Why are knee injuries so common?

Question

We as humans have been walking on our two feet for a long time and yet we have not adapted to it yet. Why is it that we still injure our knees so much?

Answer 1

One thing that no one has mentioned is how much longer humans are living today. The wear and tear on our knees goes on for almost three times as long as it did when humans first walked upright. It will take hundreds of thousands of years for our knees to adapt to this. (I wish it weren't this way. I just had my 13th knee surgery last week.)

Answer 2

I am having arthroscopic knee surgery tomorrow, and I could not believe what I did to my knee, but going through all this knee stuff, what happens is , in older people, the cartilage wears out, and is prone to tears, that I have ended up with. The problem seems to be that we do not develop the muscles in the leg properly to protect the knee. I live in Hawaii, and always wear slippers on non- working days, and they do not give the feet good support, and the knee really gets a workout. Remember, in the old days, the people did not live as long as we do now, so they had no knee problems. My job is working outside, and being on my feet all day, the knee cartilage gets worn out, and can slip forward, and can tear. The cartilage is our shock absorber between the 2 big bones in our leg, so when it goes, all hell breaks loose. Age is a big factor in knee injuries, and of course athletes, that run, play football, soccer, are all prone at one point of having knee injuries.

Answer 3

The knee joint is particularly vulnerable to injury from sports, accidents and arthritis. It supports a lot of the body weight; thus there is considerable wear and tear on the knee, even if one is not actively engaged in sports, such as running, etc. The knee is also susceptible to injuries from falls. When I was a kid, a skinned knee was the rule rather than the exception. I still bear scars from numerous skinned knees, and a couple years ago I fell right on the kneecap, and to this day still have water on the knee. I have a little squishy, spongy pad right over the kneecap. I guess that's nature's way of protecting it from further injury.

Answer 4

Well because most people don't walk right. Alot walk with their feet turned out which is extremely bad for your knees also hardly anyone has good posture, which has to do with how you walk. When people learn how to walk as our bodies were meant to then knee injuries won't be so common. Hope this helped!

Answer 5

The secret lies in the shoes we wear! Our feet are made to walk in sand and grass, but we have paved the world with concrete! We also spend long hours standing at 8+ hour jobs, and our poor feet end up with over pronation and collapsed arches, and to compensate, our knees and hips and back re adjust and start to wear down faster because they are moving in ways they shouldn't. Wear good shoes! Know your foot type, if your a pronator(foot rolls in) or supinator(foot rolls out), and get into a supportive running shoe to stabilize your body (Brooks and mizuno are some of the best brands!)

Answer 6

1. Its the way we walk. Humans are suppose to walk 'heel-toe-heel-toe", but most are not taught this when young so they grow a custom to walking their own way.

2. Wearing high-heels creates more tension on the knee sockets because of the angle the shoes.

3. Weight -- this is an huge issue because too much weight can cause the knees to become weaker.

Answer 7

The knee is the weakest joint in the body. the leg is a long extremety of the body and as we all know when something is long the easier it is to break and the knee is the joint the links our 2 parts of the leg

Answer 8

knee sustain majority of the weight of the body. obesity and/or age play a huge factor.
if you are young and have a knee injury it is most likely due to lack of stretching/warming or related to sports type injury.