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Nearly 900,000 Americans are undergoing surgery for replacing the knee each year, according to Cleveland clinic . The majority of these surgeries are carried out on those suffering from knee osteoarthritis, a condition that affects more than 14 million In the United States and although it is common surgery, recovery is far from easy and complications are not unusual. When someone obtains a replacement of the knee earlier in life, there is also a better chance that he needs a second surgery on the road.

This is why doctors and scientists are continuously looking for alternative methods to treat knee osteoarthritis, from coral implants has mini-invasive injections . Now experts say that the simple fact of refining how you walk could save your knees.

In relation: Cortisone blows could worsen your knee arthritis, warn doctors .

What is knee osteoarthritis?

Before entering the science behind this last research, let's decompose exactly how knee osteoarthritis affects your joints.

"Knee osteoarthritis occurs when cartilage in your knee joint is breaking down, causing bone friction," explains Cleveland clinic . "This friction causes pain and swelling in your knee, causing stiffness."

Many cases are simply due to life for life, but being overweight, having past knee injuries or putting prolonged stress on your joints can increase your risk.

Knee osteoarthritis is a progressive condition, which means that it worsens over time. However, many processing options exist to help manage pain, including cortisone plans, knee gel plans and other injections, physiotherapy and knee hobs.

But when osteoarthritis is developing at a certain point, replacement of the knee is often the only remaining option.

In relation: Doctors share 10 ways that you silently damage your knees .

How can a change of walking delay a knee replacement?

A new study, published in the journal Rheumatology Lancet , studied how the angle of the foot during walking contributes to stress on joints and pain caused by osteoarthritis of the knee.

Researchers from Nyu Langone Health, the University of Utah and the University of Stanford have enlisted 68 men and women with light to moderate knee.

More than a year, the participants were invited to change the angle of their feet from 5 to 10 degrees when walking on a treadmill. The researchers then followed their self -declaced knee pain, their knee load (the forces acting on the joint, as determined by a computer program connected to the treadmill) and the cartilage microstructure via MRI scans.

"The results suggest that those trained to tilt their feet slightly inward or outside their natural alignment have undergone degeneration of slower cartilage in the inner part of their knee compared to those who have been encouraged to walk more frequently without changing their foot position," said a press release .

As New atlas Explain that this is important because the inner part of the knee joint is the most common place for osteoarthritis to develop, and it is exacerbated by regular walking.

In fact, those who have adjusted their foot angle experienced a 2.5 -point reduction in a 10 -point scale - the equivalent of taking over -the -counter pain medication.

In addition, "those who adjusted their approach reduced the maximum load in the knees by 4%, while those who kept their normal walking model increased their charge by more than 3%," added the press release.

Scientists note that more research is necessary, in particular by including individuals with obesity in experience. They also plan to use artificial intelligence to "identify the most effective walking method for patients with osteoarthritis".

"These results highlight the importance of personalizing treatment instead of adopting a unique approach to osteoarthritis," said the co-directed author Valentina Mazzoli , PHD, deputy professor in the NYU Grossman School of Medicine Radiology Department. "Although this strategy may seem difficult, recent progress in the detection of movement from different parts of the body using artificial intelligence can make it easier and faster than ever."