Health & Medicine
2007-05-01 16:21:00
‘Arthritis’ can be a catchall term
QUESTION: I have constant back pain and have been told that I have arthritis. Is there anything you can do to help?
Answer: When I was young, I often heard my grandparents refer to “Old Arthur” when they were having achy or painful joints. In those days when you heard “Old Arthur was back in town”, you knew that granddad wasn’t going to be playing much golf that week.
There are many misconceptions about the condition termed “arthritis”. Arthritis has become a catchall term for anyone that has chronic joint pain. It is often misdiagnosed and greatly misunderstood. Most patients who suffer from arthritis are told they just have to live with the pain or take drugs. There are better options in many cases.
There are different types of arthritis and that creates a lot of the confusion on the subject. Degenerative osteoarthritis is the type that is the most common, and is often confused with other types of arthritis, such as rheumatoid arthritis. Rheumatoid arthritis along with a list of other similar arthritic diseases are caused by our body’s own immune system attacking our joint tissues. These conditions can affect our entire body, as our own immune system goes on the attack. These types of arthritis are truly a disease process which can also cause damage not only to joint tissues but can also cause damage to other organs and tissues in more severe cases. Fortunately, those types of arthritis are not nearly as common as the “Old Arthur” that most people are referring too.
Osteoarthritis, which is referred to as OA, is not actually a disease process. More accurately described, OA is actually caused by repeated stress to involved joints. In simpler terms OA is the arthritis that is caused by wear and tear. It will affect all of us in varying degrees, as we continue to log more and more mileage on our bodies throughout our lifetime. Because of this, it is often misrepresented as a normal part of aging. In reality, OA is not a normal part of aging if we make proper decisions throughout our lifetimes to make the health of our joints a priority. It is labeled as a condition affecting the elderly, however if we look closer at this condition we begin to understand that the process of arthritis begins the moment we are born.
Since we live in an environment where gravity creates constant loading pressures on our bodies, it is a given that we will have stress on our spines and joints every day of our life. It doesn’t matter if you are sitting, standing, or lying down, pressures are constantly pressing and pulling on us. When you combine the loading pressure that gravity creates with other movements such as lifting, twisting, or stooping, then you can understand how the principles of leverage and force are greatly increased. As force increases, so does the stress on our bodies.
Because of this stress, our joints have certain mechanical properties to help us absorb those stresses. Each joint is designed to carry the weight of our bodies in a certain alignment, and each joint is to act like a shock absorber just like on a car. When our joints are healthy and functioning properly, those joints absorb our daily stresses efficiently and move freely. Unfortunately, those mechanical abilities begin to change as we go through life. As joints begin to loose their ability to absorb stress, gravity begins to break down the tissues inside the joints. As this process occurs over many years it eventually shows upon an X-ray as arthritis. In reality, those painful joints that are bothering you today, have actually been slowly developing over many years.
Looking at this condition from a broader prospective, it only makes sense that the better our joints work throughout our lifetime, the less wear and tear they will suffer. For over a hundred years, chiropractors have been practicing the science of improving joint mechanics. By improving joint mobility, alignment, and balance, our joints work more efficiently. Better joint function over a lifetime gives us a better chance of slowing or preventing joint stress as we age. Chiropractors are specialists in assessing the body’s mechanics; by finding those joints that are not mechanically sound and correcting those problems, which leads to, increased pressure and stress.
Recent advances in technology have given chiropractors another tool to help improve patients suffering from osteoarthritis. Spinal decompression therapy is a treatment designed to reduce pressure inside problematic joints. This reduction in pressure can create dramatic improvement in joint pain and stiffness. The treatments are non-invasive and require no drugs or surgery, and consist of a regimen of approximately 15 sessions on a decompression table. The treatments are very comfortable. Many patients fall asleep during the 20 minute treatments. For those who have put off taking care of their joints and are already suffering from arthritis, there is still hope. Decompression treatments have been proven to provide much relief for these conditions, but can also help with other spinal conditions such as pinched nerves, and bulging discs.
