I think it is a great time to delve into common causes and misconceptions surrounding back pain! Afterall, it is the greatest source of misery and most common reason for visits to the doctor. Over 80% of the population has experienced or will experience back pain in their lifetime. Back pain is often the primary reason for lost productivity and avoidance of exercise, and enjoyable pursuits.
In the last several months I have seen an unprecedented uptick in patients reporting increased back, neck and hip pain. In this newsletter, you will hopefully have a better understanding as to why this is the case.
When you see the doctor with complaints of pain, a general diagnosis of back or neck pain is often given. These labels often come after a 10 minute examination and possibly an xray or scan to rule out an infection, fracture, tumor or other anomaly.
Unless something anomalous or abnormal shows up on a scan the diagnosis of ‘back pain’ tells us little about WHY the individual is having pain. In order to effectively treat a set of symptoms we need an understanding of the possible causes of the symptoms. The diagnosis alone doesn’t tell us anything. We need to view back pain in the context of the whole body. We need an understanding of the mechanisms that lead to pain.
Lets first discuss a common misconception or misrepresentation of the cause of chronic back pain. Chronic pain, in general is pain that has persisted for over 4 months. The most common explanations given for back pain are : arthritis, degenerative disc disease, bulging disc, and spinal stenosis.
It may be temporarily reassuring for the patient to have a ‘reason’ for their experience of pain, but upon hearing this diagnosis, the patient begins to focus on these imaging findings; sometimes obsess, is a better word! This leads to fear of movement, restriction in activity level, and anticipation of a negative outcome. As you might imagine this can become a self fulfilling prophecy and a deterrent to improving the patients comfort and getting them back into living their life. It turns out that over emphasizing the ‘label’ is often a roadblock to returning the patient to a full, active life.
Research indicates the conditions mentioned above standing alone do not cause severe, ongoing pain. In fact, many of these ‘findings’ within the general population are often a result of normal wear and tear on the body and are present in most adults over the age of 35, even in those who are not experiencing pain. Yes, no pain. In fact, nearly 85% of people with neck and back pain do not have clearly identifiable structural causes for pain on an xray or scan!
In my experience, I have also witnessed this phenomena. Those individuals with no identifiable abnormal findings have debilitating back pain and those with severe degenerative changes as seen on a scan, have little to no pain. Seems quite the enigma. It is always a challenge to help patients see the multitude of contributing causes to their pain. But once I do, it is rewarding to see how this knowledge alone changes the outcome to a positive one.
So now that we know that the label of bulging disc, or degenerative arthritis may not be the sole reason for the pain, what is really going on?
Only until we understand the “why” can we make an attempt at changing the symptoms. I will attempt to simplify the cause of chronic pain and the possible reasons why so many of us experience it at one time or another. I discuss the contributing factors in much greater detail in my book.
I will outline 5 primary reasons for neck and back pain. Most pain is due to a unique combination of at least these 5 factors. For the purpose of keeping this brief, I will describe 3 that I feel are very important.
1. Physical changes: This includes adaptive postural changes and movement patterns that are programmed in the nervous system. Check your posture right now as you are reading this. Remember, changes in alignment lead to changes in function. Are you seated upright with normal curvatures of the neck and low back? Or, Is your head forward, shoulders rounded, and lower spine in a C-configuration? Now consider how many hours you are seated in this posture daily, weekly and monthly, and what that will mean for your spine, discs and nerves long term?
Also included in the category of physical changes is weight gain that is concentrated in the abdominal area. This is particularly problematic because it is the location of our center of mass. Excessive loads on vertebral and soft tissue here can cause early degeneration and pressure on pain sensitive tissues and nerves. In addition, visceral fat or deep abdominal adiposity is associated with high levels of circulating inflammatory cytokines. Inflammation is the root cause of many of our chronic pain and health conditions. Finally, was there a surgery or trauma to an area of the body? It may be possible that scar tissue, adhesions in the fascia and connective tissue may be placing pressure on organs, joints and restricting normal movement. This may definitely be a contributing factor.
