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!