Many people have knee
osteoarthritis in one knee or both. That does not
cause sufferers to feel any better about it. Pensacola Spinal Rehab Center has some novel exercise tips and
treatments our Pensacola 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 globally
over 20 years old were diagnosed with it in 2020. Typically,
knee osteoarthritis sufferers have 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 been shown to positively affect cartilage structure despite
not yet knowing which exercise is best. (2) Pensacola Spinal Rehab Center sees
new treatment ideas being studied all the time.
KOA TREATMENT: Your
Pensacola chiropractor has it.
A chiropractic treatment approach has shown
promise. A trial of Cox® flexion distraction decompression
principled treatment for knee osteoarthritis – namely 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) Pensacola Spinal Rehab Center
can link this treatment (and even some cartilage-supportive
nutrition!) with your home-exercise for relief.
KOA TREATMENT: YOU, our Pensacola knee pain patient
Even though the benefits of exercise abound for KOA is well known, KOA
sufferers do not very well stick to the exercise practice. One study set
up an easy-to-follow video set and calendar system that
automatically noted when their did the exercises that demonstrated an
82.4% participation rate. Not bad! The patients also described satisfaction, pain reduction, and better
physical function. (4) One month-long 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 enhanced
extensor strength and neuromuscular function of the knee with KOA maintained
itself for 3 months. (1) Pensacola Spinal Rehab 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 just proposed
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 improve 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 impacted
various blood tests in female patients with single-knee KOA
and found that markers for skeletal muscle tissues were increased.
(6) All these studies on a variety of approaches
to manage knee osteoarthritis may hopefully find a
way to ease/prevent/better manage this common ailment.
CONTACT Pensacola Spinal Rehab 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 Pensacola chiropractic
appointment soon. Are you ready for some knee pain relief? Come see us!