2. Health and fitness status. What is the state of your general health and fitness? Strength of supporting spinal and hip muscles as well as the aerobic and oxygen capacity of muscle is critical for warding off back pain. Muscles require continuous optimal blood flow and oxygen or will become hypoxic and painful. Joints require movement or will become stiff and painful. Joints also require muscles that are balanced, free to move and support normal joint alignment. If they are weak, or tight and short they simply can not function normally.
Again, if you have low fitness status or high levels of body wide inflammation, you will be more prone to experiencing pain. The changes to our normal activity and routine over the last year and a half may be contributing to a rise in complaints of pain. Many of my patients could not attend fitness classes or participate in sports. They literally took to the couch and gave up all activity. In the several months of inactivity they lost muscle, strength, endurance, stamina and many gained between 10-20 pounds. Many of us were left to adjust to uncertain and difficult situations with little or no support.
To determine if your lifestyle is promoting or discouraging inflammation, I suggest reading my previous blogs and also the information contained in my book, Staying Healthy, Living Longer. In my book, I discuss the leading causes of inflammation in the body and the drivers of pain and disease, most of which are within our control.
“The real act of discovery consists not in finding new lands, but in seeing with new eyes.”– Marcel Proust
4. Emotional and mental, this includes Stress Physiology and the Nervous system:
This is a significant yet often overlooked factor in back pain. There are numerous, ongoing studies and research in pain neuroscience that support and uphold the impact of stress on the nervous system, and therefore every tissue in the body. This has such a profound connection to bodily pain, that clinically we use a biopsychosocial model to treat chronic pain. This multidisciplinary model takes into account previous trauma, adverse events, the patients’ interpretation of the events, into designing a treatment plan for the pain. Stress can be from childhood events, from an illness or recent traumatic experience, and current ongoing stress for which you see no resolution.
There is a strong relationship between chronic pain and medically unexplained symptoms and a hyper vigilant state in the nervous system (Psychophysiologic Disorders Association -PPDA). A dominant “fight, flight and freeze” response of the Sympathetic Nervous System is exhaustive to the body and prohibitive to blood flow and healing. Additionally it promotes states of muscle tension and poor tissue blood flow impeding oxygen to the tissues.
Early adverse life experiences contribute to what we call somatization later in life. Somatization is the development of physical symptoms from emotional subconscious mechanisms. These are real symptoms. There is no such thing as imaginary pain. These events set up neurological pathways in the brain and nervous system that cause erratic and abnormal firing of sensitized nerves. There is considerable evidence that adverse early events ( namely in childhood) are strongly linked to chronic pain, musculoskeletal symptoms and headaches. Fear exacerbates pain because it arises from the same brain region. The patient is usually unaware that this is occurring as many of these emotions are repressed.
When organ disease or structural abnormalities have been ruled out with testing, what is remaining is more than likely somatization type disorders. Studies have indicated that as many as 40% of visits to a primary care doctor for pain complaints are linked to repression of emotions or past trauma. Self awareness, and an understanding of this concept alone can free you from a pain cycle that has not been responding to other treatments.
For additional help in understanding this I would recommend additional reading: The Mind Body Prescription, Healing the Body, Healing the Pain (Dr John Sarno, MD) and They Can’t Find Anything Wrong! ( Dr, David Clarke, MD). I also explain this in greater detail in my book.
I feel that the events of the last 18 months have heightened the experience of anxiety and fear and exacerbated safety issues, ramping up the sympathetic nervous system for many people. This may be one of the reasons many are reporting more pain.
And the last 2 factors,
4. Nutritional state. I can spend quite a long time on this one.
5. Psycho-social and environmental factors.
When you understand these contributing factors you can take back control and learn the tools and practices you need to take care of yourself and get back to living your best life!
If you would like a bit more information on back pain, Sign up here to receive a free chapter download entitled, “The Scourge of Back Pain…Getting back in the Game”, from my new award winning, Amazon best selling book, Staying Healthy Living Longer! It is is also available at Barnes and Noble and independent bookstores!
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Coming in October, I will showcase best practice supplement formulations for preventing and treating the conditions of Osteoporosis, and Osteopenia, (low bone density.) Stay connected!
