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McHenry Chiropractic Exercise Ideas for Knee Osteoarthritis Management

Countless people have knee osteoarthritis in one knee or both. That doesn’t cause sufferers to feel any better about it. OrthoIllinois Chiropractic has some new exercise tips and treatments our McHenry knee osteoarthritis (KOA) patients will want to try for themselves.

KNEE OSTEOARTHRITIS (KOA): What It Is and How Common It Is

Knee osteoarthritis is aging-related and everywhere! 86 million people globally over the age of 20 were diagnosed with it in 2020. Typically, knee osteoarthritis sufferers feel a loss of knee extensor strength, a greater severity of knee pain, and a decrease 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 decided. (2) OrthoIllinois Chiropractic sees new treatment ideas being published a lot.

KOA TREATMENT:  Your McHenry chiropractor has it.

A chiropractic treatment approach has demonstrated promise. A trial of treatment based on principles of Cox® flexion distraction decompression for knee osteoarthritis – namely 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) OrthoIllinois Chiropractic can partner this treatment (and even some cartilage-supporting nutrition!) with your home-exercise for relief.

KOA TREATMENT: YOU, our McHenry knee pain patient

Even though the benefits of exercise abound for KOA is well established, KOA sufferers are not known to continue the exercise practice. One study set up 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 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 continued for 3 months. (1) OrthoIllinois Chiropractic knows a KOA sufferer will not care which knee is exercised as long as there is relief! A planned YOGA (YOGa and strengthening exercise for knee osteoArthritis) study was just described to see how yoga’s mind-body exercise format - known to enhance flexibility, muscle strength, balance and fitness - might decrease 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 considered how blood flow restriction with low and high load resistance exercise of the KOA-affected knee modified various blood tests in female patients with single-knee KOA and found that markers for skeletal muscle tissues were higher. (6) All these studies on a multitude of approaches to manage knee osteoarthritis may hopefully unearth a way to ease/prevent/better manage this common condition.

CONTACT OrthoIllinois Chiropractic

Listen to this PODCAST with Dr. Luigi Albano on The Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as he illustrates relieving chiropractic knee treatment via The Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management for patients with KOA.

Make your McHenry chiropractic appointment now. Are you ready for some knee pain relief? Come see us!

OrthoIllinois Chiropractic shares recent studies regarding the exercise recommendations for knee osteoarthritis relief, even exercising the healthy knee for relief in the painful knee!
 
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"This information and website content is not intended to diagnose, guarantee results, or recommend specific treatment or activity. It is designed to educate and inform only. Please consult your physician for a thorough examination leading to a diagnosis and well-planned treatment strategy. See more details on the DISCLAIMER page. Content is reviewed by Dr. James M. Cox I."