July 2021 Healthy News from Executive Chiropractic of Iowa
Distraction and Patient Education and Exercise
Osteoarthritis of the knee and hip are known and growing concerns as our society ages…around the world. Currently in 2021, Canada is reviewing the “Good Life with Osteoarthritis in Demark” (GLAD) program for knee and hip osteoarthritis. The program includes manual therapy, exercise and patient education. (1) One GLAD study had patients attend 2-3 patient education classes and 12 supervised exercise sessions over the course of 8 weeks, patients’ pain intensity improved 26-33%, walking speed got better by 8-12%, chair standability got better by 18-30%, and joint-related quality of life improved 12-26%. (2) (Another study used MRI to guage the thickness of knee joint cartilage after knee joint distraction to document that it thickened with treatment bringing about significant short- and long-term cartilage regeneration up to 10 years after treatment. (3) This was done with young people, but there is hope!) Back in 2017, a Canadian chiropractor described the benefit of his application of Cox® flexion-distraction-principle-based distraction to the osteoarthritic knee, and the success he’s seen in his patients. Overall (acute and chronic patients together), patients reported a mean visual analog scale score drop from 7.7 to 1.8 in 3 weeks and 5.3 treatments. Acute knee OA patients’ scores decreased 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 Executive Chiropractic of Iowa 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. Talk with us today about how distraction treatment may help your West Des Moines hip and knee osteoarthritis!
HOPE FOR DEGENERATED DISCS: Chondroitin Sulfate
Back pain treatment approaches from surgery to manual therapy to exercise to nutrition abound while back pain continues. Injecting hyaluronic acid hydrogel is demonstrating some potential as it is shown to suppress the loss of disc height, stimulate tissue hydration for disc repair, and decrease inflammation and innervation to ward off more disc degeneration. (5) The nutritional approach continues to hold hope for back pain sufferers as the disc matrix components are known, two central components being chondroitin sulfate proteoglycan and hyaluronan. Making chondroitin sulfate available to the disc as well as controlling the hydrostatic pressure of the disc is helpful. (6) Cox® Technic is shown to drop intradiscal pressure, so mixing it with chondroitin sulfate may be, too. Are you taking yours? Consider adding a disc supplement containing chondroitin sulfate to your routine after we talk. Executive Chiropractic of Iowa 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 possible regeneration of the intervertebral disc and in the Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management.
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Schedule your next West Des Moines chiropractic appointment with Executive Chiropractic of Iowa. See you then!