Healthy Hips and Healthy Knees
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| Chiropractic Care and Healthy Joints |
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Technically speaking, chiropractic care helps balance
weight-bearing loads in the spinal column. The immediate result is
improved spinal biomechanics, which benefits all the other
weight-bearing joints in the body, particularly the hips and knees. Hip function and knee function are directly related to how well your spine is working. Many times, hip pain and knee pain are being caused by mechanical problems in the spine. Neck pain, shoulder pain, and lower back pain let you know that your spinal biomechanics are off. The connecting links are biomechanics and distribution of weight. Regular chiropractic care addresses all of these problems, helping ensure optimal functioning throughout your body. By helping restore proper spinal biomechanics, chiropractic care helps improve hip and knee function, too. |
The numbers of individuals undergoing total hip replacement and total knee replacement are increasing significantly.1
Annual rates in the United States for total hip replacement have
increased more than 50%. In Denmark, rates have been increasing by 30%.
Annual rates in the United States for total knee replacement have
increased by more than 170%.2 In Sweden, rates have increased 500% in the last 20 years.3 With the aging of the population and increased lifespan, these rates will continue to increase.
Advanced surgical procedures are invaluable, if you need them. Of course, many persons have unrelenting, daily pain which may require radical surgery. For everyone else, though, the best way forward are the old reliables: regular exercise, as vigorous as is appropriate; a healthy diet containing plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables; and sufficient rest on as consistent basis as possible. Regular chiropractic care is also a key component of helping to keep your weight-bearing joints in peak condition.
Advanced surgical procedures are invaluable, if you need them. Of course, many persons have unrelenting, daily pain which may require radical surgery. For everyone else, though, the best way forward are the old reliables: regular exercise, as vigorous as is appropriate; a healthy diet containing plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables; and sufficient rest on as consistent basis as possible. Regular chiropractic care is also a key component of helping to keep your weight-bearing joints in peak condition.
Most hip and knee replacements are done because the person has
severely painful degenerative joint disease - osteoarthritis. Hips,
knees, and ankles are all weight-bearing joints. These joints are big
and strong and have many surfaces on which to distribute the substantial
mechanical loads which are placed on them throughout the day. But these
joints don't last forever and, like all living systems, they will
eventually begin to age and break down. Serious problems ensue, however,
when these critically important joints start breaking down long before
their "warranty" expires.
Many hip and knee problems are a result of chronically poor
posture. Almost none of us are taught how to use our bodies properly. We
don't come with instruction manuals. So as time goes on, the
inefficient habits we develop as children and teenagers become
permanent. People slouch, they let their abdominal muscles sag, they
stand with all their weight on one leg, and their heads stick out in
front rather than being centered over their chests. One result is
chronically tight and painful neck, shoulder, and lower back muscles.
Another result is chronically uneven distribution of the weight of the
body, ultimately causing degeneration of hip and knee joints.
Lack of a healthy diet prevents the lubricating tissues of the hip and knee joints from receiving key nutrients. Lack of proper joint lubrication causes osteoarthritis. Lack of regular exercise inhibits normal joint motion and normal joint nutrition and lubrication, leading to the development of degenerative joint disease. When you add up faulty biomechanics, lack of a healthy diet, and lack of proper exercise, the result is a prescription for chronic hip and knee problems.
Lack of a healthy diet prevents the lubricating tissues of the hip and knee joints from receiving key nutrients. Lack of proper joint lubrication causes osteoarthritis. Lack of regular exercise inhibits normal joint motion and normal joint nutrition and lubrication, leading to the development of degenerative joint disease. When you add up faulty biomechanics, lack of a healthy diet, and lack of proper exercise, the result is a prescription for chronic hip and knee problems.
It's very important to address these issues when you're young.
When you're not as young as you were, the time to begin making healthful
changes is right now. Chiropractic care directly helps improve a
person's biomechanics. Chiropractic care also helps people make the best
use possible of the good food they're beginning to eat and the regular
exercise they're beginning to get.
For most of us, the best way to prevent the need for a hip or
knee replacement is to take consistent, healthy actions on our own
behalf. If a hip or knee replacement turns out to be the way to go, all
of these healthy actions will help ensure a quick recovery and continued
good health from this point onward.
1Singh JA: Epidemiology of knee and hip arthroplasty: a systematic review. Open Orthop J 5:80-85, 2011
2Kurtz S, et al: Prevalence of primary and revision total hip and knee arthroplasty. J Bone Joint Surg Am 87(7):1487-1497, 2005
3Knutson K, Robertsson O: The Swedish Knee Arthroplasty Register. Acta Orthop 81(1):5-7, 2010
Knee replacement surgery can be extremely painful. But now there are many knee surgery alternatives that are more effective and less painful.
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