The most common type of arthritis is called osteoarthritis or degenerative arthritis. It’s caused by wear and tear over time. What most people don’t appreciate or understand is how preventable this is. 

What most people don’t realize is that this arthritis is largely preventable. And, even if it has started, the correct care can slow it down dramatically. 

When this happens in the hips the solution is a hip replacement surgery. While that’s a godsend for someone experiencing advanced degenerative hip arthritis, there is nothing as good as the original equipment. 

Structure vs Function

In medicine the doctors that deal with degenerative arthritis are either Rheumatologists or Orthopedists. Their focus is largely on the structure and inflammation of the joint rather than the function of the joints. 

Rheumatologists manage degenerative arthritic pain using medication that is aimed at the pain and/or inflammation. When the joint gets bad enough, especially knees and hips, the orthopedist steps in for a joint replacement. 

In medicine no attention is paid to the quality of how the joints are functioning. No effort is made toward improving function. The focus is either on controlling the symptoms of pain or replacing the damaged joint. 

Meaning of Arthritis Pain

If you have arthritis pain your motivation is to get out of pain. The pain is a limitation on your ability to perform at home, at work, and at leisure. Pain is a great motivator.

But, what most doctors fail to appreciate is that the attempts to reduce or eliminate the pain is often a significant factor in the progressive joint degeneration. That’s right, focusing only on the pain is likely to worsen the arthritis over time. Here’s how:

• A study showed that anti-inflammatory pain meds like NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) actually worsen arthritis inflammation. 
• Covering up the pain allows the mechanical imbalances of the joints to worsen over time, further accelerating the degeneration of the joints.

While managing pain might be essential it is important to understand the consequences of focusing only on the pain. 

Why does degenerative arthritis develop?

Sometimes the cause is trauma to the joint(s). This could be from an athletic injury, a work injury, a fall, a car accident or something else. The injury likely occurred decades before the onset of any arthritis pain. 

The trauma causes an imbalance in the joint mechanics that sets the stage for more stress on some joints than others. This is why one hip wears out at a much accelerated rate compared to the other hip. 

It doesn’t take significant trauma to alter the joint mechanics, so you might be wondering what happened in the absence of any significant accident. Just as traumatic is micro-trauma over a long time. 

Here’s a mechanical analogy:

If you put new tires on a vehicle you expect to get the guaranteed mileage from the tires. But, if the front end is not aligned and the wheels are not balanced, those tires will wear out prematurely. 

You won’t notice the wear at 100 miles or even 1000 miles, but at some point those tires will have wear far greater than expected. 

But, what if…

After a few thousand miles you balanced the wheels and aligned the front end. What do you think would happen if you restored the balance? Those tires wouldn’t last as long as they were intended…

…but they also would not wear out as quickly as if you left everything imbalanced. 

The same thing happens with your joints.

4 Critical Ways Chiropractic Can Help

So how can chiropractic help if you have arthritis pain?

Critical Way #1: Structural Balance – the first place to start is to establish balance in your structure. We want your pelvis to be level when you are standing or sitting. This is your foundation. If it is not level and balanced you are transmitting additional stress to the joints below, the pelvic joint or Sacroiliac Joints, and the lumbar spine. 

Normal motion is like nutrition for joints and when we start to establish structural balance we take a big step to re-establishing healthy joint motion. 

Critical Way #2: Spinal & Pelvic Joint Mobility – the next goal is to establish proper motion to the hips, pelvis, and spine. Joints require movement for nutrition and lubrication. When joints lose some of their range of motion it starts the cycle of inflammation and pain. When movement is restored it reverses this and lowers pain.

Joints that move properly along with structural balance, are joints that do not wear out at an accelerated rate. 

Critical Way #3: Remodel Fibrotic Joint Tissue – as joints lose their motion all the tissues around the joint – muscles, ligaments, joint capsules – tighten up in response to the restricted motion. Unless these restricted tissues are stretched the joint motion cannot be maintained. This is where specific chiropractic adjustments help stretch tightened tissues and restore joint mobility long term. 

Critical Way #4: Activation of Proper Muscles & Movements – with pain and joint restriction we naturally adopt postures and movement patterns to help us to continue to move as well as possible. Unfortunately, these altered postures and movements cause additional compensations which accelerate the imbalances and further the degeneration. Along with restoring motion we must minimize movements and positions that add unnecessary stress to the joints. 

Degenerative arthritis is a mechanical problem and the medical attempts to manage it and solve it with pharmaceuticals is destined for failure. Not only does it not work but it actually causes a worsening of the very condition it is treating. 

Chiropractic is the only healthcare discipline whose training is in the restoration of normal joint mechanics. Restoring joints to as normal movement and function as possible is the most effective way to reduce arthritis pain and slow the degenerative process. 

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