What Causes Arthritis?
When someone does a physical activity to
excess they strain the muscle that was overused. This can happen to a
well-trained athlete who is striving to excel or a retired person who overdoes
it working in their garden. This scenario is often seen in the "weekend
warrior" athlete who sits at a desk all week and then plays softball or tennis
all day on the weekend. The resultant muscle strain (mild tear) creates
inflammation and pain. This strain usually occurs near the end of the muscle
where it attaches to a bone or blends into its tendon. This creates a condition
known as acute tendinitis. This condition could also be created if the muscle
is strained from trauma such as a fall. Keep reading, this really is about
arthritis.
The usual treatment for acute tendinitis
is to rest the area, apply ice periodically for the first 24 hours and then to
use moist heat. Rest prevents further muscle injury, the ice reduces the
initial inflammation and swelling and the moist heat circulates blood through
the area to speed the healing process. Now, if you added gentle massage and
stretching to this treatment plan the muscle would probably heal totally back
to normal.
However, this is not what the average
person usually does. They may ice once or twice and rest a bit, but most often
just take an over-the-counter pain medication and continue on with their normal
activities. If the strain was minor, their body may be able to heal the muscle
fibers normally. Unfortunately, this is not the usual result because the
injured muscle is being used instead of rested. Because of the stress on the
muscle, their body heals the injured muscle fibers by binding them together
with fibrotic adhesions or scar tissue. This is done in an attempt to prevent
further damage to the injured area. It is a normal protective response of their
body.
Formation of scar tissue in an injured
muscle causes it to become shorter and tighter than normal. This places more
tension and stress on the muscle making it easier to strain during future
physical activities. If the muscle is over-stressed or re-injured further,
eventually enough scar tissue will form to shorten the muscle to the degree
that it can pull the bone it is attached to out of normal alignment. The result
is a joint misalignment which causes a chronic condition to develop. If a
tendon receives most of the stress from the joint misalignment then chronic
tendinitis develops. If the bursae around the joint receives excess pressure
and stress because of the misalignment then a chronic bursitis develops. If a
nerve is stretched or has excess pressure on it from abnormal swelling caused
by the joint misalignment then a chronic neuritis condition will develop. This
happens most often when the spinal vertebrae are pulled out of their normal
alignment (subluxated). Now, last but not least, if the cartilage of a joint is
receiving abnormally high pressure on it because of the joint misalignment then
a chronic arthritis condition will develop.
A lot of people seem to believe that
arthritis is something that just naturally happens to people when they get
"old." The truth is, arthritis is totally preventable and usually curable. Let
me tell you a story to illustrate.
A man 80 years of age goes to see his
doctor because his right knee is hurting. After the doctor takes X-rays and
examines him, he informs the man that he has arthritis in his right knee. The
man then asks the doctor what causes arthritis and he replies, "old age." The
man then says, "But doctor, my left knee is 80 years old too and it's just
fine." The point is that age has nothing to do with whether you get
osteoarthritis or not. An acquaintance of mine had a hip replaced at age 33. He
had injured that same hip while playing football years earlier. This injury
created muscular scar tissue that led to a hip misalignment which then caused
the cartilage in his hip socket to wear out by age 33.
Consider an automobile with the front
wheels properly aligned and new tires designed to last 50,000 miles. Let's say
that the right wheel hits enough ruts and potholes to throw off its alignment
to a slight degree. Now, what will happen? Right! That tire will begin to wear
out too quickly because the misalignment places excessive stress on certain
areas of the tire. The weight of the car is no longer evenly distributed over
the entire width of the tire. After 25,000 miles the left tire will still be in
very good condition while the right tire could be totally worn out. This is
essentially how arthritis of the hip or knee develops.
Now, consider a woman who injures her
right hip in an auto accident or from falls taken while learning to ice skate,
or even from accumulated stress of sitting with one leg under the other for
many years. Any of these things could injure the muscles of her hip area and
cause the muscles to heal with fibrotic adhesions or scar tissue. This causes
the muscles to become shorter than normal and to pull her pelvic or thigh bones
out of their normal positions. This creates a misalignment of her hip joint.
Now, just like the tire, the weight is not evenly distributed on the cartilage
of that hip socket. This will cause her right hip socket cartilage to wear out
faster than the left. She may occasionally notice a tightness in her right hip
during certain activities, but will probably think nothing of it, or falsely
assume that it is a natural part of getting old. By age 50 she will start
having right hip pain which will progressively worsen as the joint continues to
wear out. By age 60 or 65 an X-ray will show that the left hip is still in good
shape while the right one is totally worn out. It's ready for a hip replacement
which could have easily been prevented.
Now, let's go back to our tire example.
What if you notice around 10,000 miles that the right front tire on your car is
wearing out abnormally fast. You will take the car in and have the wheel
realigned. This will stop the excessive wear and tear. The tire will now
probably last for 40-45,000 miles instead of being totally worn out at 25,000
miles.
The hip joint is quite similar. What will
happen if you notice around age 40 or 45 that your right hip feels tighter than
the left and occasionally hurts a little. You could get your hip joint
realigned with PMBT treatments thereby stopping the excessive wear and tear.
Your right hip socket cartilage will now probably last well over 100 years
instead of being totally worn out by age 60 or 65.
I have studied the human body for over 30
years and believe that our hip cartilage was designed to last 150 or more
years. In other words, it should last well over a lifetime.
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