July 2021 Healthy News from Johnson Chiropractic

Osteoarthritis of the knee and hip are known and growing concerns as our society gets older…around the world. Currently in 2021, Canada is evaluating the “Good Life with Osteoarthritis in Demark” (GLAD) program for knee and hip osteoarthritis. The program incorporates 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 in 8 weeks, patients’ pain intensity improved 26-33%, walking speed improved 8-12%, chair standability got better by 18-30%, and joint-related quality of life got better by 12-26%. (2) (Another study used MRI to measure the thickness of knee joint cartilage after knee joint distraction to document that it increased with treatment resulting in significant short- and long-term cartilage regeneration up to 10 years after treatment. (3) This was done with young people, but it is hopeful!) Back in 2017, a Canadian chiropractor described the benefit of his utilization of Cox® flexion-distraction-principle-based distraction to the osteoarthritic knee, and the success he has witnessed in his patients. Overall (acute and chronic patients combined), patients reported 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 Johnson 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 your Richmond osteoarthritis of the hip and knee!

 

HOPE FOR DEGENERATED DISCS: Chondroitin Sulfate

Back pain treatment approaches be they surgical, exercise, nutrition, and/or manual therapy based flourish while back pain endures. Injecting hyaluronic acid hydrogel is showing some potential as it seems to restrain the loss of disc height, stimulate tissue hydration for disc repair, and lower 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 ones being chondroitin sulfate proteoglycan and hyaluronan. Making chondroitin sulfate available to the disc in addition to controlling the hydrostatic pressure of the disc is valuable. (6) Cox® Technic is shown to drop intradiscal pressure, so mixing it with chondroitin sulfate may be, too. Are you including it in your daily supplements? You may want to think about including a disc supplement that has chondroitin sulfate to your routine after we talk. Johnson 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 part chondroitin sulfate plays in the health, degeneration and potential regeneration of the intervertebral disc and in the Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management.

CONTACT Johnson Chiropractic

Schedule your next Richmond chiropractic appointment with Johnson Chiropractic. See you then!