Until next time, stay healthy and keep your heart happy. 🙂
Exciting Update on Book Launch!
Regardless of how you have classified this past year, “good”, “terrible” or somewhere in between, it is now for all of us, in the rear view mirror. The infamous year, 2020, is in the history books and we are now about 2 weeks into a New Year. As humans we have always looked forward to new beginnings and a fresh slate on which to construct a better way. What is your vision and hope for this year?
We can only thrive when we have hope and trust that our actions will move things in a positive direction. We may not be able to control many things that are happening all around us, but we can control our thoughts and actions.
Now more than ever in my career, I am seeing a genuine interest among people, in building better health and reducing the chances of disease. Despite this, I am also seeing now more than ever, increases in physical pain and ailments like back pain, neck pain, and muscular pain. What is contributing to the rise in chronic pain in general?
There is no simple answer for this. What we do know is that since the arrival of this virus, people are experiencing heightened levels of stress, anxiety and fear. There have been increases in consumption of sugars, alcohol, and processed, comfort foods with concomitant decreases in exercise, positive social interactions, and outdoor recreation. Can this unfortunate combination of conditions increase inflammation and with it, the bodily response of pain?
I believe it can. Let me explain just a couple of the mechanisms at work, so we can focus on solutions.
- Diet is the number one cause of systemic inflammation, which is the precursor to disease and pain. This is an undisputed fact. Processed foods, are notoriously high in inflammatory omega 6 fats like the seed oils ( corn, sunflower, safflower, grapeseed, soybean…) and low in anti-inflammatory omega 3 oils such as avocado and olive oils. In addition, processed foods have an abnormally high content of sugar and simple carbohydrates. Sugar and it’s counterparts, brown rice syrup, and corn syrup are inflammatory to cells, causing a rapid rise in insulin, promoting insulin resistance or pre-diabetes. Many of these foods are void of nutrients, cause nutritional deficiencies, and yet are high in caloric density.
2. Exercise and Muscle Building activities are Anti-inflammatory and provide a host of countless benefits. Exercise is a potent outlet for stress reduction, release of toxins, oxygenation to the tissues, improved lung and cardiovascular capacity, and improved function of mitochondrial cells ( our energy manufacturing cells) and therefore energy production. Exercise enhances mobility, strength and bolsters the immune system, provided it is not a prolonged or extreme intensity. Exercise, especially when outdoors in the sunshine, improves mood, stress coping skills and reduces pain perception. Strength training enhances how joints function, reduces the strain on the joints and often prevents or halts the progression of arthritis.
3. Stress, you will often hear me say, is the Unofficial Grim Reaper. What does this mean?
Unabated, chronic stress and worry pack a perilous punch of lowering the immune system, ramping up inflammation, increasing the incidence of insomnia, and escalating chronic pain and disease. Need I say more? Our perception of the events that are occurring around us gives rise to a physiological response by the body. If our interpretation of events is negative, resistant, critical, angry, or feeling victimized, the resulting biological response will be elevation of blood pressure, elevation of blood sugar, activation of the fight or flight mechanism, and reduction of immune disease fighting cells.
Many of us are living in the future or past and are precariously perched on the edge of our worries and fears. The brain is designed for our survival and therefore fear and worry may easily be our default mode. Our minds are the first frontier to conquer if we are to be successful in any area of our life. Our minds will offer up many thoughts in the course of a day, we don’t have to believe them all. Although difficult, we can choose the thoughts and beliefs that move us in a positive direction.
If you are finding that your health goals are off to a slow start or if you are feeling mentally or physically unprepared to tackle the habits and behaviors you need to succeed, you are in good company.
Here are 5 simple ways you can move toward a healthier future and manage pain significantly better.
- Move. Exercise, even if it to simply get outside and walk. Perform body weight exercises, or work out with resistance bands or weights. Since many gyms are closed, this will be challenging, but you knew that already. Do it anyway. Even if 10 minutes twice a day is all you can do.
