You’ve probably thought about visiting a chiropractor if you’ve experienced back pain or a stiff neck, whether due to arthritis or an injury. In this article, we’ll examine how chiropractic care can benefit arthritis patients and offer you additional tips for reducing the pain they experience.
One of the most effective treatments available to arthritis sufferers to relieve pain, increase flexibility, and loosen tight joints is chiropractic care. Chiropractic care, in contrast to medication, focuses on enhancing the health and well-being of the body rather than using drugs to treat the symptoms of arthritis.
For a variety of health issues, people choose chiropractic care. If you have joint issues, you might be wondering if chiropractic care can be of assistance. Your pain’s underlying cause may affect the answer. Before you try chiropractic treatment, keep the following in mind.
Chiropractors and Arthritis
Medication is the most popular form of treatment for arthritis because it can lessen pain and swelling and inflammation. However, chiropractic care can be very beneficial in the treatment of arthritis. While medications have benefits, they also come with long-term health risks, including internal bleeding, stomach lining damage, and impaired healing.
You might be able to lessen your reliance on these drugs while managing your pain and symptoms naturally by seeing a chiropractor. A chiropractor can:
- Improve your range of motion by keeping your spine in line
- Improve endurance and flexibility
- Increase your strength and muscle tone
- Help you develop a dietary and nutritional plan to reduce inflammation naturally
Additionally, chiropractors can suggest an arthritis-friendly exercise program. This is crucial for controlling your arthritis symptoms, according to the American Chiropractic Association.
How Chiropractic Care Works?
Chiropractic care is based on the idea that when your spine’s bones are correctly aligned, your nervous system functions at its peak, benefiting not only your muscles and joints but also the entire body’s systems. The treatment of musculoskeletal issues is popular with many people.
Chiropractic treatment is a type of manual therapy, which means that doctors deliver care using their hands and other specialized equipment. They don’t perform surgery or write prescriptions for medications. They may, however, offer advice on exercise and other treatments since they are licensed.
Chiropractors have a number of ways to work out problems in your joints and soft tissue:
- HVLA SMT stands for high-velocity, low-amplitude spinal manipulation therapy. This is the “adjustment” most associated with chiropractic care. With one or more quick, forceful thrusts, the chiropractor extends the normal range of motion of a joint, typically in your spine.
- Joint mobilization. Here, a joint’s natural range of motion is gently worked to detect any points where it is restricted.
- massage and stretches.
- Cold or heat therapy.
- Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS). To stimulate your muscles and nerves, this device emits a gentle electrical pulse.
- Ultrasound. Joint and soft tissue pain and swelling may be reduced by sound waves.
- Low-level laser. Swelling can also be reduced using a laser type that doesn’t produce heat.
What Kind of Arthritis Can Chiropractors Help With?
Instead of being a single illness, arthritis is a collection of illnesses with varying degrees of severity and unique symptoms. It is therefore challenging to assert that chiropractic care is required in every case of arthritis.
Chiropractic care, however, can be incredibly beneficial in reducing pain and enhancing mobility for some of the more prevalent types of arthritis. The most regular types of arthritis treated by chiropractors are:
Osteoarthritis
Osteoarthritis is a degenerative type of arthritis that gradually wears down the joints, usually as people age. Age-related wear and tear on our joints cause this type of degenerative arthritis. Our joints’ articular cartilage is in charge of absorbing shock as we move.
On the other hand, our cartilage starts to deteriorate as we age. Our joints may rub against one another when there is less cartilage present, causing friction that results in stiffness, swelling, and pain.
While they may temporarily alleviate symptoms, losing weight, staying active, building muscle, and using hot or cold therapies are all only temporary fixes.
Rheumatoid Arthritis and Psoriatic Arthritis
Two additional common types of arthritis that many people experience are rheumatoid arthritis and psoriatic arthritis. These types of arthritis are inflammatory in origin, as opposed to being degenerative.
Again, a reduction in joint tissue or fluid causes friction, which in turn causes the inflammation and discomfort associated with these forms of arthritis.
Spinal misalignments can worsen joint inflammation by reducing the flow of healthy blood and fluid to these joints. This only makes the situation worse.
The Treatments That Chiropractors Use for Arthritis
In contrast to what many people might think, chiropractors actually use a variety of treatments for arthritis patients, depending on their needs and the severity of their condition.
Traditional chiropractic adjustments may be extremely helpful for some patients to relieve pain and realign their bodies, whereas ultrasound therapy or dry needling may be preferable for patients who have swollen joints.
Some of the most common treatments chiropractors use include:
Chiropractic Adjustments
To realign the body, a chiropractor will gently manipulate the spine and joints. Usually, it entails applying controlled force to change the position of the bones and joints.
In order to increase body mobility and lessen pain, this can be incredibly beneficial. Arthritis in one part of the body can also affect other parts; for instance, knee pain can result in a limp, which then aggravates back pain.
The overall suffering of the patient can be lessened with the assistance of chiropractors in treating these sites of secondary pain and misalignment.
Dry Needling
Myofascial trigger points, which are taut bands in skeletal muscle and fascia, are stimulated by dry needling with incredibly thin needles. This promotes soft tissue relaxation and eases pain brought on by arthritis-related stiffness.
Ultrasound Therapy
In order to relieve the pain and tension brought on by arthritis, ultrasound therapy uses vibrations to release heat and energy from muscles and joints.
Is Chiropractic Care Safe for Arthritis?
Scott Haldeman, MD, a neurologist in Santa Ana, California, and Chairman Emeritus of the Research Council for the World Federation of Chiropractic, argues that chiropractic is one of the safest treatments you can use if you have back or neck pain brought on by osteoarthritis.
However, you will need to exercise greater caution if you suffer from an inflammatory condition like rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, or ankylosing spondylitis.
Chiropractic therapy should not be used to treat conditions like active inflammation (caused by a flare, for instance), a fused spine, or osteoporosis in the neck or spine. “If a patient has joints with active swelling, I would not recommend going to a chiropractor,” says Rheumatology assistant professor Alyce Oliver, MD, Ph.D., who works at the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta. “It would be risky to receive an adjustment if you can’t control the swelling.”
Dr. Hayden agrees that inflamed joints should be “off-limits,” but notes that chiropractors offer several adjunctive therapies that can help.
- Ultrasound. While most people associate ultrasound with imaging, sound waves can also produce a massaging effect on soft tissues and joints, which can help ease pain and stiffness while also reducing swelling.
- Electrotherapy. These minute electric pulses don’t hurt. They stimulate muscles and nerves to treat soft tissue injuries.
- Low-level laser or “cold laser.” By penetrating deeply into the tissue with a non-heating laser or light, this technique can occasionally reduce inflammation.
- Infrared sauna. Think of how your joints would feel after receiving an internal heat compress. Controlled heat is used in these spaces to promote circulation and relieve pain.
The treatment of the surrounding tissues, according to Stone Mountain, Georgia, chiropractor David Feschuk, may significantly lessen overall pain even if they never touch your arthritic joint.
“A flare-up in the knee that makes a person walk uncomfortably can result in a secondary pain syndrome in the lower back. Although I wouldn’t treat an inflamed joint, if I adjust the pelvis, I might be able to reduce overall pain by four to five units on a 1-to-10 scale and ease daily activities.”
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Conclusion: Can a Chiropractor Help With Arthritis?
It’s been proven that receiving chiropractic care can halt or at least slow the progression of arthritis. You’ll experience benefits in terms of less pain as well as an enhancement of your general health and well-being.
If you don’t see improvement within four to 10 treatments, either switch chiropractors or try a new treatment path.
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