The majority of people who have joint replacements have a knee that has developed a significant amount of wear and tear to the point where walking is excruciating. The cartilage (meniscus) of the knee has all but disintegrated or torn apart and they’re walking around with bone on bone. In 2015 103,331 people in England & Wales had knee procedures according to the National Joint Registry. Thankfully knee degeneration is not an inevitable factor of aging, otherwise every single person would need new knees at a specific age, which is clearly not the case. So what determines whether you will need new knees in the future and is there anything you can do to possibly avoid it?! This is something I have given a lot of thought to, particularly since learning about ABC. A few years back my good Chiropractor friend, Amy and I would have light-hearted joking conversations saying ‘I ought to book myself in for a new right knee now!’ whilst having a moan about the aches and twinges in our joints. In the back of my mind I was starting to believe it, but not now-a-days. My Dad (Poor chap, I’ve been using him in many of my examples), in his early 60’s, had two state-of–the-art replacement knees, specifically modelled for him and made in America. Like so many people he puts the degeneration down to years of playing squash and his active lifestyle. I’m sure he’s right however what ABC and the research done on Adult Tethered Cord Syndrome has taught us is that there’s more to it than just the hard work they’ve done. His first replacement didn’t give him the immediate relief he was hoping for and has taken a good two years to feel better. The other knee felt great within a couple of weeks. Why do you think they felt so different? Around 6 months later he had a very bad episode of low back pain and sciatica. He was sent for an MRI scan which showed significant degenerative joint & disc disease in his lumbar spine. I thought it appropriate to mention this because so many people think that it’s just the knee(s) that have worn out and nothing else because nothing else hurts. This is so far from the truth. Osteoarthritis (aka wear and tear) of the lower limb joints will almost always be secondary to abnormal biomechanics in the spine and where there’s abnormal movement there ensues wear and tear. Can you tell whether you will need new knees in the future? Based on my clinic experience of treating people who…a) have already had new knees fitted, b) those that about to have the surgery, c) those that describe moderate knee symptoms and fully expect to have to have surgery and d) young people whom do not currently have knee pain but show signs of musculo-skeletal dysfunction… My answer is yes, here are 5 predictors…If you have or have had…
So the next time you hear someone say ‘Oh it’s just my knee, it’s nothing to do with my back’ You’ll know that it’s everything to do with their back and you know someone who can help… that’s me by the way! If you know anyone who is suffering with their knees do refer them to me, I do love the challenge of potentially helping someone to avoid going under the knife. Comments are closed.
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