As years go by more and more people suffer from back and neck pain. While for most, it’s not an irreversible problem – at least not yet – it may become one without proper care.
The ugly truth is that due to our current lifestyle more of us are at risk of developing arthritis not just sometime in the future, but earlier than most of the previous generations. At least, unless we start paying attention and treat our bodies properly.
What can you do if you’re already suffering from arthritis? If there’s one fact that’s common knowledge that there’s no outright cure for arthritis. There is no way to outright fix it when it’s taken root. If anyone is promising you that they’ll reverse it 100%, proceed with skepticism.
What you can do, though, is seek proper treatment. The benefits of seeing a chiropractor when suffering from arthritis are all about curtailing the effects it has on your body.
To understand exactly how a chiropractor can help people suffering from arthritis pain, you should know a bit more about arthritis itself.
Understanding Arthritis: Types and Causes
When thinking about arthritis, most people think about one illness that causes pain and leave it at that. There are several types, and if you want to rip proper benefits of seeing a chiropractor when suffering from arthritis, you should let them know which type of arthritis you’re suffering from, to begin with, so they can create a suitable regiment for you.
Osteoarthritis – the most common type and the one people usually refer to when talking about arthritis. Causes joint pain due to mechanical wear and tear in the cartilage that cushions the joints.
Rheumatoid arthritis – a type of autoimmune inflammatory disease, causing pain in the joints.
Psoriatic arthritis – another type of autoimmune arthritis, which, aside from typical joint pain is accompanied by psoriasis, a painful skin condition requiring special care.
You can enjoy the benefits of seeing a chiropractor when suffering from arthritis regardless of the type, but those benefits will be different and the chiropractor in question will need to know the type of arthritis they’re working with.
Now, onto the benefits.
4 Main Benefits of Seeing a Chiropractor When Suffering From Arthritis (Regardless of the Type)
Visiting a chiropractor can help people who live a sedentary lifestyle and experiences stiffness and discomfort. This is not only in the neck and back regions! Chiropractic care benefits people with shoulder pain due to arthritis, as well as wrist and knee pain.
1. Reduced Pain Levels
The biggest benefits of chiropractor while suffering from arthritis is the pain management and reduction. You’re particularly likely to notice results quickly if it’s osteoarthritis you’re suffering from.
As osteoarthritis is typically a result of your daily life – sedentary lifestyle, bad posture, even walking style – causing mechanical wear and tear or forcing joint out of alignment, the chiropractor’s manipulations will focus directly on fixing those issues and help your joints from deteriorating.
Do remember though, that the damaged cartilage cannot be restored, so to enjoy the full benefits of seeing a chiropractor when suffering from arthritis, the care needs to be at least semi-regular.
2. Improved Motion (and Increased Flexibility)
With improved joint alignment and curtailing the spread of the disease, you’re likely to experience improved flexibility in your joints and subsequently improved motion abilities.
In other words, you will be able to move more quickly and efficiently, while experiencing less pain.
This is likely to feed into a type of “successful arthritis management loop” – with a proper range of mobility and lesser pain levels, you’re likely to move more, and improve your posture/walk, thus avoiding the pitfalls that could exacerbate the problem.
3. Managing Inflammation
As mentioned above, rheumatoid/psoriatic arthritis is caused by your immune system attacking your own body, with the worst instances of pain being caused by a heavy continuous inflammation process.
An expert chiropractor could be of particular help with these types of arthritis, as there are techniques of chiropractic care specifically designed to reduce inflammation, which in turn could have particular benefits to people suffering from an autoimmune type of arthritis.
It should, however, be kept in mind that the diseased area shouldn’t be handled during an active flare.
4. Boost for the Immune System
A not-so oft-talked-about benefit of chiropractic care is help it will provide your immune system. Regrettable, though somewhat understandable, as there are next to no scientific studies in this area with sizeable
This is particularly important if you’re suffering from a type of autoimmune arthritis. While osteoarthritis is mostly a mechanical problem, rheumatoid/psoriatic arthritis is caused by the fact that your immune system is attacking your own body.
Proper chiropractic care helps with boosting your immune system, helping the body battle arthritis, but it’s a supplementary treatment to proper medication.
If suffering from either rheumatoid or psoriatic arthritis, you must work with a medical doctor as well to manage the condition properly, otherwise, the benefits of seeing a chiropractor when suffering from arthritis are likely to be negligible.
Chiropractic Care during Psoriatic Arthritis
While the benefits of seeing a chiropractor when suffering from arthritis are well known, it bears repeating that autoimmune arthritis should be treated differently and with more care from osteoarthritis.
While rheumatoid arthritis requires a little more precaution (gentle handling of joints in areas where the disease is active, keeping the risk of fracture in mind if the patient has already developed osteoporosis), psoriatic arthritis requires to keep in mind that there’s a twofold battle going on: in the joints and on the skin.
Just as they know not to stress the diseased areas when you’re experiencing a flare, expert chiropractors also know how to handle the session if your psoriasis is being particularly nasty.
However, they need to know about your arthritis being psoriatic to be able to create a proper regimen that will help with both joint alignment and skin irritation, instead of concentrating on one problem at the expense of another.
Curious about chiropractic care?
Want to know more about the benefits of visiting a chiropractor? Check out other articles on the blog to learn about the different practices to find the type that fits your needs and would benefit you the most.