NEWSLETTER The Newsletter About Your Health And Caring For Your Body
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Do your joints hate cold weather? Are you blaming your age on lower back, hip and knee pain? These are typical signs of arthritis but it's not the painful life sentence you think it is. Every year, the Centers for Disease Control reports roughly 54.4 million North Americans are diagnosed with some form of arthritis and it's the leading cause of ongoing disability. In light of those numbers, a plethora of research has been conducted on effective treatment for arthritis, especially non-invasive options. So, can you completely get rid of arthritis symptoms without surgery? Established back at the turn of the century and still being reinforced to this day, the answer is a resounding yes! Remind me, what is arthritis exactly? The term 'arthritis' comes from the Latin 'arthr-' meaning joint and '-itis' meaning inflammation. While inflammation is a great mechanism your body uses to heal itself, chronic inflammation means getting stuck in that healing phase without reaching resolution.There are a lot of reasons why your joints might be stuck in a chronic inflammation cycle and the Arthritis Foundation lists over 100 different types of arthritis. What are a few common causes of lower back, hip, and knee arthritis? You'renot just getting old!First, let's differentiateacause from aperpetuator. Frequently, an old injury is what causes the cascade of events leading to arthritis. However, it's often poor movement mechanics or even a lack of movement from pain avoidance that perpetuates the arthritis cycle. You can't go back and erase that old injury, but you can choose to start moving better. Other causes of arthritis, like immune system dysfunction, abnormal metabolism, and genetic factors can be difficult to circumvent. On the other hand, you have the ability to control the strength and coordination with which you move. No problem, I'll just get my joint replaced. Surgery is not a quick fix or something to be taken lightly. On top of being extremelycostly, thereareriskswithgeneralanesthesia,risksof infectionand TO TREAT YOUR ARTHRITIS PAIN Take The Next Step INSIDE: • 6 Tips To Help Your Arthritis Pain • Healthy Recipe
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® The overall goal is to change the way you load your joints so you can get back to doing the things you love, pain-free. When it comes to loading joints, the direction of the force and how well the force is spread are the two main focusesof treatment. Ananalogyfor theeffectofforcedirection is to imagine pinching a spring (like the small ones found in pens). You could pinch the spring inaway thatmakes itbuckleor inaway thatmakes thecoilscompress. When it comes to your joints, you don't want any buckling, you want forces passing straight through to the next joint. Spreading forces across multiple joints decreases the stress each joint has to sustain individually, helping to reduce your pain. At Body Gears, we achieve this by: - Eliminating any joint and soft tissue restrictions with manual therapy to restore the normal motions and resting positions your body should have - Strengthening muscles that hold your joints in optimal positions - Making sure the right muscles fire at the right time during any activity you do so that your joints are being loaded in a way that promotes healing instead of injury If you or a loved one suffers from arthritis pain, contact us today to learn more about tailored treatment options. Let age mean more experiences, not more pain. blood clots, and the risk that you'll need another revision surgery somewhere down the line. Also, you're going to need a long course of physical therapy after surgery anyway, so why not try physical therapy first? If surgery ends up being necessary, a lot of surgeons are also starting to see faster and better recovery among people who do 'prehab' aka physical therapy to prep for surgery. Creating a larger reserve of strength and stamina before surgery, especially in the joints above and below, means you can 'hit the ground running' with your recovery so to speak, instead of starting fromground zero. What can physical therapy actually do?
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