Osteoarthritis is often called “wear and tear” arthritis. It results from the natural—and sometimes excessive—use of your body. While you cannot do anything to completely prevent wear and tear on your spine, knees, hips, ankles and other joints, you can help to slow the process through regular chiropractic care. You can also get some significant relief from the pain and stiffness that comes from osteoarthritis by getting your back and other joints adjusted.
Osteoarthritis is a condition that responds quite well to chiropractic. If you are currently suffering from osteoarthritis, or know someone who is, please consider chiropractic to relieve pain and improve mobility.
Table of Contents
What is Osteoarthritis?
The term “arthritis” refers to the inflammation of a joint. There are actually several hundred types of arthritis. Osteoarthritis—the most common type of arthritis—is a degenerative joint disease that many, many people are affected by, especially older adults. It is one of the main conditions that lead to the ongoing pain and loss of mobility that is so often associated with old age.
Osteoarthritis is so common because wear and tear on the human body are inevitable. Your body wears down as you use it. In your younger years much of this wear is repaired, only to be worn down again, and then repaired again. But when you get older, your body slows down on the repairs. Cartilage starts to disappear as we get older as well. When the cartilage no longer protects your bones from one another, bone rubs on bone, inflammation occurs, spurs often result and pain is inevitable.
How Chiropractic Helps with Osteoarthritis
The specialties of chiropractic—reducing inflammation, decreasing pain and increasing joint mobility—are an ideal fit for treating osteoarthritis. All of the symptoms that you experience with osteoarthritis are made better through regular chiropractic adjustments and associated therapies. You also get the added benefit of improving your movement patterns, which can help avoid further damage to your joints.
Some of the benefits of chiropractic for osteoarthritis include:
Reducing Inflammation
Inflammation is one of the big enemies of your joints. It is your body’s response to a stimulus and can be helpful from time to time—but not hour after hour, day after day, week after week. Ongoing inflammation causes damage that you want to avoid and makes everything more painful.
Chiropractic can help your body reduce inflammation by returning your joints to their proper alignment. Properly aligned joints experience improved circulation, which aids in healing. The joints are less likely to become inflamed as well as long as they are in proper alignment.
Decreasing Pain
Often the pain you experience in your joints is due to pressure being put on nerves. For instance, when your spine is misaligned the vertebrae can press on spinal nerves, leading to extreme discomfort, shooting pains, burning sensations, numbness, tingling, and other symptoms. Some patients are surprised at how much less pain they experience after just a single adjustment. Once the pressure is removed from the nerve pain is reduced significantly.
Increasing Joint Mobility
Stiffness is a well-known problem with osteoarthritis. The stiffness is caused by several factors, including the loss of cartilage in the joint and the lack of movement that results from pain in the joint. The less you move, the harder it becomes to start moving again.
Adjustments gently increase the range of motion in your joint. Over time, these adjustments can cause significant increases in your range of motion and comfort with movement.
Get Relief from Osteoarthritis
If you are suffering from osteoarthritis, please contact us. Our chiropractic team is ready to get you the relief you deserve.
Reduce Pain with Functional *FOOT ORTHOTICS* | El Paso, TX (2019)
Foot pronation is a natural movement during standing, walking, or running, however, excessive foot pronation can cause postural imbalances which can result in chronic pain, including low back pain and sciatica. Dr. Alex Jimenez, a chiropractor in El Paso, TX, can help diagnose and treat a variety of health issues associated with foot problems through the utilization of functional custom foot orthotics.
Functional custom foot orthotics are specially designed to accommodate every person’s unique foot anatomy. Excessive foot pronation can ultimately lead to poor posture, which can add unnecessary pressure to the spine and it’s surrounding structures. Dr. Alex Jimenez is the non-surgical choice for foot problems and other health issues through the use of functional custom foot orthotics.
Custom Orthotic Flip-Flops
Experience comfort and support all summer.
The first of their kind, custom orthotic flip flops are designed to offer casual footwear. Regular over-the-counter flip-flops can do serious damage to the feet and to the body.
All orthotics are hand-made flip-flops and come with supports for all 3 arches of the foot. They also include high-quality mid-layer that provides shock absorption on heel-strike and is softer and more comfortable than over-the-counter flip-flops.
Foot Orthotics
If you are considering custom orthotics, a health care professional such as Doctor Jimenez and Injury Medical Chiropractic Clinic can perform a foot scan to show you what imbalances in the feet can lead to. The foot scan will show how the orthotics can help. Following the foot scan, a report will provide the caregiver a Pronation/Stability Index, Foot Assessment, and Body Assessment.
Orthotics are not just for the feet
Foot Dysfunction can very easily cause a domino effect that extends all the way to the back. The feet are the foundation of the body and when there is a problem with the way they function it can cause the entire body to shift out of alignment. For instance, overpronation of the foot causes a series of internal changes that extend up through the leg. The femur may rotate causing hip pain and inflammation of the sacroiliac joint which leads to back pain. Other misalignments in the body that are caused by foot problems can also lead to chronic lower back pain as well.
NCBI Resources
About half of people diagnosed with osteoarthritis (OA) have difficulties falling asleep or staying asleep throughout the night. As a matter of fact, studies show that individuals with hip and knee osteoarthritis have a higher chance of experiencing insomnia as well as daytime fatigue than those without OA. The connection between people with OA and their ability to sleep is indisputable. The arthritis pain, common with the condition, can make getting a good night’s rest challenging for anyone.
Post Disclaimer
Professional Scope of Practice *
The information herein on this entire blog site is not intended to replace a one-on-one relationship with a qualified healthcare professional or licensed physician and is not medical advice. We encourage you to make healthcare decisions based on your research and partnership with a qualified healthcare professional.
Blog Information & Scope Discussions
Our information scope is limited to Chiropractic, musculoskeletal, physical medicines, wellness, contributing etiological viscerosomatic disturbances within clinical presentations, associated somatovisceral reflex clinical dynamics, subluxation complexes, sensitive health issues, and/or functional medicine articles, topics, and discussions.
We provide and present clinical collaboration with specialists from various disciplines. Each specialist is governed by their professional scope of practice and their jurisdiction of licensure. We use functional health & wellness protocols to treat and support care for the injuries or disorders of the musculoskeletal system.
Our videos, posts, topics, subjects, and insights cover clinical matters, issues, and topics that relate to and directly or indirectly support our clinical scope of practice.*
Our office has reasonably attempted to provide supportive citations and has identified the relevant research studies or studies supporting our posts. We provide copies of supporting research studies available to regulatory boards and the public upon request.
We understand that we cover matters that require an additional explanation of how they may assist in a particular care plan or treatment protocol; therefore, to discuss the subject matter above further, please feel free to ask Dr. Alex Jimenez, DC, or contact us at 915-850-0900.
We are here to help you and your family.
Blessings
Dr. Alex Jimenez DC, MSACP, RN*, CCST, IFMCP*, CIFM*, ATN*
email: coach@elpasofunctionalmedicine.com
Licensed as a Doctor of Chiropractic (DC) in Texas & New Mexico*
Texas DC License # TX5807, New Mexico DC License # NM-DC2182
Licensed as a Registered Nurse (RN*) in Florida
Florida License RN License # RN9617241 (Control No. 3558029)
Compact Status: Multi-State License: Authorized to Practice in 40 States*
Graduate with Honors: ICHS: MSN-FNP (Family Nurse Practitioner Program)
Degree Granted. Masters in Family Practice MSN Diploma (Cum Laude)
Dr. Alex Jimenez DC, MSACP, MSN-FNP, RN* CIFM*, IFMCP*, ATN*, CCST
My Digital Business Card