Palm Beach Health Center

Fun Fact: every single one of the joints in your spine is built to move. Unfortunately, one of the most common and silent killers is joint fixation. This is where, instead of having a properly moving joint, the joint becomes locked down. When we treat spinal decompression in Palm Beach, we teach our patients that they often won’t notice joint fixation because there won’t be a signal to the brain that something is not working correctly until enough damage has already been done. By this time, it can frequently be too late.

What Do You Need to Know About Joint Fixation?

The Signs

One of the beginning symptoms of a joint fixation is sprains and strains. Think of it as a pulley system. When you have a pulley and the wheel isn't moving properly, it pulls really hard on the rope, and then the rope starts to fray. The same thing happens with your muscles.Eventually, what you’ll end up with are muscles loaded with sprains and strains. Instead of treating the fixation, most people choose to do things like a quick massage or taking a muscle relaxer or painkiller.Unfortunately, because you weren’t treating the actual issue, the joints will still lock up. When that happens, the disc dries out and the degeneration process begins within 24 to 48 hours. Eventually, this makes the joint thinner and the disc more likely to be worn away. This also increases your chances of arthritis in that joint.

A Fixation Turns to Arthritis

If it's not detected or corrected, a fixation will turn into phase one arthritis. From there, it can turn into phase two, where the joints are even more stuck. Then we begin to find more bone spurs, more pain, more problems, and more pressure on those nerves.Since these nerves go to important tissues and organs, it becomes very difficult to have a healthy organ. At the end of a sick nerve, we want to mitigate that damage and get the joint moving. If it's not fixed now, it can turn into a full fusion. If it fuses, you may need surgery to fix it and this is where organs start to fail.This potential organ failure is why it's essential to make sure you're taking care of your joints before there's a problem. The earlier, the better. Maintaining something that's healthy before it gets sick is better than waiting for an issue or allowing it to get damaged in the first place.

How to Tell if You Have a Joint Fixation

If you haven't taken a look at how your joints or spine moves, then it's essential to have what is called “motion study x-rays.” With motion study x-rays, you can see which joints are moving versus which ones are not moving. This makes sure you are implementing a care plan that's created specifically for you instead of something designed to treat symptoms.

Get Help Through Spinal Decompression West Palm Beach

We look at fixing the spine from a functional basis and ensuring an integrated approach: chiropractic and physical therapy, rehabilitation using nurse practitioners and doctors all together under one roof. If you haven't had your spine checked for spinal fixations, give us a call, and we'll help you out. Palm Beach Health Center is here for you.