Wear and Tear

 

Wear and Tear (Osteoarthritits)

Playing football with your grandson, going for long walks or playing a round of golf, are all ideas of how Wear and Tearwe would like to spend our time after retirement. Unfortunately, about half of us will experience a form of wear and tear which prevents us from doing all of this. You might feel pain, stiffness, hear a cracking noise and or experience some form of muscle pain.
 
 

Losing mobility

Osteoarthritis can occur in most joints in the body, and the large weight bearing joints such as the spine, hips and knees, are most commonly affected.

As a result of the wear and tear, joints loose their mobility which will have an effect on the surrounding tissues, like muscles and ligaments. 

 

Chiropractic and Osteoarthritis

Although osteoarthritis is a irreversible process in itself, this fortunately doesn’t mean you have to “learn to live with it”. Chiropractic can help by restoring mobility in the joints using gentle and specific adjustments. Additionally, we might stretch the muscles in the surrounding area or use deep myofascial techniques to loosen muscles so that function is improved and pain and stiffness is minimized. The best results however, are reached when chiropractic is combined with conservative treatment like weight control, appropriate rest and exercise like walking or swimming . All of this will help maintaining the flexibility of the joints and therefore decreasing the pain and stiffness. 

Have a look on our what to expect page so you can see what is going to happen when you come to our clinic. 

Additionally, you might to give us a call and speak to us directly to find out if we can help you with your problem.

 

Frequently Asked Questions


How does chiropractic work?
< The cause of a lot of different complaints lies within the spine. When a spinal joint doesn’t move properly, it will have an effect on the surrounding tissues attaching to these joints, like muscles and ligaments. These muscles and ligaments tense up and might cause even more pain. By restoring motion of the spine, using gentle and specific adjustments, the motion of the spine is restored. When motion is restored, joints start to ache less, muscles and ligaments relax and blood flow is increased. So by restoring motion, the body starts to heal itself, like it has done for millions of years. Chiropractic does not involve the use of any drugs or surgery. And although adjusting the spine doesn’t seem as high tech as DNA splicing, numerous studies have proven that chiropractic is extremely efficient with healing musculo-skeletal disorders.  
What can I do?
< A lot!! The treatment plan set by us involves you in a big way. Results will come a lot faster if you comply to the advise given. As soon as possible, we will give you exercises for you to do at home, again to speed up recovery and advise you on activities like walking or swimming which help to prevent future episodes of pain.  
Is it going to hurt?
< No, it is not. During an adjustment a very careful, gentle and specific force is used to restore motion of spine. We use just the right amount of force to restore motion. You might hear a “popping sound” which is merely air escaping from the joint. This popping noise is similar to the noise you hear when “cracking” your fingers, and it doesn’t hurt. You are in safe hands, we have given many thousands of adjustments. 

Are All Patients Treated and Adjusted the Same Way?
< Regardless of the adjusting technique, chiropractic care is tailored to each patient's age, condition and spinal problem.

In addition to varying the amount of force used, treatment frequency will also be customised to the individual. Different conditions require different intensities in treatment schedules. The chiropractors at Milton Chiropractic Clinic will tailor the amount of treatment needed depending on a number of factors. These factors include (but are not limited to), your age, what tissue is involved (eg. ligament, tendon, muscle, disc), how long you have had the condition, the amount of inflammation and intensity of pain being experienced, and the presence of any unavoidable aggravating factors to your condition (eg. your occupation).

The chiropractor evaluates each patient's unique spinal problem and develops an individual course of care. Each visit builds on the one before. While visits may seem similar, each patient's care is uniquely different from every other patient's.

Is Chiropractic Care Safe?
< Yes, chiropractic is safe. In fact, in a study comparing a course of chiropractic care with a course of anti-inflammatory drugs, chiropractic was shown to be 250 times safer (1).

As with any form of health care, there are some risks. Some people may feel slight soreness following their first few adjustments as the body begins to realign. This is usually very mild, and lasts only a short time. Then there are the very rare risks of infrequent strain/injury to a ligament or disc in the neck (less than 1 in 139,000) or the low back (1 in 62,000). There is also an extremely rare risk of stroke associated with adjustments of the neck. All studies published found the risk to be very low (3,4,5), with the most recent research published in 2001 putting such an event at one in 5.85 million adjustments (6).

Despite the many benefits of medical care, there are some risks associated. Specifically, neck surgery has a three to four percent rate of complications which in turn leads to 4,000 to 10,000 deaths per million cases (7). References

1. A Risk Assessment of Cervical Manipulation vs NSAIDs for the Treatment of Neck Pain. Vaughan Dabbs, DC and William J Lauretti, DC. J Manipulative Physiol Ther 1995; 18(8):530-6.

2. Dvorak study in Principles and Practice of Chiropractic, Haldeman. 2nd Ed.

3. Manipulation and Mobilisation of the Cervical Spine: A Systemic Review of the Literature, Hurwitz EL, Aker PD, Adams AH, Meeker WC, Shekelle PG. Spine, 21(15); 1746-1760, 1996.

4. Risk Factors and Precipitating Neck Movements Causing Vertebrobasilar Artery Disection After Cervical Trauma and Spinal Manipulation, Haldeman S, Kohlbeck FJ, McGregor M. Spine, 24(8); 785-794, 1999.

5. Conservative Management of Mechanical Neck Pain: A Systemic Overview and Meta-Analysis, Aker PD, Gross AR, et al. The British Medical Journal, 313:1291-6, 1996.

6. Arterial Disections Following Cervical Manipulation: The Chiropractic Experience, Haldeman S, Carey P, Townsend M, Papadopoulos C. Canadian Medical Association Journal, Vol 165, No 7, 905-6, 2001.

7. The Cervical Spine Research Society Editorial Committee. The Cervical Spine, Second Edition. Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott 1990:834.