Appropriately changing posture and the environment in daily life can prevent osteoarthritis and extend the life of the joints as long as possible.
How do you sit and work?
For young office workers who have to sit and work almost 8 hours a day, they should sit on a chair. There should be armrests to help in getting up easily. You should not sit with your legs crossed or raise your legs over each other like when sitting on the floor. This is because these positions are actually no different from sitting on the floor with your legs folded, with the legs crossed or squatting or sitting flatly on the floor. All of these positions increase friction on your knees and increase in more load on them. a result, the knees will deteriorate faster.
In addition, you should avoid sitting or standing still for a long time because when the knee joints stay in one position for a long time, cartilage, which normally already receives very little blood flow, suffers from even greater lack of nutrients and oxygen. Instead, you should change your posture, such as by getting up and walking around at least every 1-2 hours, or sitting while stretching your legs or kicking your legs gently, along with exercising your thigh muscles intermittently, etc.
As for househusbands and housewives who have to do all sorts of household chores and crafts such as taking care of children, preparing food, doing laundry or mopping the floor, it is important to avoid squatting. For example, when squatting to wash clothes by hand, no more than a few items should be washed at a time, and you should do so while sitting on a short stool and extend your knees on both sides, or else sit while in a chair or use a washing machine. In addition, you should not sit on the floor to iron clothes. Instead, you should sit in a chair or stand while ironing clothes.
These sitting positions increase risk of knee impacts, leading to greater knee damage:
- Sitting cross-legged.
- Squatting (squat-toilet position).
- Sitting with the knees folded and the feet tucked in.
- Sitting on the knees.
If it can be avoided, you should avoid sitting in the above positions, and if you begin to experience sharp sensations in the knee area, whether while standing or walking or sitting for a long time, or if the knees are bent more than 90 degrees, you should immediately consult a physical therapist or a doctor about exercising your muscles and taking care of symptoms until they subside.
