Osteoarthritis is a degenerative joint condition where there is excessive ‘wear and tear’ within the affected joints.  This can be a result of excessive use of the joint over a period of time for many reasons such as sports or due to long term compensations for an altered posture, or within a joint that suffered an injury in the past.  

The joint can be painful because the joint and surrounding tissues are inflamed and having to work harder to compensate for the changes within the joint.  These changes may be bony swelling, fluid swelling and loose bodies.

Quite often, because of the compensations that the body makes for the OA joint, other joints and muscles undergo excessive strain, such as the back joints and muscle causing back pain and sciatica.

5 Top tips to prevent and manage an OA joint:

• Keep moving especially with low impact exercise, such as gentle walking or swimming as this helps to reduce inflammation, it keeps the joints better lubricated and ensures better circulation which aids healing.
• Strengthen and stretch the muscles surrounding the affected joint as it helps to prevent the development of the OA and helps to manage and minimise the effects of the OA joint.  Seek advice from your Osteopath as to which exercises are most appropriate for you.
• Be aware of your all of your postures and how they can help minimise the strain on your affected joints and the other joints that compensate.
• Implement some simple modifications, including fluid consumption and nutritional supplements, to your diet to help reduce inflammation, reduce the pain and improve the health of your joints.
• Use heat therapy to help reduce your pain and improve your joint mobility.  Alternative warm and cold applications can really make a difference.

For more detailed advice tailored to your specific needs, call in or phone us at Toddington Osteopathic Medicine Clinic on 01525 875474.

Every day, in every posture, standing, walking, sitting and even sleeping, our backs are under varied, but constant stresses and strains.  Most of the time, our backs are able to cope and adjust, but our backs can only cope with so much for so long, before the last in a long line of every day stresses and strains is too much to bare.  

Back pain is most commonly triggered by a sudden lifting injury or something as trivial as bending forward to put your sock on!  Which is why PREVENTION is always better than cure and far less painful!! BUT it also means that even when you have a long standing complaint where damage has already been done, the simple management strategies can PREVENT reoccurance of acute back pain episodes and allow you to get on with your life.

If you have ever suffered with back pain, you will know how debilitating it can be.  Most of us will experience back pain at some point in our lives, so it’s important to know HOW to take good care of your back.

5 Top tips on how to take good care of your back:

1. Keep mobile by finding something that gets you moving regularly that you enjoy
2. Be aware of your posture in all positions to minimize the physical stresses and strains
3. Avoid repetitive movements at work, home and while playing sports or exercising
4. Manage your emotional stresses so that you learn to relax
5. Keep hydrated to ensure the health of your back and your joints

For more information and detailed advice that is tailored to you, which will help make the greatest difference, please contact us.

Hello to all of Toddington Osteopathic Medicine Clinic’s existing clients and to those of you who have yet to benefit from the professional standard of care that T.O.M Clinic provides to Bedfordshire!  

To know a little more about us, please read the information already provided on our website.

We have set up this blog to provide you with a resource full of effective advice and information for a whole range of the complaints that we treat every day at T.O.M Clinic.  

We will also use the blog to help you get to know us all a little more personally and to understand better, our motivations and experiences that fuel our passion for Osteopathy.

If there is a topic that you would like covered, or any further information that you think might be of benefit, please get in contact with us either by telephone, email or pop in to the clinic to speak to us face to face.  We are always happy to help.