Losing Weight Can Help Your Arthritis Pain

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Tuesday, April 28th, 2009 Subscribe To Our Feed

San Diego Chiropractor: Chiropractic and Arthritis

Do you suffer from painful arthritis? Do you also have a problem with your weight? If you do, more than likely you’re having back pain not only as the result of arthritis, but also as the eventuality of the burden your weight is putting on your spine. The body was not intended to carry around additional weight in the form of body fat. Your spine, which supports your body, is being put under a lot of strain even if you are just carrying an extra 20 or 30 pounds everyday. This sort of stress can created abnormalities of the vertebral column. These misaligned vertebra can produce arthritic changes in the spine and continue to aggravate the degenerative changes that have begun. Furthermore, your body may counteract in other ways, for instance your hips moving forward or tilting to accommodate the extra pounds. This can pinch the sciatic nerve, which is extraordinarily painful.

A new survey by the NPD Group, a leading market research organization based in Rosemont, Ill., shows that around 62% of adults and 34% of children are overweight or obese. The pervasiveness of arthritis escalates with growing weight. Research implies that cultivating a healthy weight lessens the risk of developing arthritis in the first place and may decrease degenerative progression. A weight decrease of just 11 pounds can lessen the occurrence (incidence) of new knee osteoarthritis and would be extraordinarily beneficial in reducing back pain as well.

A good diet and routine exercise is imperative for a person who desires to overcome their back pain, knee pain, and joint pain in other areas of the body. Even though it’s an unmistakable solution, it truly is the only action for you to take in order to stop suffering and regain your life.

First of all, let’s discuss the issue of dieting. Many diets (and there are a large number from which to choose) can be temporarily helpful. Unfortunately, the diet industry is not concerned about your losing weight permanently because as a result they would lose you as a customer. Eating a healthy diet (as a lifestyle choice and not a temporary fix) and decreasing your calories so that you are at a slight calorie “deficit,” is the only way to lose weight in a healthy, permanent way. Losing a large amount of weight too fast is not only ineffectual long-term, but unsafe. Losing about 2 pounds every week will help you to lose the weight permanently and healthfully.

As far as exercise is concerned, research has proved that physical activity reduces pain, improves function, and defers disability. It is important for you to get at least 30 minutes of moderate physical activity a minimum of 3 days a week. You can get activity in 10-minute intervals.

Besides the good your joints will experience from exercise, chiropractic treatment is an excellent way to get mobility back in the joints of your spine and other areas of your body. A well-adjusted spine makes exercise and physical activity a good deal easier and will slow down arthritic degenerative changes. The Annals of Internal Medicine published the results of a survey of 232 people who were under a rheumatologist’s care for their arthritis. Of those people, 63% answered the survey by saying they were using some kind of “complementary care” as named by the study. Of those individuals, 31% were using chiropractic. Undoubtedly the most notable statistic was that 73% of those using chiropractic found it effective. Indicating why they’d tried the non-medical chiropractic care, the responders offered a number of reasons: 1) to control pain, 2) they’d been told that it helps, 3) they felt confident 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 assisting men and women suffering from back pain due to arthritis in addition to other arthritic afflictions for over a hundred years. Not only can arthritic pain and degenerative changes in the spine be produced by the misaligned vertebra that your San Diego chiropractor will fix, if left untreated misalignments can lower resistance and immunity, which can cause new health conditions.

It is always wise to visit a health care professional to discuss diet and exercise. Your chiropractor is an experienced resource for information on the sort of lifestyle changes that you will find necessary to assist you in managing your arthritis. By the same token, besides correcting any misalignments in your spine, your chiropractor will evaluate any faulty gait patterns or posture irregularities that may be compounding your arthritic pain.

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