Interesting Facts about our Knees

Babies do not have the hard kneecaps that adults do – instead their knees are made up of soft cartilage to help the birthing process. Bony kneecaps only develop between the ages of two and six years old. By the age of ten to twelve years old, the kneecap is fully fused into a bone. 

Our fingerprints are unique and used for identification. What is less known is that everyone’s kneecaps are also unique. Don’t be surprised if your knees are used to identify you in the future.

When walking, our knees carry 1.5 times our body weight. So, for a 60kg person, the knees would be bearing 90kg of weight. When we walk up the hill or stairs, the stress is even greater - about 2 to 3 times our body weight. Keeping ourselves in a healthy body weight can help to protect our knees. 

Wearing high heels everyday can put our feet in an unnatural position - affecting the angle of the feet and forcing our weight forward. This misalignment keeps our knees tensed and puts continuous pressure on the kneecap, often resulting in knee problems.

Our knee is the largest and most complicated joint in our body. The knee comprises of four major bones: the femur, tibia, fibula and patella, and held together by tendons, ligaments and cartilage. All of these parts work together to help give us movement - allowing us to walk, jump, kick, dance, twist and turn.

Knees rely on muscles within the quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes, and calves to work together to stabilize the knee joint. Strengthening these muscles can help alleviate the daily weight-bearing stresses experienced by our knees.

A person who is overweight has a higher chance of getting knee osteoarthritis. Osteoarthritis is the wear and tear of the cartilage that cushions joints and it is the most common form of arthritis. Being overweight increases the stress in the knee joints causing them to wear out more quickly, accelerating knee osteoarthritis. 

Did you know that losing a pound of weight is equal to four pounds of weight lost for the knees? So, losing just 5 pounds can reduce the stress on the knees by 20 pounds.