Seeing a Chiropractor: Finding Ways to Keep Your Pain Away
Arthritis: Adding Complementary Approaches To Your Care Plan
by Carlos Butler
Arthritis is a very common condition, with nearly 53 million adults and 300,000 children being affected by it. This is because there are more than 100 different types of arthritis and related conditions.
Arthritis, meaning "joint inflammation," causes joint symptoms such as swelling, pain, and stiffness, ranging from very mild to debilitating. It is most common among women and older people, but the severity of the condition is not predictable. Sometimes it gets worse with ages and sometimes it becomes more manageable.
There are medications that can manage arthritis, but there are also several alternative approaches that you can try in order to reduce the inflammation and pain.
If you suffer from arthritis, you should consider cutting sugar from your diet. While the connection between sugar and arthritis is complex, it cannot hurt to remove it from the foods that you eat.
Eating sugar doesn't cause arthritis or its symptoms. But it does contribute to weight gain, which can put more pressure on joints, thus increasing the symptoms of arthritis.
High quantities of sugar in your diet can also result in increased advanced glycation end products (AGEs) in your body. AGEs damage certain proteins in the body. The body tries to break these AGEs apart by using cytokines, which are inflammatory messengers. This can increase your joint inflammation, causing you more unnecessary pain. Cutting the amount of sugar in your diet could reduce inflammation and, therefore, pain.
Chiropractic Care - Crack the Pain Away
If you suffer from arthritis, you should consider visiting a chiropractor as a complementary approach to traditional arthritis care. You should use a chiropractor in addition, not in place of, your arthritis doctor because chiropractic care isn't a substitute for regular medication.
Chiropractors can help you create an individualized plan that includes chiropractic adjustments as well as exercise and nutrition guidance. Chiropractic adjustments could help you increase joint range of motion, improve flexibility, and increase muscle. Chiropractors can help create that more well-rounded approach to your care that you might be seeking, instead of having to rely just on pills to treat your arthritis.
There are millions of arthritis sufferers in the world, so you are not alone. After your diagnosis and visiting an arthritis doctor, start to consider alternative and complementary treatments for your disease. So many people think that just popping a pill will cure their problem and alleviate their symptoms, but a whole-body approach to the problem that includes nutrition, exercise, and possibly chiropractic care will create a healthier, and hopefully happier, you. For more information, consider contacting a professional like those at Summit Chiropractic.