Many people have knee
osteoarthritis in both or one knee. That does not
make it any easier on its
sufferers though. Chiropractic Solutions has some novel exercise tips and
treatments our San Jose 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 globally
over 20 years old were diagnosed with it in 2020. Characteristically,
knee osteoarthritis sufferers have a loss of knee
extensor strength, a greater 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 even though just which physical activity
is best has yet to be determined. (2) Chiropractic Solutions sees
new treatment ideas being studied a lot.
KOA TREATMENT: Your
San Jose 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 – resulted in 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) Chiropractic Solutions
can link this treatment (and even some cartilage-supportive
nutrition!) with your home-exercise for relief.
KOA TREATMENT: YOU, our San Jose knee pain patient
Despite
the benefits of exercise on KOA is well established, KOA
sufferers do not very well continue the exercise practice. One study made an easy-to-follow video series and automated recording calendar
of when they did each video that showed an
82.4% participation rate. Not bad! The patients also described satisfaction, pain reduction, and improved
physical function. (4) One 4-week 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 enhanced
extensor strength and neuromuscular function of the knee with KOA maintained
itself for 3 months. (1) Chiropractic Solutions is pretty confident
a KOA sufferer won’t care which knee is exercised as long as there is relief! A proposed YOGA (YOGa and
strengthening exercise for knee osteoArthritis) study was just described
to see how yoga’s mind-body exercise format - recognized as enhancing 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 looked into 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 found that markers for skeletal muscle tissues were increased.
(6) All these studies on a multitude of approaches
to manage knee osteoarthritis may hopefully find a
way to ease/prevent/better manage this common ailment.
CONTACT Chiropractic Solutions
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.
Schedule your San Jose chiropractic
appointment now. Do you have
knee osteoarthritis? Come in for
a visit!