Osteoarthritis is a degenerative condition. While it can occur in anyone, it affects roughly half of people over the age of 65, and it is one of the leading causes of disability in older adults.
What's actually happening
Osteoarthritis primarily affects the cartilage covering the bones inside a joint. As that cartilage degenerates, the surrounding stabilizing and supporting structures (ligaments, tendons and muscles) are overworked, and that overwork is often what you feel as pain. In later stages, bone begins contacting bone, causing more pain and accelerating the degeneration.
The good news is that this process can be slowed.
Which joints, and why
Osteoarthritis tends to affect joints that are overworked and overused, typically weight-bearing joints such as the knees, hips, neck, lower back, big toes and hands. Joints that have taken serious trauma, or repeated micro-stress from repetitive labor, are also far more prone to developing it.
If you've spent a career on concrete floors, in a truck, or swinging a tool, that history is written into your joints.
How we treat it
Our primary focus is restoring the normal alignment of the joint. Bones that aren't in their proper positions degenerate faster, so treatment addresses the mechanics first:
- Alignment and mobility work to reduce abnormal loading patterns
- Physiotherapy to strengthen the muscles that offload the joint
- Inflammation control, including targeted injections where appropriate
- Nutritional and supplemental guidance shown to help slow progression
- Weight management, which measurably reduces load on weight-bearing joints
What we tell patients honestly
We can't regrow cartilage that's gone. What we very often can do is reduce pain, restore function, and slow the rate at which the joint continues to break down, which for many patients is the difference between managing and needing replacement.
Schedule a consultation and we'll give you a straight assessment of where your joints are and what's realistic.