Rethinking Degeneration and Arthritis
For years we’ve had the wrong view on degeneration or arthritis. We’ve always heard that degeneration is wear and tear. We also believe that degeneration or arthritis has to lead to pain. But this isn’t true! Another piece to this is that doctors and patients are eager to get an X-ray which leads to a diagnosis of degenerative joint disease. But this might not be the correct approach. Let me explain…
This study, “Absence of pain in subjects with advanced radiographic knee osteoarthritis” found that a considerable amount of people with severe degeneration had no pain.
What does this mean?
It means don’t be your diagnosis. It means that even if you have arthritis you can still be pain-free! I can take an X-ray of people with no pain yet they have signs of degeneration. And I can take an X-ray of people in severe pain yet they may not have any signs of degeneration. Imaging doesn’t tell the whole story so don’t let it control you.
How should we view arthritis?
We need to see it as a normal part of life but not a bad part of life. Degeneration or arthritis is going to happen to us whether we like it or not but that doesn’t mean we’ll be in pain.
I like to view degeneration like wrinkles on your face.
As you age. you get more and more wrinkles. It’s inevitable. But the wrinkles don’t cause pain. That’s just like arthritis. It’s a part of life but it doesn’t mean you’re going to have pain. Some people might get more wrinkles than others and a lot of that might depend on how well we care for our skin. But some of it could just be genetics. The same thing happens to our joints. The more we can move and strengthen our joints, the longer we might be able to delay degeneration or delay pain related to it.
We need to stop having this negative view of arthritis. Arthritis is a part of life and doesn’t mean we’re going to have pain. The best thing we can do is continue to move. "Motion is lotion, rest is rust”.
If you’re dealing with pain, send me an email at resiliencechiro@gmail.com. I’d love to talk to you about how I can help.
Talk soon,
Andrew
