As a chiropractor I treat many people who suffer from arthritis, and I also help individuals who have sustained sports injuries. With the former, I use chiropractic adjustments and with the latter, in conjunction with the adjustments, I often use kinesio taping. Now, it appears that athletic tape can also be beneficial in treating patients with arthritis. Read on…

Athletic Tape May Relieve Certain Arthritis Pain

via Current Arthritis News and Research

 

Athletic Tape

Researchers in Australia have found that athletic tape can be used to improve pain from patellofemoral osteoarthritis, a form of osteoarthritis found around or behind the kneecap.

 

This was a small study, to be sure, involving only 28 people, 14 with and 14 without patellofemoral arthritis. Yet the findings may provide another therapy option for people with this knee pain. This finding may also benefit people with chronic patellofemoral pain, which is relatively common in runners and can oftentimes be related to a misalignment in the knee joint.

The researchers from the University of Melbourne enlisted the 28 participants, all adults with an average age of 57. The researchers took MRI scans of the participants knees and discovered that the arthritis sufferers had a higher incidence of misalignment of the knee joint, including an inclination for the kneecap to be positioned toward the outside of the leg.

Using athletic tape to wrap the patient’s knees, the researchers were able to improve that misalignment. This contributed to improvement in reported pain during a squatting exercise.

According to lead researcher, Dr. Kay M. Crossley;

“Our results confirm that patellar taping is an excellent technique which can be recommended for people with (patellofemoral arthritis).”

The tape must be applied correctly to achieve the benefit, and not to worsen the condition. The researchers indicated that a physical therapist would be the most appropriate to wrap the knee, but that with instruction and practice, the patient would be able to successfully tape their own knee.

Using tape may not be the best solution for everyone with patellofemoral pain. Many people may require other forms of therapy or a combination with taping. Dr. Crossley stated that she and her colleagues are currently conducting a clinical trial which is studying the outcomes of knee taping with other treatments.

The results of the taping study were published in the journal Arthritis Care & Research.

 

Posted via email from chirohealthnews’s posterous

Athletes are distinctly at risk when it comes to problems produced by dehydration. “Physiologically, their core body temperature could be higher than it should have been if they were hydrated. Their heart rate will be higher, and they’re going to perceive that they’re working harder than they actually are,” said Susan Yeargin, assistant professor of athletic training in Indiana State’s College of Nursing, Health, and Human Services.  A high percentage of collegiate and professional athletes begin the season dehydrated, putting their health at risk even before they begin strenuous workouts, according to researchers at Indiana State University. In fact, Pre-season physical examinations, in fact, found that 80 percent of football players exhibited dehydration.

Just how much water is enough water might have you confused. Chiropractors, like the majority of other health care professionals, advise no less than eight, 8-ounce glasses of water every day for most patients, but for our patients who are athletes, or for those who carry around excess weight or exercise or work where it’s hot, we advise even more. There is a fairly simple way for you to be sure that you’re drinking an adequate amount of water. The color of your urine is a good guide. You’re well-hydrated if it comes out a light, pale yellow!

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A current survey by the NPD Group, a leading market research firm based in Rosemont, Ill., shows that approximately 62% of adults and 34% of adolescents are overweight or obese. The prevalence of arthritis increases with increasing weight. Research implies that sustaining a healthy weight lessens the risk of developing arthritis in the first place and may decelerate degenerative progression. A loss of just 11 pounds can reduce the occurrence (incidence) of new knee osteoarthritis and would do wonders to reduce back pain as well.

In order for anyone to get rid of their back pain, knee pain, and joint pain in other regions of the body, a healthy diet and routine exercise is mandatory.  Although it’s an unmistakable solution, it genuinely is the only action for you to take in order to get out of pain and get your life back.

First of all, we’ll look at the dieting issue.  There are many different ways to diet and many of them work only on a temporary basis.  Just think about it, if you were to lose weight for good, the diet industry would lose a good customer!  If you want weight effectively, you are simply going to need to eat a healthy diet and also to cut your calories so that you use more calories than you take in.  Shedding a lot of pounds too quickly is not only temporary, but perilous. Losing about 2 pounds every week will take off the weight and improve your health.

Research has proved that exercise and physical activity not only decreases pain and augments function, but genuinely delays disability. Be certain to get no less than one-half hour of moderate physical activity no less than 3 days a week. You can get activity in 10-minute intervals.

Chiropractic treatment is a highly beneficial way to get mobility back in the joints of your spine and other regions of, and can be a smart first step before you begin an exercise program. A spine in alignment makes exercise and physical activity a lot easier and actually slows down arthritic degenerative changes. The Annals of Internal Medicine reported the results of a survey of 232 people who were under a rheumatologist’s care for their arthritis.  Of those people, 63% replied to the survey by saying they were utilizing some kind of “complementary care” as named by the study.  Of those people, 31% were using chiropractic. Likely the most notable statistic was that 73% of those utilizing chiropractic found it helpful.  Indicating why they’d tried the non-medical chiropractic care, the responders gave a number of reasons: 1) to curb pain, 2) they’d been told that it helps, 3) they felt certain that it is safe, 4) it had helped someone they knew, and 5) because their prescription medication wasn’t working.

Chiropractors, also called doctors of chiropractic, have been aiding individuals suffering from back pain due to arthritis in addition to other arthritic conditions for over a hundred years. Your chiropractor treats misaligned vertebra that, in addition to producing arthritic pain and degenerative changes in the spine, can lower resistance and immunity, thus causing new health challenges.

It is always wise to visit a health care professional to discuss diet and exercise. Your chiropractor is a knowledgeable resource for education about the type of lifestyle changes that you will need to help you to manage your arthritis. Furthermore, in addition to correcting any misalignments in your spine, your chiropractor will analyze any faulty gait patterns or posture irregularities that may be compounding your arthritic pain.

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