July 2021 Healthy News from Connected Chiropractic
Distraction and Patient Education and Exercise
Knee and hip osteoarthritis are known and growing concerns as our society ages…around the world. Currently in 2021, Canada is reviewing the “Good Life with Osteoarthritis in Demark” (GLAD) system for knee and hip osteoarthritis. The program combines manual therapy, exercise and patient education. (1) One GLAD study had patients attend 2-3 patient education classes and 12 supervised exercise sessions over the course of 8 weeks, patients’ pain intensity improved 26-33%, walking speed improved 8-12%, chair standability improved 18-30%, and joint-related quality of life got better by 12-26%. (2) (Another study used MRI to determine the thickness of knee joint cartilage after distracting the knee joint to find that it increased with treatment bringing about significant short- and long-term cartilage regeneration up to 10 years post-treatment. (3) This was done with young people, but there is hope!) Back in 2017, a Canadian chiropractor published a paper describing his application of Cox® flexion-distraction-principle-based distraction to the osteoarthritic knee, and the success he has seen in his patients. Overall (acute and chronic patients together), patients related a mean visual analog scale score drop from 7.7 to 1.8 in 3 weeks and 5.3 visits. Acute knee OA patients’ scores dropped from 8.1 to 1.1 in 4.8 treatments in 2.4 weeks. Chronic patients’ scores decrased from 7.5 to 2.2 in 3.3 weeks and 5.4 treatments. (4) Chiropractors like yours at Connected Chiropractic are ahead of the curve with their modified Cox® Technic principles-based-flexion-distraction-approach to knee osteoarthritis. New protocols for use in hip OA are also in development. Let’s talk today about how distraction treatment may help you with Elgin hip and knee osteoarthritis!
HOPE FOR DEGENERATED DISCS: Chondroitin Sulfate
Back pain treatment approaches be they surgical, exercise, nutrition, and/or manual therapy based flourish while back pain continues. Injecting hyaluronic acid hydrogel is demonstrating some promise as it is shown to suppress the loss of disc height, promote tissue hydration for disc repair, and reduce inflammation and innervation to prevent more disc degeneration. (5) The nutritional approach continues to hold hope for back pain sufferers as the disc matrix components are known, two key ones being chondroitin sulfate proteoglycan and hyaluronan. Making chondroitin sulfate available to the disc as well as controlling the hydrostatic pressure of the disc is advantageous. (6) Cox® Technic is documented to drop intradiscal pressure, so mixing it with chondroitin sulfate may be, too. Are you taking yours? You may want to think about including a disc supplement containing chondroitin sulfate to your routine after we talk. Connected Chiropractic is ready!
Listen to this PODCAST with Dr. James Cox on The Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as he presents research on the role of chondroitin sulfate in the health, degeneration and potential regeneration of the intervertebral disc and in the Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management.
CONTACT Connected Chiropractic
Schedule your next Elgin chiropractic appointment with Connected Chiropractic. See you then!