La Grande Chiropractic Exercise Ideas for Knee Osteoarthritis Management
Numerous people have knee osteoarthritis in both or one knee. That doesn’t cause sufferers to feel any better about it. Dr. Paulette Hugulet, DC, LLC has some new exercise tips and treatments our La Grande 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 globe over the age of 20 were diagnosed with it in 2020. Characteristically, knee osteoarthritis sufferers experience a loss of knee extensor strength, an increase in the severity of knee pain, and a decrease 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 even though just which physical activity is best has yet to be determined. (2) Dr. Paulette Hugulet, DC, LLC sees new treatment ideas being published a lot.
KOA TREATMENT: Your La Grande chiropractor has it.
A chiropractic treatment approach has demonstrated 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) Dr. Paulette Hugulet, DC, LLC can link this treatment (and even some cartilage-supportive nutrition!) with your home-exercise for relief.
KOA TREATMENT: YOU, our La Grande knee pain patient
Even though the benefits of exercise abound for KOA is well established, KOA sufferers don’t usually stick to the exercise practice. One study set up an easy-to-follow video series and calendar system that automatically noted when their did the exercises that demonstrated an 82.4% participation rate. Not bad! The patients also shared their noticed satisfaction, pain reduction, and better 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 enhanced extensor strength and neuromuscular function of the knee with KOA maintained itself for 3 months. (1) Dr. Paulette Hugulet, DC, LLC is pretty confident a KOA sufferer won’t care which knee is exercised as long as there is relief! A planned YOGA (YOGa and strengthening exercise for knee osteoArthritis) study was recently proposed to see how yoga’s mind-body exercise format - known to improve 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 looked into 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 found that markers for skeletal muscle tissues were increased. (6) All these studies on a multitude of approaches to manage knee osteoarthritis may hopefully unearth a way to ease/prevent/better manage this common condition.
CONTACT Dr. Paulette Hugulet, DC, LLC
Listen to this PODCAST with Dr. Luigi Albano on The Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as he describes relieving chiropractic knee treatment via The Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management for patients with KOA.
Schedule your La Grande chiropractic appointment today. Do you experience knee osteoarthritis? Come in for a visit!
