A Healthy Diet and Moderate Exercise Can Relieve Arthritis Suffering

April 23, 2009 on 9:41 pm | In Arthritis Care |

Are you suffering from back pain due to arthritis? Do you also have a difficult time with your weight? If you’ve answered in the affirmative to both questions, you are probably having back pain not only because of arthritis, but also because of the stress your weight is putting on your spine. The body was not intended to carry around extraneous weight in the form of body fat. If you are carrying around even an additional 20 or 30 pounds on a regular basis, your spine, which supports the body, is being put under a lot of strain. This kind of strain can created irregularities of the vertebral column. These misaligned vertebra can generate arthritic changes in the spine and continue to irritate the degenerative changes that have already taken place. In addition, your body may compensate in other ways, such as by your hips moving forward or tilting to counterbalance the extra weight. This can pinch the sciatic nerve, which is extremely painful.

A current survey by the NPD Group, a leading market research organization based in Rosemont, Ill., indicates that approximately 62% of men and women and 34% of adolescents are overweight or obese. The ubiquitousness of arthritis increases with accumulating weight. Research suggests that maintaining a healthy weight decreases the risk of developing arthritis in the first place and may decelerate disease progression. A loss of just 11 pounds can decrease the occurrence (incidence) of new knee osteoarthritis and would be extraordinarily beneficial in reducing back pain as well.

In order for a person to get rid of their back pain, knee pain, and joint pain in other areas of the body, a healthy diet and routine exercise is imperative. Although you have probably been advised about this for the majority of your life, it really is the only way for you to stop suffering and regain your life.

First of all, we’ll address the dieting issue. The majority diets (and there are hundreds to choose from) can be temporarily helpful. Sadly, the diet industry is not interested in having you lose weight permanently because consequently they would not have you as a customer. Eating a healthy diet (as a lifestyle choice and not just a temporary fix) and cutting your calories so that you are using more calories than you are taking in is the only way to lose weight in a healthy, permanent manner. Don’t try to lose 20 pounds every week because that is an unhealthy and perilous fix. Losing about 2 pounds every week will take off the weight and improve your health.

Research has shown that exercise and physical activity not only decreases pain and enhances function, but actually delays disability. Make sure you get a minimum of 30 minutes of moderate physical activity at least 3 days a week. Even at 10-minute intervals such movement is beneficial.

Chiropractic manipulation is a proved way to get movement back in the joints of your spine and other regions of, and can be a wise first step prior to starting an exercise program. A well-adjusted spine makes exercise and physical activity a lot easier and will slow down arthritic degenerative changes. The Annals of Internal Medicine released the findings of a survey of 232 people who had arthritis and were under a rheumatologist’s care. Of those people, 63% responded to the survey by indicating they were using some form of “complementary care” as named by the study. Of those people, 31% were trying chiropractic. Undoubtedly the most consequential statistic was that 73% of those using chiropractic found it beneficial. Explaining why they’d tried the non-medical chiropractic care, people offered a number of reasons: 1) to curb pain, 2) they’d heard that it helps, 3) they felt confident that it is safe, 4) it had helped someone they knew, and 5) because their prescription medication wasn’t working.

Chiropractors, also called doctors of chiropractic, have been helping people suffering from back pain due to arthritis in addition to other arthritic afflictions for over a hundred years. Your San Diego chiropractor treats misaligned vertebra that, in addition to causing arthritic pain and degenerative changes in the spine, can decrease resistance and immunity, thus causing new health challenges.

It is always a good idea to visit a health care professional to talk about diet and exercise. If you are interested in expert advice on the kind of lifestyle changes that you will required to help you to manage your arthritis, your chiropractor will be very happy to help you. Furthermore, in addition to correcting any misalignments in your spine, your chiropractor will diagnose any faulty gait patterns or posture irregularities that may be adding to your arthritic pain.