- Meditate. Start and end the day with 5-10 minutes of mindful breathing and visualization. Perhaps include a meditation like the loving kindness meditation. Many studies have demonstrated that meditation is highly effective for chronic pain, especially when exacerbated by stress. It changes the structure and function of the brain by decreasing activity in the fear brain and brains’ pain processing center.
- Nutrition first. This must be a priority! Reduce inflammatory sugars and omega 6 inflammatory oils. Stop eating nutrient void, dead, processed foods from a box or bag. Instead, eat lean protein sources and increase vegetable intake. This is not a diet, it is a decision. Watch your motivations for eating, often they will circle back to an emotional state. Understanding this is the first step to over ruling it.
- Stay hydrated. Our organs, tissues, discs and cartilages are 60-80% water and we require adequate water for normal functioning of our cells and detox organs. Dehydration contributes to pain and stiffness.
- Sleep, Rest, Relax. Seems easy enough but for many who find themselves in the midst of challenges, or experiencing pain, it is far from easy. Sleep is restorative to the body and reduces pain. You have to move your nervous system away from ‘fight or flight’ or the state of sympathetic dominance, toward the parasympathetic state of ‘rest, repair, and digest’. If you want to feel your best, you MUST make sleep and relaxation a priority! For starters, turn off all electronic devices at least 1 hour before bed. Stop watching the news, which is designed to hijack your fear brain and cause rumination and anxiety. Create a space that is conducive to sleep and relaxation. Use your favorite music track, nature sounds, essential oils, a cool, dark atmosphere, a weighted blanket, centering meditation and/or prayer or a warm bath of Epsom salts. Find something that is most comforting for you, that promotes peace and tranquility.
Be kind and gentle with yourself as you embark on change. Small steps, repeated consistently over time, reap BIG results. Every new day is a gift that we are given. We get to choose how to show up.
I am excited to announce that my new book, Staying Healthy, Living Longer 7 Powerful Principles for Living Longer! will be released within the month. This book will deconstruct the mysteries of why we are tired, overweight, in pain, or simply not feeling our best. You will learn the tools you need to transform your health and achieve a longer, healthier life!
You can pre-order my book NOW! (with discounts) at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08VC6PYWJ/
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Stay in touch or contact me with any questions:
website:https://mdtherapyandwellness.com, or email: madicaropt511@gmail.com
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We are in chaotic and uncertain times. There is a wave of expanding collective anger and pain that is palpable.
It is an understatement to say we are all being challenged to salvage some sense of peace when confronted with social and political unrest entangled with financial, personal, and health worries. I have seen a great deal more emotional stress, headaches, neck pain, back pain, and overall bodily discomfort in my patients. It is never too long that emotional pain becomes physical pain.
We seem to have hit a pivotal point in society where hatred, destructive dialogue, division, anger, and blame are at an all-time high. Civility, kindness, acceptance, and love are strangely absent. Today and every day, we have a choice to make.
The news and social media are the platforms for expressing this discontent and anger. It has morphed into a means of spreading fear and mistrust or canceling anyone who thinks differently from us. Name-calling, ridiculing, and brandishing opinions as though they are Truth and fact has become a common thread perpetuating this growing anger and unrest.
We seem to have lost the ability to have intelligent conversations with those of differing opinions and beliefs, insisting that others who believe differently than us are “wrong”. There is vehement push back, resistance, self-righteous attitudes, and defiance when our beliefs or opinions are challenged or not accepted as universal Truth. Our ego tells us that if perhaps we shout loud enough we will change the minds of those who think differently. We instinctively know and have seen historically that this is false.
It becomes easy to bully, belittle, dehumanize, and lump groups of people into ‘categories’, as if to ‘shield’ ourselves, simply because they think differently than we do. This is a form of bullying. In doing this, we are perpetuating the negativity, anger, hate, and division that is already escalating. We have now become part of the problem.
The news and news media have always portrayed the lowest common denominator of human existence and is designed with one objective in mind: to activate the portion of the brain ( Amygdala) that creates fear.
