When and why should chiropractic care be part of your healthcare plan?
The timing is very simple. As soon as the inflammation has subsided, a chiropractor may be able to help you. The manual techniques that chiropractors use are contraindicated during inflammatory flare-ups and should not be performed at that time.
The reasons why chiropractic care can help with your flare-ups are: It helps reduce pain and stiffness. It is the joints between the bones that allow our bodies to move.
During a flare-up, not only are the joints affected by the areas that begin to swell, but the ligaments are as well. As long as the inflammation persists, the patient is unable to use the joints properly. Even after the flare-up has ended, the joint may remain stiff and painful.
This may be due to damage to the cartilage that cannot be healed. However, some of this stiffness and pain is due to muscle and ligament dysfunction, and a chiropractor can help you with that. They will help relieve muscle pain and spasms. These spasms cause the muscles to be weaker than normal.
It causes the limbs to feel weak and makes the joints even more unstable. Muscles provide vital protection for the joints. Joints, in turn, allow the muscles to function properly so that they maintain good tone and strength. Chiropractic care helps prevent a vicious cycle of weakness and stiffness.
Chiropractic care can help reduce degenerative changes in the joints. Persistent joint inflammation can lead to the wear and tear of cartilage and the underlying bone.
Chiropractic care can help slow down the ongoing degenerative changes in people with arthritis. We believe this is because it alleviates ongoing stress on the joints, helping them return to functioning as normally as possible more quickly.
What does a chiropractor do?
Chiropractors specialize in the diagnosis and treatment of conditions caused by mechanical dysfunction of the joints and the effects that these dysfunctions have on the nerves and muscles.
In most cases, what brings our patients to our office are the spinal or joint pain. We may initially diagnose your arthritis. If I suspect that someone has inflammatory psoriatic arthritis, I will immediately refer that person to their primary care physician.
I don't treat as many people with psoriatic arthritis as I might, because unfortunately, after they return to their doctor, I rarely see them again. However, in my experience, chiropractic care can actually complement other traditional treatments.
I would recommend that both patients and their doctors seriously consider it as a form of care. Chiropractors always look for the causes of pain. We’re not just interested in the symptoms. The problem is often far removed from where the symptoms are. We’ll get right to work to identify the structures in your body that are causing your pain.
How do chiropractors treat patients with psoriatic arthritis?
An evaluation. First, we assess your joint movements—both individually and in the context of how you move while standing and sitting. We examine your range of motion to determine the extent of damage to your soft tissues and joints. We look at the way you walk, how you move your back, and the strength and function of your muscles.
This will direct our attention to the joint dysfunction that needs the most help. We are very interested in the restoration and preventive care. We teach patients simple exercise programs they can do at home and provide ergonomic advice. We do everything we can to help patients help themselves.
