Thinking of Getting a Knee Replacement: Take a walk in the sun

According to scientists in Australia, walking in the sunshine could be a great way to delay your knee replacement.The findings claim that Vitamin D deficient people loose cartilage faster than those who are not vitamin D deficient .Sunlight is one of the best sources of vitamin D but the researchers warn there in Australia there seems to be a national trend of people avoiding the sun.

Tasmania, half the population is vitamin D deficient, and even people living in brighter parts of Australia, such as Queensland, are at risk of developing osteoarthritis in their knees.The head of the Musculoskeletal Unit at the Menzies Research Institute in Hobart, Professor Graeme Jones, has discovered that vitamin D keeps knee cartilage healthy.

"In summer you need five minutes of unprotected sun on your arms and face. Winter at this time of year you need about an hour a day in the middle of the day,"

Cartilage has vitamin D receptors, and while there is not much knowledge on exactly onwhat this vitamin D does in cartilage, but the results suggest that vitamin D helps cartilage metabolism, so it suggests cartilage is under hormonal control.that patients with healthy vitamin D levels maintained their cartilage for longer than those with a deficiency.

Sunshine and exercise could just be a very cheap prevention to an expensive health problem.
Professor Jones says more than two million Australians have osteoarthritis and treating them costs $9 billion a year.

The men and women he has studied are aged between 50 and 80 years old.

Read the entire findings at here