Degenerative Arthritis

It is interesting to note that osteoarthritis always develops in specific joints, and not evenly through the entire body. For instance, a person may have one arthritic knee, but not two, or they may have arthritis in the lower neck, but not the entire spine. If degenerative arthritis were simply part of getting older it would affect all joints in the body equally. The majority of elderly people still have many joints in their spine and body that have no arthritis at all. The reason only some joints are affected is because of increased stresses to those joints resulting from biomechanical problems.
One such common problem is a spinal subluxation (abnormal position and motion in a spinal joint producing nerve irritation). With a subluxation, the joint loses its full range of motion and in essence becomes fixated, or “stuck”. In each cartilage-containing joint, a lubricating fluid called synovial fluid exists to keep the cartilage healthy. Movement in the joint replenishes the supply of synovial fluid. A stuck joint will have a decreased production of this lubricating fluid causing the cartilage to become dry, brittle, and lead to breakdown. Chiropractic helps to reestablish normal motion and mechanics in arthritic joints allowing for increased range of motion and slowing of the degenerative process. Studies have even shown a reversal in degenerative arthritis through chiropractic care.