Every year there are stair climbing competitions all over the country. One of the most famous is the climbing competition of Taiwan 101 Building. Even the Internet still circulates: [New England Journal > study shows that you can live 4 seconds more for each step you climb]. At the same time, More people have the habit of climbing mountains at ordinary times, Since many hills in the city now have stone steps built for climbers, So this kind of mountain climbing is basically the same as climbing stairs. They think that it can not only exercise the body, You can also enjoy the beautiful scenery and cultivate your sentiment. However, Recently, another saying has spread in WeChat circle: [Orthopedic doctors describe climbing stairs as the dumbest exercise, and it is better to stand still than climbing stairs or mountains, because climbing stairs will cause serious damage to knee joints, pain of climbing stairs and even irreversible osteoarthritis.] So, what is the truth? Climb the stairs, increase the load on articular cartilage. Answer this question. We need to look at the what effect of climbing stairs on our knee joints first. Even a junior high school student can easily calculate, In order to get up these stairs, Quadriceps femoris needs to produce almost 200 kg of pulling force-for simplicity and ease of understanding, Let’s just omit the transition from mass to force. In fact, This is not the pressure between meniscus and tibial plateau and femoral condyle. If we consider the reaction force of the ground, that is, the support force of the ground to the human being, Then the above pressure will reach 280 kg. In addition, The pulling force produced by the quadriceps femoris when climbing stairs, Change the direction of the force through the patella, Will press the patella toward the patellofemoral joint surface, It also produces about 280 kg of pressure on the patellofemoral articular surface. In short, Every step up the stairs, The cartilaginous surface of our knee joint will bear 4 times more pressure than our body weight. So, If we look at it only mechanically, Every time I climb the stairs, It is a huge compression and wear on the patellofemoral cartilage surface and tibial femoral cartilage surface. However, the articular cartilage surface has no blood supply, Once damaged, It cannot be repaired. Therefore, We can clearly feel it in our daily life. People who work more physically and use more legs when they are young are more likely to suffer from knee joint pain, knee joint degeneration earlier and osteoarthritis. It is no wonder that many orthopaedic doctors even say [there is an elevator, never climb stairs]. Climbing stairs and exercising heart and lung function have two aspects in everything. Is climbing stairs really not good at all? Of course not. Although climbing stairs is hardly good for the knee joint, But it has a very good training effect on cardiopulmonary function. Generally speaking, we think that, Climbing stairs is a moderate exercise, It consumes three times as much energy as walking at 4 kilometers per hour. Therefore, Climbing stairs continuously for more than 30-40 minutes (basically equivalent to climbing a mountain) is a very good cardiopulmonary endurance exercise. It is very good for improving heart and lung function. In addition, Because climbing stairs is a very convenient exercise, We can combine sports with our daily work and life. Even if you can’t keep climbing stairs to exercise your heart and lung function, The accumulated number of stairs climbing every day can also consume enough energy, which is a good way to exercise for friends who want to lose weight and diabetics. It is both good and bad to let weight decide. How do we choose between the two contradictory aspects of climbing stairs at the same time? We mainly let weight have the final say. Lower age, lower weight: Knee joint stability is relatively good, but also hope to maintain good cardiopulmonary endurance, Or want to maintain a normal weight, You can choose mountain climbing. If you don’t have enough exercise time, You can also climb stairs after working and living every day, which is not limited. Younger age and heavier weight: if there is no medical history of knee joint injury, joint stability is better, it is still possible to climb stairs occasionally in working and living. However, it is not recommended to use mountain climbing to lose weight or cardiopulmonary endurance training. If conditions permit, you can choose swimming. No conditions, You can also take a brisk walk or ride a bicycle on the flat ground for more than 40 minutes at a time. Lower your weight first, Then climb the mountain. I’m overweight, Or older, already have knee joint pain, degeneration: For such people, Climbing stairs is indeed [the dumbest sport], Climbing stairs should be avoided at all times, Not to mention mountain climbing. They are more suitable for sports, Or swimming or brisk walking. Finally, Tell me about my own choice. As a 40-year-old man of normal weight, Although I am confident that the muscle strength around my knee joint is good and the stability of my knee joint is good, However, the principle I gave myself was also [can take the elevator and never climb the stairs]. Because I have already spent special time on knee joint stability training and cardiopulmonary endurance training every week. Therefore, I don’t want to bear the slight damage to my knee joint caused by climbing stairs occasionally in my daily work and life, so I made this choice. What is your choice?
