The joints in our shoulders, knees, ankles, and elbows are all at risk of suffering from pain, damage, and injury. The pain in knee usually occurs from the damage of cartilage, tendons, bursae, ligaments, and the conjoining bones. Although knee pain is not always a medical emergency, but it can severely restrict the sufferer from performing daily activities or tasks and to even move freely. The knee joint allows our lower extremities and limbs to have a smooth and free movement and when the knee problems appear, this free movement I limited by pain. [1] There are numerous risk factors which contribute and also aggravate the knee pain including the following:
Smoking
Smoking is significantly harmful to every body part including the joints and bones. Heavy smokers tend to suffer from chronic knee pain later in their lives due to the weakening of their knee joints. Cigarette smoking has a direct link with chronic changes in the musculoskeletal conditions such as degenerative joint diseases and low-back pain. Moreover, there is an effect of smoking on the progression and pathogenesis of symptomatic knee pain and osteoarthritis. The males who smoke are at greater risk of developing osteoarthritis in the knee due to higher cartilage loss as compared to the men who do not smoke. In addition to the cartilage loss, the smokers experience more significant pain in their knees if they continue smoking in older age. [2]