Arthritis perhaps more than most conditions only worsens with time. To keep this simple we are talking here about the most common arthritis called Degenerative Joint Disease (DJD) or Osteoarthritis (OA). It’s also often referred to as “wear and tear” arthritis.
As has happened before in medicine some of the most commonly prescribed medications for DJD/OA either seem to actually worsen the arthritis or have other very significant dangers.
In addition to the issue of medications there is the problem that arthritis is much more a mechanical problem and if that is never addressed all the medication in the world won’t help you.
Arthritis Medications
A recent study found that commonly prescribed Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs) could be making the symptoms of osteoarthritis worse by causing greater wear of the joint cartilage.
Perhaps you remember the scandal around the Merck and Co. blockbuster arthritis drug VIOXX that was pulled from the market due to being linked to thousands of fatal heart attacks.
Another arthritis medication Celebrex increases the risk of heart attack and stroke.
While it is completely understandable to seek relief from the pain of arthritis perhaps the medications prescribed for arthritis relief pose more danger than benefits. Is there another approach that might reduce the need for medication?
What Causes OA/DJD Arthritis?
For many people the development of DJD is initiated or accelerated by trauma. It could be an athletic injury, a fall, or an auto collision. That trauma sets in motion the development of arthritis. But, what happens?
Let’s break it down a bit.
The arthritis we are discussing is wearing out of joints accompanied by inflammation. Looking at joints, what is their function? They exist to provide movement between two bones like the hinges of a door allow the door to move fully within the frame.
If those hinges become stuck and do not move, forcing that motion can damage the hinges. When joints lose some aspect of normal motion the body instinctively compensates by increasing the motion of joints to the right, left, above, or below the restricted joint.
This results in an imbalance with some joints not moving enough and other joints compensating and moving more than normal. Over time the joints that compensate by moving more become inflamed. Over a long time this excess motion creates instability that the body attempts to correct by starting to fuse those bones together.
This is the course of development of OA/DJD. Yes, there is inflammation that causes pain. But, the real problem is the imbalance and altered mechanics of the joints. Over time as one joint becomes arthritic other joints compensate and eventually also become arthritic as well.
It’s a Mechanical Problem!
Anywhere in life if you want to correct a problem the solution should match the nature of the problem. For example Type 1 Diabetes is a problem with the hormone insulin and the solution is to add insulin. A fracture is a problem with a loss of integrity of a bone and the solution is to stabilize the bone so it can heal.
Osteoarthritis and Degenerative Joint Disease are mechanical problems. A loss of normal function of joints over time results in accelerated and uneven degeneration of joints. This process causes more and more imbalance further accelerating the process of degeneration.
When we experience pain we tend to instinctively limit our movement but this is terrible for joints. Joints are intended to move and when they don’t move they become stiff and inflamed.
A chemical problem needs a chemical solution!
But, a chemical solution like a drug cannot possibly solve a mechanical problem. And, as we discussed, the common drugs taken for relief of arthritis pain can actually worsen the arthritis. Great for the drug manufacturers but not so great for you.
How Can Chiropractic Help with Arthritis?
First, what does chiropractic do?
The purpose of chiropractic is to help bring the body back to a greater state of balance. Overall the intention is to restore balance to the nervous system but the means of doing this is to restore balance to the spine and pelvis.
What does it mean to restore balance to the spine and pelvis?
- Level Pelvis: from the front or behind your pelvis should be level. You can check this out by having someone put a hand on each side of the top of your pelvis and tell you if one side is higher than the other.
If your pelvis is unlevel you are putting additional stress on your hips, pelvis and lumbar spine. Leveling the pelvis is my first priority when working with anyone.
- Sacroiliac Joint (SI) Function: the joints of the pelvis are the sacroiliac joints. The pelvis supports all the weight of your upper body and dissipates the force from your legs and hips as you walk.
When the sacroiliac joints lose some motion it causes compensations to the other SI joint, the hips, and the lumbar spine.
- Lumbar Spine Joint Motion: as you walk there is continual movement from the hips to the pelvis to the lumbar spine. If any area loses mobility it experiences a marked increase in forces through those joints. Over time this is the repetitive wear and tear that causes arthritis.
The focus of chiropractic is to identify the areas that are out of balance and/or have lost normal motion. Then, assuming the process of degeneration has not advanced too far the action is to start to restore that motion.
It takes many years, even decades for imbalances and restricted motion to show up as arthritis. This is a long standing condition that has overcome the body’s ability to maintain balance. As a result it takes some time and repetition to restore balance and motion.
A good analogy is exercise. If you were completely out of shape and wanted to run a marathon you wouldn’t go out on the first day and run 26 miles. If you did, you wouldn’t be able to walk for a week! No, you would run 5 or 6 days a week and slowly build up.
The same holds true for restoring lost function to the body. It is a process and processes require time and repetition.
What Your Doctor Doesn’t Know!
Our society has put doctors on pedestals and we have been led to believe they know it all. The reality is quite different. They know a lot about what they have been trained in but often very little about anything else.
They understand:
- Illness
- Disease
- Pharmaceutical Drugs
- Injections
- Surgery
- Radiation
They have little real understanding about:
- Health and how to optimize it
- Mechanical problems and their solution
Osteoarthritis or Degenerative Joint Disease are mechanical and structural problems. If the joint gets bad enough there is one doctor, the orthopedic surgeon who can do something. They can fuse or replace the joint if possible with an artificial joint. But, there is nothing like the real thing.
Medical doctors do not understand mechanical problems and this is highlighted by their continued prescription of drugs in an attempt to treat them. And, as was mentioned earlier, some of these drugs actually make the arthritis worse.
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