Several years ago, I twisted my ankle. I was wearing boots with a small heel, walking down a Philadelphia sidewalk, and boom! A patch of the uneven pavement caused my foot/ankle to roll.
While painful, I still hobbled the dozen or so blocks back to my car. Later, it swelled up the size of a small melon and I applied the RICE method (Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation) for several days.
While reading up on healing joint pain, I came across chiropractic for joint pain. Now, if you’re like a lot of people, you associate chiropractors with back pain. Yet, chiropractic care is designed to reduce pain throughout your body by readjusting the spine. The spine, of course, is attached to everything else via bones, nerves, ligaments, and tendons.
For example, if you have shoulder pain, then a chiropractic adjustment can free up a pinched nerve or other problem. It can even help run of the mill neck pain from sleeping “wrong.”
In fact, chiropractic care can help all your joints and improve your overall range of mobility which is great. Of course, it’s effectiveness – and if it’s the right method — depends on what’s causing your joint pain.
Can Chiropractic for Joint Pain Help You?
Causes of joint pain vary from an acute injury like my twisted ankle to arthritis. Chiropractic care can help many of them.
Let’s take the common condition of arthritis for example. As you probably know, arthritis is the breakdown of cartilage in the joints. This decay of the body’s natural “cushion” means the bones rub together with less padding than before and it’s painful.
However, studies like this one show chiropractic care can help patients suffering from certain types of arthritis.
It can also help acute injuries like my twisted ankle.
The reason chiropractic care reduces joint pain is that it can help reduce painful inflammation. It also releases muscle tension and improves your range of motion.
How does chiropractic treatment reduce inflammation? Because it improves your body’s communication with itself. A spinal adjustment can readjust the nerves in your body and help release soothing chemicals through your body.
It reduces muscle tension because when your chiropractor adjusts your spine, then any pressure that’s built up in your muscles is released. The effect is like a big breath of oxygen to your muscles. Chiropractors can also work with adjusting specific joints if needed.
While chiropractic care can’t help every condition, it can help many of them including relieving joint pain. We start with a medical evaluation that includes an Xray. Then, if we decide that you’re a good candidate for chiropractic care, we’ll create a treatment plan to help you feel better faster.
If you’re in or near Doylestown, Pa., call or stop by, we’re right across from CB West High School.