More than ever, news media and social media bombard the fear brain, inciting anger, divisiveness, and “me against them” thinking and mistrust of others. This promotes a stress response in the body by upregulating our “fight, flight, freeze, and fear”, Sympathetic nervous system. This is our built-in survival mechanism however, it is not meant to be responding every day, all day to perceived ‘threats’. The consistent hyperarousal of this nervous system is responsible for many chronic health conditions, including heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, compromised immunity, depression, anxiety, muscle tension, chronic pain, and insomnia.
I sat quietly this morning in solitude considering the choices we have and the lessons we can learn during times of testing.
We have a choice to reduce the amount of time we spend watching the news or engaging in the various forms of social media. Setting time controls and boundaries can go a long way toward restoring our inner peace. Those who watch the most news, experience the greatest levels of anxiety.
We have a choice to disengage when someone is choosing to express vitriol, name-calling, personal attacks, and other bully tactics. There is no place for this in any relationship or even when expressing our views on a social platform.
We can make a choice to refuse to be offended, as carrying an offense and being easily offended brings the heavy burden of resentment and bitterness, stealing our health, peace, and joy. When we are easily offended our rational brain is hijacked, and our emotional and fear brain is in the driver’s seat. We are essentially giving our control over to someone else, allowing them to influence our reactions and remarks. We may strike out in defense as I have seen countless examples of those who have said they “Can’t be friends with someone who votes for so and so, or who believes such and such.”
We can choose to have an open mind and hold space for duality; simply understanding that two very different ideas can co-exist at the same time while understanding that there is rarely one truth that summarizes a complicated issue. As Steve Jobs has said, “Have strong opinions loosely held.”
We can choose to allow a larger perspective, as pettiness and insisting we are right, cancels our joy, and contracts our world. We need people with other viewpoints to expand our thinking. We don’t have to change our minds but new knowledge can expand our minds if we are secure enough to receive it.
We can choose to have healthy boundaries especially with those who for whatever reason, are angry or abusive. We may have to take inventory of the types of interactions we engage in, protecting ourselves as needed. Distancing from toxic relationships may be necessary if boundaries for decent behavior are not respected. Those who attack or hurt others are often experiencing pain themselves, we can have empathy. Empathy builds resilience.
We can choose to focus on the good that we can do; how we can contribute our energy positively to the greater good or a cause that is important to us. Other questions we can consider: What can I do to lift up myself and others? What is within my control and what is not? How are my underlying beliefs and prevailing thoughts contributing to my unrest, worry, anxiety, and stress? Ultimately, it will be our health that is negatively impacted.
We can choose to make peace our primary goal. If we can cultivate ways of choosing peace, safeguarding peace, and residing in a place of peace, despite external circumstances, we become a very powerful agent for change. Developing healthy habits that protect our peace of mind, may mean limiting the time we spend watching or engaging with news and social media. Instead, we can use our time to listen to soothing music, take a walk in nature, express ourselves in a journal, play with a pet, pray or meditate, or simply breathe.
We can choose to nurture our faith rather than our fears. This is not an easy task at times such as this, but this is precisely when it becomes most valuable.
” When you judge another person, you do not define them. You define yourself…When you respond with hatred to hate, you’ve become part of the problem which is hatred, rather than part of the solution, which is love. Be a person who refuses to be offended by anyone, anything, or any set of circumstances.” – Wayne Dyer.
This above quote by Dr.Wayne Dyer holds tremendous wisdom. Indeed, It is a very difficult call for us to uplevel our responses in a time of chaos and uncertainty. If we can achieve it now, it will be a skill that we can turn to, again and again during other trials.
“I have told you these things so that in Me you may have perfect peace. In this world, you will have tribulation and distress, but be courageous and filled with joy, for I have overcome the world.”- John 16:33
Faith>Fear💕
Mary
Today I am hoping to shed some light on this increasingly common source of joint pain. We may have experienced twinges of knee pain in the past after an aggressive hike or perhaps we are now in the throws of seeking answers to unrelenting knee pain.
Your doctor can quickly provide you with a “diagnosis” and perhaps offer as a solution in the form of an injection, a prescription for pain and anti-inflammatory medication or of course the most invasive of treatment options, surgery.
In some cases surgery is unavoidable and may feel like the only option.
