Many people have knee
osteoarthritis in both or one knee. That doesn’t
make it any easier on its
sufferers though. Back And Neck Care Center has some novel exercise tips and
treatments our Severna Park knee osteoarthritis (KOA) patients will want
to try for themselves.
KNEE OSTEOARTHRITIS (KOA): What It Is and How Common It Is
Knee osteoarthritis is aging-related
and everywhere! 86 million people around the world
over the age of 20 were diagnosed with it in 2020. Characteristically,
knee osteoarthritis sufferers feel a loss of knee
extensor strength, an increase in the severity of knee pain,
and a drop 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 despite
not yet knowing which exercise is best. (2) Back And Neck Care Center sees
new treatment ideas being published all the time.
KOA TREATMENT: Your
Severna Park chiropractor has it.
A chiropractic treatment approach has demonstrated
promise. A trial of treatment based on principles of Cox®
flexion distraction decompression for knee osteoarthritis – that is distraction
of the knee – resulted in 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) Back And Neck Care Center
can link this treatment (and even some cartilage-supportive
nutrition!) with your home-exercise for relief.
KOA TREATMENT: YOU, our Severna Park knee pain patient
Even though the benefits of exercise abound for KOA is well known, KOA
sufferers don’t usually keep doing
their exercise practice. One study made an easy-to-follow video set and calendar system that
automatically noted when their did the exercises that resulted in an
82.4% participation rate. Not bad! The patients also reported satisfaction, pain reduction, and improved
physical function. (4) One 4-week intervention of unilateral, non-KOA knee extensor strength training resulted
in 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) Back And Neck Care Center is pretty confident
a KOA sufferer will not care which knee is exercised as long as relief
is forthcoming! A planned YOGA (YOGa and
strengthening exercise for knee osteoArthritis) study was just described
to see how yoga’s mind-body exercise format - known to enhance flexibility, muscle
strength, balance and fitness - might reduce 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 considered how blood flow restriction with low
and high load resistance exercise of the KOA-affected knee influenced
various blood tests in female patients with unilateral KOA
and discovered that markers for skeletal muscle tissues were higher.
(6) All these studies on various approaches
to handle knee osteoarthritis may hopefully unearth a
way to ease/prevent/better manage this common ailment.
CONTACT Back And Neck Care Center
Listen to this PODCAST with Dr. Luigi Albano on The Back Doctors Podcast with Dr.
Michael Johnson as he illustrates relieving
chiropractic knee treatment via The Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain
Management for patients with KOA.
Schedule your Severna Park chiropractic
appointment now. Do you have
knee osteoarthritis? Come in for
a visit!