Arthritis is a condition that affects 50 million people in America, according to research from the Center for Disease Control, and it’s a condition that only seems to worsen with age. Unfortunately, it also happens to be a condition for which there is no known remedy that has proven to be 100% effective, say the experts at Performance Spine & Sports Medicine in Lawrenceville, New Jersey.
Many patients at Performance Spine & Sports Medicine are finding relief from arthritis pains and aches, though, thanks to a treatment known as acupuncture. For patients in Lawrenceville, using acupuncture to relieve the pains associated with age-related arthritis, known as osteoarthritis, has become especially common.
The most common cause of arthritis in the United States today is age, and there is a 50% chance that a person will have arthritis in at least one joint by the time he reaches 50. By the age of 60 or 70, that chance of developing arthritis goes up to 70%, and those reach 100 have a 100% chance of developing arthritis, according to the professionals at Performance Spine & Sports Medicine.
Because arthritis and osteoarthritis are not considered genetic conditions—meaning you cannot pass these conditions down through your genes to your child and you cannot inherit them from your parents—arthritis is now seen by most doctors as simply an “age related phenomenon” that primarily effects older populations around the country.
The physicians at Performance Spine & Sports Medicine, though, were not happy simply sitting back and watching as older patients suffered through the pain that results from untreated arthritis conditions. That is why they started offering an acupuncture treatment option to their arthritis patients in Lawrenceville. “The most common cause of arthritis in the United States, and basically the world, is age,” they explain.
What the team at Performance Spine & Sports Medicine was able to come up with is a special acupuncture treatment method that helps to reduce the pains associated with osteoarthritis. Although acupuncture cannot reverse age-related arthritis or get rid of it entirely—in fact, there aren’t currently any medications that can reverse the signs of aging, despite the claims of many—it can help to lessen the irritation and pain that many older patients feel.
The benefit of treating arthritis with acupuncture is that acupuncture can be used to relax the muscles in the area afflicted by the condition. In addition to relaxing the muscles, acupuncture has been proven to relax the tissues as well.
A patient who comes into Performance Spine & Sports Medicine in Lawrenceville for acupuncture treatment because he has arthritis in his knee, for example, could expect to have tiny needles inserted into certain muscles and ligaments located in and around the knee in question. These needles—which are painless going in—will work to relax the tissue in the knee, and anywhere else they are placed on the body, along with the muscles, the ligaments, and the joint capsule. When these tissues become relaxed, they end up softening. That, in turn, reduces the pain that many people feel as a result of arthritis. Even better, acupuncture can be used to treat arthritis in other areas of the body as well, including the hands, wrists, elbows, and other joints.
The first thing that a patient will notice after leaving the office is a reduction in the stiffness in whatever area was treated. The morning stiffness, or stiffness in general, is usually one of the strongest indicators associated with arthritis. And the experts at Performance Spine & Sports Medicine say it also happens to be one of the first things that is erased after a person comes in for treatment.
The second change that most patients will notice might take a little more time to take effect. After a number of treatments, patients should actually be able to tolerate more pain than they were able to before the acupuncture treatments. Acupuncture is extremely effective at calming the nerves that transmit pain to the brain, and it can be used now to help change the way the brain sends signals and how pain is perceived, transmitted, and processed.
Despite all the research and anecdotal evidence suggesting the effectiveness of treating arthritis with acupuncture, the phenomenon still has not been fully understood. Nonetheless, people who have experienced these treatments say that acupuncture has helped them manage their pain and reduce the feelings of stiffness in the effected areas of their bodies.
For anyone who is curious about these types of treatments, the professionals at Performance Spine & Sports Medicine say they always encourage new patients to come by and find out what options are available for treatment.
The information in the article is not intended to substitute for the medical expertise and advice of your healthcare provider. We encourage you to discuss any decisions about treatment or care with an appropriate healthcare provider.
