Arthritis and pain

     Are you one of the 50 million adults that suffer from Arthritis? There is a common misconception that most joint pain is from Arthritis, when in fact there could be much more going on.  Tight muscles pull on tendons. Time for a little anatomy lesson; muscle attach to tendons, tendons attach to bone.
    In the case of a knee joint. Follow me as we trace down the leg in very, very simple terms.  Tendons attach to the hip, that turn into muscle that run down your thigh,  that turn in to tendons that cross over or around the knee joint.  Follow me?  Now we all know that muscles get tight/stiff. This happens when the muscles are not being used as often as they should ( this is why exercise is so important).  So, as that muscle gets tight, it begins to pull on the tendons. Reflecting back to the knee, if the tight muscle in the thigh is pulling on the tendons that cross over the knee joint, whats going to happen?
   That joint space will decrease as the 2 bones are being pulled closer together. Decreasing the joint space in any joint will increase friction and pressure in that operating joint.  Pressure and friction on joints causes nothing but problems. Increased friction begins wear and tear breaking down the connective tissue within a joint. Increased pressure limits blood flow. Think of it as this,  Blood flow is like a highway, when there is a accident (in this case body injury, damaged tissue) your body sends out ambulances (natural healing cells) to travel down the highway. When the high way is blocked  ambulances cant get through and they cant get to the cite of the accident making things get worse. 
    Now we are left with a joint that's beginning to weaken, that may be inflamed causing increased pressure and pain while also putting that joint at a high risk of injury.
    Now that we have the basics down; how can we help these catastrophic events happening to our bodies.  Well, a combination of things.
1. Chiropractic & Acupuncture. Chiropractic will help with decreasing the pressure in the joints by gentle and safe joint manipulation. It also sends nerve signals to decrease pain as well as decrease tension in the muscle.  Acupuncture will trigger the nerve signals helping the muscles to relax.
2. Therapeutic Massage.  Massage will help to loosen those tight muscles, allowing there to be less pull on the tendons and joints.
3. Exercise.  Moving is a beautiful thing, our muscles are made to move. By activating the muscles you are helping your circulatory system pump out the extracellular waist within the muscle. (extracellular waist is the byproduct of cells dying and rebuilding. This happens to everyone all day every day)
4. Nutrition.  Consuming whole foods such as fruits, veggies, specialty spices, & legumes/ beans.  Help keep your body at a low inflammatory state.  Foods high in fat, processed sugar, and preservative chemicals increase your bodies inflammatory state. This makes your body stay in a constant attack mode which stresses your immune system weakening your bodies natural healing processes.

In short. Joint pain is not always Arthritis.  If your experiencing joint pain try Chiropractic, Acupuncture, Therapeutic Massage, better Nutrition, and exercise to help before you become submissive to pharmaceuticals.

  Visit Combined Chiropractic and Acupuncture today to help you start living the life you deserve.
Combined Chiropractic & Acupuncture

-J. Antonelli