July 2021 Healthy News from Pflugerville Wellness Center

Hip and knee osteoarthritis are known and growing concerns as our society ages…around the world. Currently in 2021, Canada is evaluating the “Good Life with Osteoarthritis in Demark” (GLAD) system for knee and hip osteoarthritis. The program incorporates manual therapy, exercise and patient education. (1) In one GLAD study in which patients attended 2-3 patient education classes and 12 supervised exercise sessions over the course of 8 weeks, patients’ pain intensity improved 26-33%, walking speed got better by 8-12%, chair standability got better by 18-30%, and joint-related quality of life got better by 12-26%. (2) (Another study utilized MRI to determine the thickness of knee joint cartilage after distracting the knee joint to find that it thickened with treatment resulting in significant short- and long-term cartilage regeneration up to 10 years after treatment. (3) This was done with young people, but it is hopeful!) Back in 2017, a Canadian chiropractor described the benefit of his utilization of Cox® flexion-distraction-principle-based distraction to the osteoarthritic knee, and the success he has witnessed in his patients. Inclusively (acute and chronic patients together), patients related a mean visual analog scale score drop from 7.7 to 1.8 in 3 weeks and 5.3 treatments. Acute knee OA patients’ scores decreased from 8.1 to 1.1 in 4.8 treatments in 2.4 weeks. Chronic patients’ scores decrased from 7.5 to 2.2 in 3.3 weeks and 5.4 treatments. (4) Chiropractors like yours at Pflugerville Wellness Center are ahead of the curve with their modified Cox® Technic principles-based-flexion-distraction-approach to knee osteoarthritis. Novel protocols for use in hip OA are also in development. Let’s talk today about how distraction treatment may help you with Pflugerville hip and knee osteoarthritis!

 

HOPE FOR DEGENERATED DISCS: Chondroitin Sulfate

Back pain treatment approaches from surgery to manual therapy to exercise to nutrition abound while back pain continues. Injecting hyaluronic acid hydrogel is showing some promise as it seems to suppress the loss of disc height, stimulate tissue hydration for disc repair, and reduce inflammation and innervation to prevent more disc degeneration. (5) The nutritional approach continues to hold hope for back pain sufferers as the disc matrix components are identified, two key ones being chondroitin sulfate proteoglycan and hyaluronan. Making chondroitin sulfate available to the disc in addition to controlling the hydrostatic pressure of the disc is helpful. (6) Cox® Technic is shown to decrease intradiscal pressure, so combining it with chondroitin sulfate may be, too. Are you including it in your daily supplements? Consider including a disc supplement that has chondroitin sulfate to your routine after we talk. Pflugerville Wellness Center is ready!

Listen to this PODCAST with Dr. James Cox on The Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as he presents research on the part chondroitin sulfate plays in the health, degeneration and potential regeneration of the intervertebral disc and in the Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management.

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Schedule your next Pflugerville chiropractic appointment with Pflugerville Wellness Center. See you then!