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Wednesday 6 November 2013

Arthritis and Back Treatment

Arthritis and Back Treatment

Osteoarthritis (OA), degenerative joint disease (DJD), degenerative arthritis, osteophytes, osteoarthritis, arthritis, hypertrophy, sclerosis, stenosis, sciatica, drying - and several other scary words , all boil down to one word - arthritis.

There are over 100 different forms of arthritis. The word comes from the Greek "arthro" for joint and the suffix "itis" indicates the pathology of inflammatory conditions (bronchitis, gastritis, neuritis, etc..) Thus, arthritis means an inflamed joint. Inflammation is itself part of the complex biological response of vascular tissues evolved to help begin the process of healing any irritated or injured tissue, including an increased number of white blood cells in the injured area movement. Whatever the type of arthritis, the most common of all arthritic symptoms include varying degrees of pain, swelling and stiffness in the joints.

The diagnosis and treatment of a painful joint, swollen and stiff depends on its etiology (cause, origin). Rheumatoid arthritis is a disease in which the immune system begins to attack the body and destroy body tissues, bone cells not only the joints, but also many other parts of the body. Gouty arthritis is a metabolic disorder resulting in a deposit of uric acid crystals in the joint causing inflammation usually the first metatarsal and big toe joint. Even syphilis, a highly contagious bacterial STD, results in damage to arthritic joints in subsequent phases. Of course, the treatment of each of these different because the immune system disorders, metabolic disorders and infections are different causes, and there are many other types and causes of arthritis. However, the most common form of arthritis is osteoarthritis, which is sometimes called "wear and tear" arthritis - a mechanical disorder, also requiring different treatment. Any joint of the body is potentially subjected to abnormal mechanical stress, repetitive or excessive (injury) that could cause wear of the cartilage and bone, although the weight-bearing joints of the spine, hip and knee are more stressed and therefore more common. Osteoarthritis (OA) is also known as degenerative arthritis or degenerative joint disease (DJD). When applied to the spine, the use of these terms generally involves multiple arthritic changes found in several vertebral levels.

Bone spurs

It is easy to assume that if the bones are "catching up" or "rub evil" or a myriad of other phrases that patients use to describe the wear and they feel about these joints which ultimately bone to wear down or wear out but, in fact, under mechanical stress, the opposite occurs. Remember, bone is a living tissue and like other living tissue such as the skin on the palm of a hand, for example, it will accumulate when you are mechanically stressed. A buildup of skin cells we call a ruthless. Abnormal or excessive mechanical stress of the bone reacted in the same manner as does the skin - an initial inflammatory reaction, followed by metabolic repair and accumulation of bone cells. Accumulation of bone cells called bone spurs or osteophytes. What confuses the issue is that arthritis (pain, swelling and stiffness) caused by many immune disorders, metabolic disorders and infectious diseases often result in net destruction of existing bone cells, not the formation of additional bone cells as occurs with mechanical stress. Regardless of the pathogenesis (cause) the resulting pain, swelling and stiffness feel the same.

Obviously, a single bone cell or a molecule of calcium alone can not be detected by x-ray but also the accumulation increased density area that presents the X-ray as a brilliant white is visible. At the beginning of the so-called sclerosis (hardening), and it is the same root word from which we get arteriosclerosis or hardening of the arteries, but later these molecules continue to accumulate calcium, they eventually become sufficiently numerous to form bone spurs or osteophytes visible. This accumulation of bone joints which occur such that the facets at the rear of the vertebrae is known as osteoarthritis, and where the ligaments fixed to the bone spondylosis. Often the supporting ligaments of the joints affected are themselves to be stressed and rather than weaken as one might initially assume that they actually get stronger by the multiplication of these cells too called hypertrophy. All this is triggered by the inflammatory reaction resulting in different levels of pain, swelling and stiffness in the joints. Many different names that all boil down to one word - arthritis, the same cause - the mechanical stress.

From bad to worse

The normal joint movement has been restricted and is still inhibited by the reluctance of the patient to the moving force (exercise), an already painful joint. All this has a devastating effect on the intervertebral discs that depend on normal movement, which acts as a pumping action to circulate fluid through them. Less movement equals less pumping and the result is an insidious (gradual) drying (drying) of the intervertebral disc (s). As the disc is dry and dry, it does not take long to lose altitude results in the vertebrae become closer. A dry thin disk can not properly do its job of absorbing shock and allowing proper spinal motion segments compounding the stress on the joint and the acceleration of the degenerative process. The lost due to thinning added to ligaments thickening (hypertrophy) and growth of calcium deposits disk space results in a narrowing of the channels through which pass the spinal cord (the central channel) and from which the exit spinal nerve roots (from the neural foramen). This narrowing is called spinal stenosis.

Before long, the outer fibers dry, brittle (annular fibers) disk weaken and tear (annular tear) to the interior (core) of the disc to bulge (hernia or exceed) the channels already narrowed place to compression nerve root (pinched nerve). And now, there is not only the pain, swelling and stiffness of vertebral joints involved, but also pain along the path of the pinched nerve (neuralgia, neuritis, sciatica).

Spinal Decompression Treatment

In the past, a patient suffering from this degenerative process is usually given painkillers or injections, instructed to refrain from physical activities, referred for physical therapy, and when they were not progressing, they were sent for surgery spinal or simply told to learn to live with it. Since 2001, when the FDA finally approved therapy non-surgical spinal decompression, there is new hope for those suffering from degenerative joint disease. Spinal decompression therapy is a non-invasive, non-surgical treatment performed on a special computer-controlled comparable in some respects to a table of ordinary traction table. Level single disk is isolated and using cycles of tension and relaxation throughout specific treatment, with good positioning, negative pressure can actually be created in the disk. It works by gently separating the offending disc 5 to 7 mm creating a negative pressure (or vacuum) inside the disc to pull water, oxygen and nutrients into the disc, which re- hydration of a degenerate and providing nutrients needed to heal the torn fibers and halt the degenerative process disk. As the disc is rehydrated shock absorbing properties are restored and the stress on the joint is reduced and the inflammation subsides. Many times, much of the headroom can be restored as well. Now a normal life can be resumed.

BIOGRAPHY OF THE AUTHOR

Dr. Michael L. Hall, DC practices at Triangle Disc Care in Raleigh, North Carolina specializing in spinal decompression for the treatment of acute and chronic neck and back pain due to herniated discs, degenerated discs. This is a conservative procedure for patients suffering from bulging or herniated discs, degenerative disc disease, the posterior facet syndrome, sciatica, did back surgery syndrome, and unspecified mechanical low back or neck pain .......

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