Morning Back Stiffness
Why does my back feel stiff in the mornings?
This is a question I get very frequently, and I have a pretty high success rate with the treatment of this problem!
Morning back pain/stiffness that gets better after you have been up and moving around for a while is a hallmark symptom of degenerative joint disease (aka “arthritis” or “osteoarthritis”).
Here’s why: the inside surfaces of joints are covered with cartilage. Cartilage is a tough, yet flexible material that acts as a shock absorber between two bony surfaces. Cartilage also stores fluid (mostly water) that lubricates the joints as they move. When you wake up in the morning, that fluid has dissipated into the surrounding tissue. Healthy cartilage has a ready supply of fluid stored up to quickly re-lubricate your joints.
Unhealthy cartilage, as seen with degenerative joint disease, is less supple and has a decreased capacity to re-lubricate the joints after a night of rest. Therefore, it may take from a few minutes to a few hours (depending on the severity of the degenerative process) to re-lubricate the joints. As a result, when you move around, the joints do not glide very easily. When the brain gets these signals of rough movement, it send messages to the surrounding muscles to tighten up and “splint” the area to keep you from moving too quickly or forcefully on un-lubricated joints.
Since most degenerative joint disease, or osteoarthritis is caused by poor mechanical function of the joints, especially in the neck and back, it is important to restore the normal function of that joint as soon as possible to reduce further damage to that joint.
What can a chiropractor do for morning stiffness caused by degenerative joint disease?
Here’s the bad news. Cartilage does not have much of a blood supply, and as a result, it heals very slowly. Furthermore if the joint has been degenerative for a long period of time, the actual bones in the joint start to change in shape. “Reversing” it is often not an option.
THE GOOD NEWS is that most cases of joint degeneration can be MANAGED. This is accomplished by the restoration of proper motion to the joint(s), then re-training them through a series of exercises. It actually works very well in most cases.
The sooner you begin treatment, the better you will respond to the treatment. Don’t wait until it takes 5 or 6 hours for your joints to loosen up in the morning, or worse, wait until they never loosen up! Remember, it’s called “DEGENRATIVE joint disease,” meaning that it’s probably not going to just get better on it’s own! Get help! Call our office!
