Aside from age, a major cause of arthritis is excessive joint stress from misalignment of the joints. Just like gears of an engine, if the gears are rubbing against one another, the metal of the gears will wear down. The same thing happens with your joints. If there is an abnormal rubbing of the cartilage when you move that joint, the surfaces will break down.
As the misalignment occurs, the first thing you will notice is pain and stiffness. If left uncorrected for years, the body responds by trying to protect itself. It does this in a predictable way. Fist it will start to make extra bone in order to stabilize the joint. This additional bone is called a bone spur or osteophyte. Once the bone spurs form, they are permanent and will continue to grow unless the underlying rubbing is corrected. While bone spurs can be removed surgically, patients continue to have pain unless the underlying alignment issues are corrected.
As a chiropractor in Camarillo, we approach your condition by altering the alignment of the joints to reduce the rubbing and stress on the cartilage. We do this by making spinal and extremity adjustments (with our hands or instruments) as well as postural exercises.
Significant pain relief can occur over time with these methods.
Call our office at (805) 389-0325