• Your daily activities
• Prior serious injuries
• Chemistry (diet, smoking, drugs)
• Genetics

Unlike systemic arthritic diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis can occur in anyone, and its effects are limited to the joints under greatest wear. 

Your daily activities play a huge role in the wear and tear on your joints.  Since cartillage has no blood vessels, it relies on the pumping of synovial fluid in the joint space to acquire nutrients and heal.  If a joint stops moving, it begins to die.  One of the most overlooked contributors to poor spinal joint health is sitting still.  Sitting still (at a computer or watching television or driving) allows arthritic joints (particularly in the low back) to stiffen.    Joints require motion to stay healthy.  No movement of the joint fluid means no nutrients, and your body is less able to repair the damage caused by normal wear and tear. 

Prior serious injuries to the cartillage in your joint from a sprain or fracture (macrotrauma) can cause decades worth of damage overnight.  Immobilization of a joint after an injury can also increase the likelihood of osteoarthritis developing, due to an inability to get nutrients for healing.  

Chemistry should not be forgotten.  The whole point of keeping joints moving is to provide nutrients to the joint.  If we do not take in the right nutrients, we are likely not able to deliver nutrients to our body to facilitate the healing process.  The reason I said "chemistry" and not "diet" is because food is not the only thing that we need to think about.  For example:

• taking over-the-counter anti-inflammatories can slow the natural healing process
• smokers tend to take three times longer to heal than non-smokers 

Genetics are the blueprint of your body, and those innate gifts can make you more or less likely to develop arthritis.  The take home message is that if your parents have osteoarthritis, you need to focus on positively changing your activities, diet and lifestyle to decrease the likelihood of developing osteoarthritis. 

Doctors of Chiropractic have the most specialized training in the world for evaluating the movement of joints.  Regular chiropractic care contributes to your overall health by preventing the progression of osteoarthritis.  During your regular chiropractic visit, each joint in your body is evaluated for movement and health.  Whether you are treated with a chiropractic adjustment, Active Release Techniques, or Graston Technique, you can rest assured that your treatment is the safest and most effective way to restore movement and health to stiff joints in your body.