These cases are more the exception than the rule.
Surgeries to repair, for example, an acutely torn ligament or meniscal tear may be both necessary and wise especially if the individual is young, active and would like to return to high level of function and sports.In this case a surgical repair or reconstruction will provide the best shot at maintaining a normal active lifestyle with the fewest limitations.
What is most alarming is the current trend increase in elective total knee joint replacement surgeries in the last 20 years. The average age for total joint replacements is decreasing, even while most joints only have a life span of only 15-20 years.
A study presented at the 2014 American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) meeting highlighted the rising numbers of knee replacement surgeries. When researchers reviewed hospital discharge data for more than 2 million people undergoing this procedure, they found the rate of knee replacements jumped 120 percent over a 10-year period!
The overall increase was steep, but it was even more pronounced in younger age groups. While the number of surgeries increased by 89 percent among those ages 65 to 84, they increased by 188 percent in 45- to 64-year-old patients!
Knee joint revision surgeries are also on the rise for this very same reason.
Studies have found that 85 percent of knees last 15- 20 years, and the AAOS estimates 10 percent of patients will need a revision at some point. The younger patients are when they undergo the first surgery and the longer they live afterward, the more likely they will be to need revision surgery.
Studies have shown The number of revision surgeries increased 133 percent during one study period, particularly among younger patients.
So the question I want to attempt to answer is Why is there such an increase in Knee Pain and Medical procedures to Manage it?
WHATS BEHIND THE INCREASE IN KNEE PAIN?
Although there are many potential causes, I will outline and discuss a few of the highlights:
1.MUSCLE IMBALANCES AND ALIGNMENT ISSUES:
This is a very common underlying factor in the etiology of knee pain that is often “overlooked” by orthopedic surgeons and can eventually lead to uneven wearing down of the cartilage or meniscus of the knee joint leading to early degeneration.( arthritis)
Although the knee joint is a rather simple hinge type joint it relies on ligament ( bone to bone connections) and tendons ( muscle to bone connections) for stability, support and mobility.
Proper functioning of the knee joint depends on a dynamic interplay of all muscles connecting above and below, think foot and hip. The knee is often times caught in the crossfires when foot or pelvic/hip alignment are creating dysfunction and a bio-mechanical nightmare at the knee. For example, an overly pronated (flat) foot, a leg length discrepancy or pelvic rotation can result in excessive loads and pressures at the knee joint.
The most common culprit in the onset of knee pain are weak hip stabilizers, a weak core, weak Quadriceps, namely the VMO, tight hamstrings, tight Ilio-tibial band (side of the leg) and tight hip flexors. These muscle imbalances lead to most forms of the knee complaints we see in therapy including the common Patello-femoral pain in younger athletes. Mal-alignments at the pelvis, foot and ankle will change the ground reaction forces and increase compression forces at the knee and the patella or knee cap. Once you have an understanding of how your alignment and muscles are creating an unhealthy movement pattern, you can begin to work on changing the dynamics through specific targeted, exercise, muscle energy techniques to correct alignment issues, and kinesio taping and orthotics, if necessary.
2. SEDENTARY LIFESTYLE, POOR DIET, EXCESS WEIGHT:
There can not be a discussion of tissue breakdown, inflammation, and arthritis without discussing other major players, as there is never only 1 player in a team sport and complex system like the human body.
I will call these 3 ‘The Unhealthy Triad” and this includes excess weight, poor diet and a sedentary lifestyle, all of which are preventable contributing factors.
First and foremost and because it is the easiest to correlate with joint degradation and arthritis, is EXCESS WEIGHT or increased BMI.( Body mass index)
Breakdown of cartilage or cartilage degeneration is often seen in Osteoarthritis. Inevitably it also involves the synovial membrane and thickening of the sub-chondral(underlying) bone. This is also enhanced by active inflammation as the body attempts to ‘repair’ or clean up the affected area by sending in inflammatory proteins and other molecules.
