Chiropractic Care and Arthritis
Are you looking for a more natural and holistic way to take the edge off of painful joints? The doctors at Modern Chiropractic Center in Boise can help. Chiropractic focuses on helping stiff and painful joints to move better thus reducing inflammation and stiffness from the joints and helping the nervous system to function better. Whether you have pain or stiffness within your spine or in your arms legs hands or feet, chiropractic adjustments are a natural safe and holistic way of helping you and your joints feel better. This goes for subluxations (misalignments) from falling down, from car accidents, from sports injuries, poor posture and ergonomics and even for those that think they have arthritis and those that actually do.
What is Arthritis? Arthritis is fairly common and is one of America’s most misunderstood diseases. Arthritis is basically inflammation of one or more joints which has been shown to cause discomfort, swelling or pain with some decreased range of motion. There are many different types of Arthritis but there are two very common types where routine chiropractic care has helped so many people. Those are Osteoarthritis and Rheumatoid arthritis. “If you have back or neck pain due to osteoarthritis, chiropractic is one of the safest therapies you can use, explains Scott Haldeman, MD, a neurologist in Santa Ana, California and Chairman Emeritus of the Research Council for the World Federation of Chiropractic.” (1)
How chiropractic can help is by providing a safe, non-invasive and non-addictive method to pain relief. The Chiropractors at Modern Chiropractic Center deliver a gentle adjustment to the joints when needed to decrease inflammation, improve motion and improve function to both the joints and the nervous system. By increasing the mobility of joints and improving the ability of your nervous system to do its job, your body will have greater ability to cope with or manage the symptoms commonly caused by rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis.
Chiropractic has even been found to help a specific joint even without treating that joint just by treating the surrounding areas. This may be helpful for those people that prefer that specific joints aren’t adjusted but still want relief. Here is an example. Dr Feschuk, a Chiropractor in Georgia has said, “If someone is having a flare in a knee that is causing him to walk awkwardly, it may lead to a secondary pain syndrome in the lower back. I would not treat an inflamed joint, but if I adjust the pelvis I may be able to reduce overall pain by 4 to 5 units on the 1-to-10 pain scale and make daily living activities easier.” (2)
The research is out there. “In a 2015 Gallup poll of more than 5,400 Americans, 60 percent believed chiropractic is an effective treatment for neck and back pain. It’s true that chiropractors manipulate, or adjust, the spine to improve pain and mobility, but the benefits may extend beyond the back. By using varying degrees of force in an effort to adjust misaligned joints, chiropractors try to improve the relationship between the spine and nervous system, which they believe may affect the function of all the organs and systems in the body.” “A 2010 report issued by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality found spinal manipulation is as effective as medication for low back pain. The same year, a British analysis of nearly 100 high-quality systematic reviews and randomized controlled trials found that manipulation was beneficial for acute and chronic low back pain, neck pain and knee osteoarthritis. And a 2013 study published in Osteoarthritis and Cartilage found that patient education combined with 12 chiropractic treatments (twice a week for six weeks) were more effective for hip OA than a daily stretching program or patient education alone. Reports from the chiropractor-led spine program at Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital in Plymouth, Mass., are also positive: “Most patients with bad backs experience significant pain relief in about five visits.” (3)
Now for those people that have an inflammatory arthritis, the same principles apply however here at Modern Chiropractic Center in Boise, we are more careful and gentle with the adjustments and we have many different ways to adjust. We also cater the exercises to each individual and recommend an anti inflammatory diet to also help reduce pain, inflammation and improve motion within the joints.
So if you or someone you know have been diagnosis with arthritis of any kind or are concerned about getting arthritis down the road, please call us at Modern Chiropractic Center in Boise to schedule a consultation to see how we can best help you.