Neck Pain, Stiffness, and Arthritis

Arthritis is a generic term that most often refers to damage to a joint, often thought to be caused by ‘wear and tear.’

Many other types of arthritis also exist, but in this post we’ll focus on the degenerative type.

This type of arthritis called ‘osteoarthritis‘ or degenerative arthritis may be seen on x-ray with bone spurs, degenerative disc disease, and degenerative facet joints in the neck.

This type of problem can occur in any joint of the body… the back, shoulders, knee, or other extremity joints.

What Causes ‘Arthritis?’

Post-traumatic arthritis is caused by the wearing out of a joint that has had any kind of physical injury.

The odds are that this began with some type of injury to the joint that may have even been a minor injury that happened suddenly.

It could have began from a sports injury, a car accident, a fall, a military injury, or another source of physical trauma.

Very often arthritis is starts with a major injury, like a car crash.

In some, it began with repetitive stress on the joints with something you do at work, home, or hobby over a period of time.

Symptoms Of Arthritis

This type of degenerative arthritis might cause pain and stiffness as the joints and soft tissues wear out, but in many cases doesn’t cause any symptoms.

It’s just present and for lack of a better word, just ‘silent‘ until it progresses far enough – or even more commonly until a trauma happens with causes additional injury to the weakened soft tissues.

In other words… the wear and tear, the stiffness in the joints, and the problems occurring in the soft tissues make them less able to withstand a trauma like a motor vehicle collision.

The forces then cause much more damage to these joints and their supporting connective tissue.

What Can You Do For Arthritis?

It really depends on your unique problem.

This is why it’s important to see someone that can properly evaluate you and your condition.

If the joint is not moving properly, it will continue to ‘wear out.’

This is another good reason to see a good chiropractor.

You can not simply stretch the problems away. The right chiropractic treatments can help restore joint mechanics and the neuro-muscular control of the joint.

This improves your ability to move the problem area through a better range of motion (less stiffness), reduces abnormal muscle ‘spasms,’ improves pain, and more.

You can also make some changes that may really help your arthritic problem.

The wearing out process is accelerated by continued stresses on the injury/abnormal movement pattern and extra body weight.

This creates an opportunity for some people to improve their symptoms by changing lifestyle factors and losing weight if necessary.

Other people aren’t overweight, but still have some opportunities for reducing pain, stiffness, and other symptoms with some lifestyle changes.

In fact, many people are pleasantly surprised how a few lifestyle changes recommended by Dr. Hagebusch can make a huge difference.

Movement often helps a lot, but it has to be the right type of movement for you.

This might be different types of specific stretching, some exercise (often this can be very light exercise that still make a big difference), and of course – Chiropractic Care which often uses movement based treatments to restore normal movements to the spine and other joints.

One thing that is always true, regardless of what you have been told…

There is always something that can be done to help you.

If you live in the Texarkana area and would like to see Dr. Hagebusch, please contact us. We’re here to help.