Countless people have knee
osteoarthritis in both or one knee. That doesn’t
make it any easier on its
sufferers though. Johnson Chiropractic has some novel exercise tips and
treatments our Richmond knee osteoarthritis (KOA) patients will want
to attempt.
KNEE OSTEOARTHRITIS (KOA): What It Is and How Common It Is
Knee osteoarthritis is aging-related
and oh so common! 86 million people around the world
over the age of 20 were diagnosed with it in 2020. Characteristically,
knee osteoarthritis sufferers experience a loss of knee
extensor strength, an increase in the severity of knee pain,
and a decline 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 demonstrated a
positive effect on cartilage structure despite
not yet knowing which exercise is best. (2) Johnson Chiropractic sees
new treatment ideas being published all the time.
KOA TREATMENT: Your
Richmond 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) Johnson Chiropractic
can link this treatment (and even some cartilage-supporting
nutrition!) with your home-exercise for relief.
KOA TREATMENT: YOU, our Richmond knee pain patient
Despite
the benefits of exercise on KOA is well known, KOA
sufferers don’t usually keep doing
their exercise routine. One study made an easy-to-follow video series and automated recording calendar
of when they did each video that demonstrated an
82.4% participation rate. Not bad! The patients also described satisfaction, pain reduction, and better
physical function. (4) One month-long intervention of single
knee, 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) Johnson Chiropractic is pretty confident
a KOA sufferer won’t care which knee is exercised as long as relief
is forthcoming! A proposed YOGA (YOGa and
strengthening exercise for knee osteoArthritis) study was recently proposed
to see how yoga’s mind-body exercise format - known to enhance flexibility, muscle
strength, balance and fitness - might reduce the symptoms of knee
osteoarthritis and even improve other outcomes like pain,
function, quality of life, gait speed, cost effectiveness, and others. (5) Another
study looked into how blood flow restriction with low
and high load resistance exercise of the KOA-affected knee impacted
various blood tests in female patients with unilateral KOA
and discovered that markers for skeletal muscle tissues were higher.
(6) All these studies on a variety of approaches
to handle knee osteoarthritis may hopefully unearth a
way to ease/prevent/better manage this common condition.
CONTACT Johnson Chiropractic
Listen to this PODCAST with Dr. Luigi Albano on The Back Doctors Podcast with Dr.
Michael Johnson as he describes beneficial
chiropractic knee treatment via The Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain
Management for patients with KOA.
Make your Richmond chiropractic
appointment soon. Do you have
knee osteoarthritis? Come in for
a visit!