Many people have knee
osteoarthritis in both or one knee. That does not
make it any easier on its
sufferers though. Chiropractic Care has some new exercise tips and
treatments our West Palm Beach knee osteoarthritis (KOA) patients will want
to try for themselves.
KNEE OSTEOARTHRITIS (KOA): What It Is and How Common It Is
Knee osteoarthritis is aging-related
and oh so common! 86 million people globally
over the age of 20 were diagnosed with it in 2020. Typically,
knee osteoarthritis sufferers have a loss of knee
extensor strength, an increase in the severity of knee pain,
and a decrease in functional performance. (1) Knee
osteoarthritis is the degeneration of cartilage, part of the natural aging
process whether we like it or not. Physical activity has demonstrated a
positive effect on cartilage structure even though just which physical activity
is best has yet to be determined. (2) Chiropractic Care sees
new treatment ideas being published a lot.
KOA TREATMENT: Your
West Palm Beach chiropractor has it.
A chiropractic treatment approach has shown
promise. A trial of treatment based on principles of Cox®
flexion distraction decompression for knee osteoarthritis – namely distraction
of the knee – resulted in relief of patient-perceived pain from
7.7 (out of 10) to 1.8 in a mean of 5.3 visits in 3 weeks for 25 patients. (3) Chiropractic Care
can link this treatment (and even some cartilage-supportive
nutrition!) with your home-exercise for relief.
KOA TREATMENT: YOU, our West Palm Beach knee pain patient
Despite
the benefits of exercise on KOA is well known, KOA
sufferers do not very well continue the exercise routine. One study made an easy-to-follow video series and calendar system that
automatically noted when their did the exercises that resulted in an
82.4% participation rate. Not bad! The patients also shared their
noticed satisfaction, pain reduction, and better
physical function. (4) One 4-week intervention of unilateral, non-KOA knee extensor strength training produced significant improvement in the knee extensor strength of the knee with
KOA! This is called “cross education phenomenon.” The better
extensor strength and neuromuscular function of the knee with KOA maintained
itself for 3 months. (1) Chiropractic Care is pretty confident
a KOA sufferer will not care which knee is exercised as long as relief
is forthcoming! A proposed YOGA (YOGa and
strengthening exercise for knee osteoArthritis) study was just proposed
to see how yoga’s mind-body exercise format - known to improve flexibility, muscle
strength, balance and fitness - might decrease the symptoms of knee
osteoarthritis and even improve other outcomes like pain,
function, quality of life, gait speed, cost effectiveness, and others. (5) Another
study considered how blood flow restriction with low
and high load resistance exercise of the KOA-affected knee changed
various blood tests in female patients with single-knee KOA
and found that markers for skeletal muscle tissues were higher.
(6) All these studies on a multitude of approaches
to manage knee osteoarthritis may hopefully find a
way to ease/prevent/better manage this common ailment.
CONTACT Chiropractic Care
Listen to this PODCAST with Dr. Luigi Albano on The Back Doctors Podcast with Dr.
Michael Johnson as he illustrates relieving
chiropractic knee treatment via The Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain
Management for patients with KOA.
Make your West Palm Beach chiropractic
appointment today. Do you have
knee osteoarthritis? Come in for
a visit!