The most common form of arthritis is typically osteoarthritis. It’s been nicknamed “everyone’s disease” because everyone, at some point, in their life will be affected by it. The degree and severity of the amount of inflammation, swelling and pain in the joints can be mitigated and varied with chiropractic care.
Remember, osteoarthritis shows up as swelling, tenderness in the joints, some erosion of the joint cartilage, a narrowing of the disc space, and bone spur formation. They all result from misalignment or poor mechanics in the joint. When the joint is moving smoothly, there’s absolutely no friction, and then everything mechanical goes smoothly. When you really think about it, a joint moves with the cartilage being lubricated by the synovial fluid a hundred times more efficiently than ice on ice. When you start to lose that efficiency, we gain more friction, and then we start to see degenerative changes.
Osteoarthritis can be coming from an imbalance in the hip, right? Because people go to a doctor and they say, “Oh, you need to have your left hip replaced. There’s so much arthritis in there.” But both hips are essentially the same age. How come they both didn’t degenerate at the same rate? That could be just a misalignment or an imbalance in the pelvis.
Sometimes, if I just hit a pothole with my car and I knock the front end out of alignment, if I bring the car in and get it aligned, I’m not going to wear the tires funny and stress the U-joints. But, if I just keep driving that car, and keep driving it fast, and drive it for miles and miles and miles without ever addressing the alignment, then I’m going to see the wear and tear on the tires and on the steering column.
So, in the body, it’s no different. Poor mechanics are going to lead to poor alignment, more friction, and lead to these arthritic changes. Getting your spine checked periodically to make sure everything’s in good alignment, and all the joints are moving freely through their complete range of motion is a great way to mitigate the effects of arthritis. And again, osteoarthritis affects almost everyone at certain times. When we take an x-ray in someone who’s 60 or 70, we’re always going to see some effect of osteoarthritis.
Osteoarthritis is the most common form of arthritis that can be helped with chiropractic care. But all the other types of arthritis can be helped as well. I want people to remember that chiropractic is not a cure. It’s not a panacea, it’s not going to fix everything, but it can certainly slow down the progression of arthritis, and make sure that we add life to your years, not just years to your life. It’s truly about the quality of your life, it’s not about the quantity. No one wants to be 85 years old, being broke, crippled, and alone. They want to be in good shape, experience joy, and have freedom of movement. So, chiropractic care, regular exercise, and good nutrition, are all pieces of the puzzle to make sure that arthritis doesn’t become part of your life and take over.
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