Excessive joint loading is a primary factor when discussing arthritis of the knee. The end goal is to reduce joint loading so to preserve the joint cartilage and stave off arthritis. Weight reduction is obviously one critical component to unloading the knee joint. Under normal walking conditions the load felt at the knee joint is 3-5 times that of body weight for level ground walking and up to 8 times for downhill walking! So even carrying an extra 10 pounds on the body can be felt at the knee joint as an additional 40-80 pounds!
Most of this is felt at the medial ( inside) knee compartment, which not surprisingly is the first knee compartment to show signs of arthritis. In Physical therapy we often suggest joint “off-loading” support in the form of knee braces that reduce compartment load, using a cane on the contra-lateral side,and heel wedges to alter foot mechanics.
Of course, Nothing will be as effective as weight loss in the management of knee OA.
Now that we addressed that rather difficult topic, lets discuss sedentary lifestyle.
While the aggressive athletic warriors ( you know who you are) have their share of wear and tear, sprains and strains and injuries, which can lead to early onset of arthritis, the opposite scenario is the “desk dweller” or couch potato who sees little if any physical activity. Loss of muscle strength, power,endurance and mitochondria ( muscle fueling powerhouses) diminish with low activity. This will directly affect the health and integrity of the weight bearing joints. So when it comes to health of the joints and activity and exercise, it is advisable to maintain muscle mass, power, flexibility and strength through exercise, walking, cycling or a combination of high and low impact exercise. As is most things in life, it’s all about striking a balance.
Last but not least in this triad, is diet. As the saying goes: “You can’t exercise your way out of a bad diet.” The diet that most of us are consuming looks less and less like real whole food. We are growing ‘attached’ ( addicted might be the better choice of words) to the processed, packaged, preservative laden, highly palatable pseudo foods that line grocery store shelves and fast food markets.
What does this have to do with my joints, you may ask?
The diets most Americans are consuming is highly INFLAMMATORY, calorie dense, nutrient poor, highly oxidative and damaging to the cells of our body.
Many studies have shown that years of eating habits such as this will lead to early degeneration of joints, increased inflammatory processes in the body, which spells double trouble for all body systems = DISEASE!
Regulating oxidation and inflammation can improve health, vitality and longevity. Oxidation to put it plainly is our cells “rusting” from the inside. While some oxidation is a normal part of cellular metabolism, too much, too quick, without a balance of antioxidant rich foods contributes to disease.
Foods that are anti inflammatory and loaded with anti oxidants should be the focal point of every meal. Dark leafy greens, brightly colored vegetables and fruits, seeds, nuts and omega 3 rich fish is a great place to start.( see below)
A recent study looked at the anti-oxidative and anti-inflammatory effects of Vitamin E on knee tissue of patients with late stage osteoarthritis of the knee.
Those in the study taking the Vitamin E had decreased inflammation and decreased oxidative stress,and improved clinical symptoms, identifying Vitamin E as a “disease-modifying agent for Osteoarthritis.”
What are some examples of other potent anti-oxidant foods: Carotenoids: Carrots, squash, broccoli, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, kale, collards, cantaloupe, peaches and apricots (bright-colored fruits and vegetables!),purple grapes,pomegranate, cranberries, green tea, Vitamin C: Citrus fruits like oranges,lemon, and lime etc, green peppers, broccoli, green leafy vegetables, strawberries and tomatoes
Vitamin E: Nuts & seeds, green leafy vegetables, and finally my favorite of all: Red wine 🙂 (in moderation of course!)
There are just a few of the more common issues we encounter. There are many more possibilities for the onset and progression of knee complaints and in Physical Therapy we investigate the many contributing and causative factors providing conservative solutions for those who wish to avoid surgery.
If a patient wishes to be intentional and implement the suggested positive behavioral, dietary and lifestyle changes and therapeutic measures suggested in therapy, improvements can be seen in the form of increasing physical function decreased pain and improved mental health, vitality and quality of life.
Stand up, learn what you can do and take action, Knee pain doesn’t have to sideline you from enjoying life.
Be blessed, be well.
If you have any questions, feel free to contact me and I will try to assist you :
http://www.mdtherapyandwellness.com
madicaropt511@gmail.com
Holistic Therapist 