July 2021 Healthy News from Old Mill Chiropractic
Distraction and Patient Education and Exercise
Osteoarthritis in the knee and hip are known and growing concerns as our society ages…around the world. Currently in 2021, Canada is evaluating the “Good Life with Osteoarthritis in Demark” (GLAD) system for knee and hip osteoarthritis. The program includes manual therapy, exercise and patient education. (1) In one GLAD study in which patients attended 2-3 patient education classes and 12 supervised exercise sessions over the course of 8 weeks, patients’ pain intensity got better by 26-33%, walking speed improved 8-12%, chair standability improved 18-30%, and joint-related quality of life improved 12-26%. (2) (Another study used MRI to guage the thickness of knee joint cartilage after knee joint distraction to find that it thickened 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 wrote a paper describing his utilization 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 combined), patients related a mean visual analog scale score drop from 7.7 to 1.8 in 3 weeks and 5.3 treatments. Acute knee OA patients’ scores dropped from 8.1 to 1.1 in 4.8 treatments in 2.4 weeks. Chronic patients’ scores reduced from 7.5 to 2.2 in 3.3 weeks and 5.4 treatments. (4) Chiropractors like yours at Old Mill 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. Talk with us today about how distraction treatment may help your St Peters knee and hip osteoarthritis!
HOPE FOR DEGENERATED DISCS: Chondroitin Sulfate
Back pain treatment approaches from surgery to manual therapy to exercise to nutrition flourish while back pain endures. Injecting hyaluronic acid hydrogel is demonstrating some potential as it seems to suppress the loss of disc height, stimulate tissue hydration for disc repair, and decrease 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 central components being chondroitin sulfate proteoglycan and hyaluronan. Making chondroitin sulfate available to the disc in addition to controlling the hydrostatic pressure of the disc is beneficial. (6) Cox® Technic is documented to decrease intradiscal pressure, so mixing it with chondroitin sulfate may be, too. Are you taking yours? You may want to think about adding a disc supplement containing chondroitin sulfate to your schedule after we talk. Old Mill Chiropractic is ready!
Listen to this PODCAST with Dr. James Cox on The Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as he discusses 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 Old Mill Chiropractic
Schedule your next St Peters chiropractic appointment with Old Mill Chiropractic. See you then!