Episode 10: Aging Without Limits – The Truth About Spinal Arthritis
Welcome back to another edition of Ask the Chiropractor! I am Dr. Brant Hulsebus, a proud Palmer College of Chiropractic graduate and the team chiropractor for the Rockford IceHogs, practicing right here in Rockford, Illinois.
Thank you for joining us for Episode 10 of our 12-part Wellness Lifecycle series, where we take the time to break down how chiropractic works and explore the most common reasons people visit our clinic. Today, we are diving into a topic that affects almost everyone eventually: healthy aging and the truth about spinal arthritis.
The Generational Proof of Healthy Aging
My grandfather started this chiropractic practice back in 1948 or 1949. My father eventually joined him, and now I am here. Because our clinic has been around for so long, we have an incredibly unique perspective on aging. We have patients who have been getting adjusted by our family since they were kids in the 1950s and 1960s. In fact, we have actually taken care of eight generations of one single family!
When our long-term patients transition to Medicare, we often take updated X-rays of their spines. What we see is truly amazing: people in their 60s and 70s with young, healthy, strong-looking spines. They do not have spinal arthritis, degenerative disc disease, or degenerative joint disease.
This proves a vital point: Spinal arthritis is not simply a mandatory result of aging. It is a result of unmanaged physical stress and biomechanical dysfunction over time.
Redefining Spinal Arthritis
To understand how to prevent arthritis, we first need to define it. Interestingly, the medical definition and the chiropractic definition of spinal arthritis are very different.
I work closely with orthopedic surgeons for our local hockey team. When they define arthritis in a knee or a shoulder, it is incredibly precise. They measure bone gaps and spurs down to the exact millimeter using advanced computer software. However, the medical definition for arthritis in the spine is often surprisingly vague—sometimes just defined as waking up with a stiff and sore back. By that definition, I had spinal arthritis in my 20s after doing hard physical labor!
In chiropractic, we look for precise, measurable changes. We define spinal arthritis by looking at four specific criteria:
- Bones that are actively degenerating
- Spinal discs that are dehydrating and losing height
- Disc gaps that are shrinking or completely gone
- Bone spurs (osteophytes) growing on the vertebrae
We break this degeneration down into four phases. Phase One is highly correctable, Phase Two has good bounce-back potential, Phase Three is manageable, and Phase Four means the damage is permanent and you should have come to see us a long time ago.
How Spinal Degeneration Actually Happens
If arthritis isn’t caused by your age, what causes it? It comes down to spinal alignment and movement. Here is the step-by-step breakdown of how a spine degenerates:
- The Subluxation: Due to physical, chemical, or emotional stress, one or two vertebrae misalign. This alters your spine’s biomechanics and increases your stress load.
- The Lock-Down: Your body recognizes the stress and locks down the surrounding muscles to protect the area from further damage.
- The Dehydration Cycle: Unlike your knees or ankles, your spinal joints do not have a direct blood supply. They rely on movement to push nutrients in and pull toxins out. When the muscles are locked down, the joint stops moving. Without nutrients, the spinal discs begin to dehydrate and shrink (Degenerative Disc Disease).
- Loss of Shock Absorption: Think of your discs like the struts on a pickup truck. As they shrink, the gap between the vertebrae disappears, and you lose your shock absorbers. The joint becomes highly unstable.
- Bone Spurs Form: To stabilize the joint, the body starts laying down extra calcium, creating bone spurs (osteophytes). These spurs can grow into the spaces where nerves exit the spine, creating constant pressure and pain.
- Facet Joint Friction: Eventually, the joints at the back of the spine (facets) start rubbing and grinding together, leading to Degenerative Joint Disease and chronic inflammation.
The Chiropractic Solution for Healthy Aging
Many people come to my clinic in their 60s with advanced degeneration and tell me, “I’ve never had a back problem until now.” When I look at their X-rays and see decades of bone spurs, I know that simply isn’t true. The problem has been there; they just didn’t feel it until it reached a breaking point.
When you visit our clinic, our goal is to intervene before this cascade of degeneration happens.
- The Exam: We check how you bend, twist, and move to identify which vertebrae are fixated and locked up.
- Popping the Hood: We take X-rays to see exactly what phase of degeneration you are in and what is realistically correctable.
- The Adjustment: We deliver a precise adjustment to restore movement to the fixated joint.
By restoring movement, the muscles relax, nutrients flood back into the joint, and the dehydration cycle is stopped in its tracks. This is why our lifetime patients have such healthy spines—they never let those fixations stick around long enough to progress to Phase Two or Phase Three degeneration.
If you want to know how your spine is aging, what you can do to prevent arthritis, or how to manage the changes that have already started, the only professional fully qualified to answer those questions is a chiropractor. Contact our Rockford clinic today to schedule an evaluation and take control of your spinal health!
Remember, if you have a question about chiropractic care, the best person to ask is a chiropractor. Thanks for tuning in, and I’ll see you next week!
Want more? First, check out the video link above. Secondly, go to our blog page. Lastly, listen to our podcast. And if you want to take the same supplements Dr. Hulsebus takes, click here to pick them up next time you’re in.
Previous Episode: Episode 9: The Gut-Spine Connection
Next Episode: Episode 11: Chiropractic Truths and Myths