Minster Chiropractic Exercise Ideas for Knee Osteoarthritis Management
Numerous people have knee osteoarthritis in both or one knee. That does not make it any easier on its sufferers though. Minster Chiropractic Center has some new exercise tips and treatments our Minster knee osteoarthritis (KOA) patients will want to attempt.
KNEE OSTEOARTHRITIS (KOA): What It Is and How Common It Is
Knee osteoarthritis is related to aging and oh so common! 86 million people around the world over the age of 20 were diagnosed with it in 2020. Typically, knee osteoarthritis sufferers experience a loss of knee extensor strength, a greater severity of knee pain, and a decrease in functional performance. (1) Knee osteoarthritis is the degeneration of cartilage, part of the natural aging process whether we like it or not. Physical activity has demonstrated a positive effect on cartilage structure even though just which physical activity is best has yet to be determined. (2) Minster Chiropractic Center sees new treatment ideas being studied all the time.
KOA TREATMENT: Your Minster chiropractor has it.
A chiropractic treatment approach has shown potential. A trial of Cox® flexion distraction decompression principled treatment for knee osteoarthritis – that is distraction of the knee – reported relief of patient-perceived pain from 7.7 (out of 10) to 1.8 in a mean of 5.3 visits in 3 weeks for 25 patients. (3) Minster Chiropractic Center can link this treatment (and even some cartilage-supportive nutrition!) with your home-exercise for relief.
KOA TREATMENT: YOU, our Minster knee pain patient
Even though the benefits of exercise abound for KOA is well established, KOA sufferers don’t usually continue the exercise practice. One study made an easy-to-follow video series and calendar system that automatically noted when their did the exercises that showed an 82.4% participation rate. Not bad! The patients also shared their noticed satisfaction, pain reduction, and better physical function. (4) One 4-week intervention of single knee, non-KOA knee extensor strength training produced significant improvement in the knee extensor strength of the knee with KOA! This is called “cross education phenomenon.” The improved extensor strength and neuromuscular function of the knee with KOA maintained itself for 3 months. (1) Minster Chiropractic Center knows a KOA sufferer will not care which knee is exercised as long as there is relief! A planned YOGA (YOGa and strengthening exercise for knee osteoArthritis) study was recently described to find out if yoga’s mind-body exercise format - recognized as improving flexibility, muscle strength, balance and fitness - might decrease the symptoms of knee osteoarthritis and even enhance other outcomes like pain, function, quality of life, gait speed, cost effectiveness, and others. (5) Another study studied how blood flow restriction with low and high load resistance exercise of the KOA-affected knee changed various blood tests in female patients with unilateral KOA and found that markers for skeletal muscle tissues were increased. (6) All these studies on various approaches to manage knee osteoarthritis may hopefully find a way to ease/prevent/better manage this common ailment.
CONTACT Minster Chiropractic Center
Listen to this PODCAST with Dr. Luigi Albano on The Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as he illustrates beneficial chiropractic knee treatment via The Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management for patients with KOA.
Schedule your Minster chiropractic appointment soon. Do you suffer with knee osteoarthritis? Come in for a visit!
