People at risk

• The athletes, in whom the knee is very stressed. The sports most at risk for the knee are running, cycling, football (soccer), but also sports such as dance, volleyball or basketball which require a lot of jumps.
• People who work in position squatting, kneeling or who wear heavy loads. This is the case, for example, electricians, masons, plumbers, floor coverers, market gardeners, etc.². A study, based on video recordings, has shown that 56% of the working time of floor covering layers have knee joint stress (and 26% for carpenters)⁹.
• People who often have to go up and down the stairs, such as delivery men or letter carriers.

Risk factors

The main risk factors for musculoskeletal problems are “biomechanical” factors, that is to say the too high frequency of a gesture, a posture, a friction, a support, a constraint, etc.

• Obesity or overweight. Being overweight significantly increases the load on the knee and can make pain worse;
• Poor alignment of the knee (knees turned in or out), as this increases friction in the joint;
• Insufficient development (atrophy) or a lack of flexibility of the muscles or tissues near the knee joint;
• A bad gait, a running technique inappropriate or the use of a bicycle poorly adapted The size of the rider can also be major risk factors.