrition is carried out through the intra-articular fluid, which is called synovia. Those. It is impossible to solve the problem of cartilage regeneration in a simplified way by eating a pill of some chondroprotective – there is no blood supply to the cartilage tissue and the nutrition of the intraarticular surfaces consists in increasing the release of synovia, and this occurs only with an increase in the motor function of the joint. Those failures or reduction of movement in the joint is not a solution to the problem, but its creation.
Synovia is formed from the blood plasma in the area surrounding the joint – in the joint capsule. For synovia to be produced, it is necessary to ensure good blood flow to the joint area – corny, this is a thorough warm-up and training in a good number of repetitions for this area.
The outflow of decay products from the joint capsule is carried out through the lymph. To do this in training, you need a post-workout hitch. It is necessary to ensure that the fluid filling of the joint area decreases so that the decay products leave the joint area.
Third, arthritis in 90% of cases is the so-called. Regional arthritis. It develops along the edges of the cartilage and the reason for this is the symposium’s uneven nutrition of parts of the cartilage. Uneven nutrition, in turn, occurs due to the so-called. Hyperkinesia – a decrease in the range of motion in the joint. If we switch to practice, then the movement in the knee joint should be complete. Squatting up to an angle of 90 * is possible and necessary in powerlifting competitions, for the prevention of arthritis of the knee joints, the movement should be with the maximum possible range of motion.
Summing up all of the above, we can say that the prevention of joint pain (arthritis) will be:
Thorough workout.
Full range of motion.
Mandatory stop.
Wise use of “big” weights.
Sports nutrition supplements that may be helpful:
Hyaluronic acid – a synovia component- increases the symposium’s hydration, i.e. fills the joint with water and thereby reduces the rubbing moment in the joint.
Vitamin C is involved as a coenzyme in the synthesis of connective tissue.