Many people have knee
osteoarthritis in both or one knee. That doesn’t
make it any easier on its
sufferers though. Arctic Chiropractic, Sitka has some novel exercise tips and
treatments our Sitka knee osteoarthritis (KOA) patients will want
to attempt.
KNEE OSTEOARTHRITIS (KOA): What It Is and How Common It Is
Knee osteoarthritis is related to aging
and everywhere! 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 drop 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 been shown to positively affect cartilage structure even though just which physical activity
is best has yet to be determined. (2) Arctic Chiropractic, Sitka sees
new treatment ideas being published a lot.
KOA TREATMENT: Your
Sitka chiropractor has it.
A chiropractic treatment approach has demonstrated
promise. A trial of Cox® flexion distraction decompression
principled treatment for knee osteoarthritis – that is distraction
of the knee – reported 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) Arctic Chiropractic, Sitka
can link this treatment (and even some cartilage-supportive
nutrition!) with your home-exercise for relief.
KOA TREATMENT: YOU, our Sitka knee pain patient
Despite
the benefits of exercise on KOA is well known, KOA
sufferers do not very well keep doing
their exercise routine. One study set
up an easy-to-follow video series and calendar system that
automatically noted when their did the exercises that showed 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 continued for 3 months. (1) Arctic Chiropractic, Sitka knows
a KOA sufferer will not care which knee is exercised as long as relief
is forthcoming! A planned YOGA (YOGa and
strengthening exercise for knee osteoArthritis) study was just proposed
to find out if yoga’s mind-body exercise format - known to enhance flexibility, muscle
strength, balance and fitness - might reduce the symptoms of knee
osteoarthritis and even enhance 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 discovered that markers for skeletal muscle tissues were increased.
(6) All these studies on various approaches
to handle knee osteoarthritis may hopefully find a
way to ease/prevent/better manage this common ailment.
CONTACT Arctic Chiropractic, Sitka
Listen to this PODCAST with Dr. Luigi Albano on The Back Doctors Podcast with Dr.
Michael Johnson as he describes relieving
chiropractic knee treatment via The Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain
Management for patients with KOA.
Make your Sitka chiropractic
appointment soon. Do you suffer with
knee osteoarthritis? Come in for
a visit!