Arthritis is a scary word. It brings up fears in people that can be eased if they just know more about it. There are many different types of arthritis. Some of the types of arthritis are auto-immune reactions related to skin diseases, auto-immune reactions not related to skin diseases, arthritis related to intestinal problems, and the most common type of all is wear and tear type of arthritis. The wear and tear type of arthritis is called Osteoarthritis, Degenerative Arthritis, Degenerative Joint Disease or just DJD.

Every one that has ever had any kind of trauma in their life from slips and falls to serious injuries will get DJD. Chronic overuse will lead to DJD. Like athletes or jobs that require repetitive action.

The good news about this type of common wear and tear arthritis is that it is managed, and can, with hard work start to repair. Many people believe that it is not fixable. That they have to live with it and take pills for the pain. Now we know that these pills can cause serious illnesses. (see article on Vioxx) The amazing part is that it is all mechanical in nature and has a mechanical remedy.

Most of the joints of the body are surrounded by a capsule or bag filled with fluid to bathe and lubricate the joint. They also have some type of disk or meniscoid type structure. Wear and tear on that joint will cause it to literally wear out and get deformed. This is a painful condition and it limits movement. The job of the chiropractor is to find the loss of motion and restore it. The method we use to restore it is called a chiropractic adjustment. It restores the movement and then the joint fluid starts to return naturally. Healing will then occur given enough treatment over time.

Arthritis, at least the most common type can be helped by chiropractic adjustments. I have seen this for almost twenty years of practice. It isn’t even a mystery it is just a given result of regular chiropractic visits. It is proven over and over again in thousands of chiropractic offices all over the world on a daily basis.