Older men who ignore knee pain risk worse problems

By Kathryn Doyle NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Shrugging off chronic knee pain as an inevitable part of aging puts men in their 70s at risk for accelerated muscle loss, falls and generally reduced quality of life, a new study suggests. “This study confirms the findings of many studies indicating that chronic knee pain will seriously impact quality of life in older people,” lead author Marlene Franzen said. Franzen is an associate professor of physiotherapy at the University of Sydney in Australia. Nearly half of men over 70 have chronic knee pain, according to her team’s report in the journal in Age and Ageing.