Question
I have been under chiropractic care for the past three months. I originally went because my friends thought they could help with the OA and RA in my knees and hips. They did diagnose three different things one of which was sciatica. There was apparently a lot of inflammation going on also. They worked to achieve balance and I seemed to do better for a few days and then everything would flare up again. About six weeks ago I went for my routine regular medical checkup My doctor was fine with the chiropractic treatment but gave me a 10 day doseage of prednisone to help relieve the inflammation. It really did help with the sciatica. I continued to see my chiropractor for my other problems. Things went well for about 3 weeks and then overnight all the pain had come back. I have researched the Internet and some articles say people with RA do not respond well to chiropractic care.
I really do not know what to do. I know i need to go for my lower back but if the RA is going to keep undoing everything it seems useless to keep going. The up and down roller coaster ride is not only hard physically but mentally also.
Thank you

Answer
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Hello K.,

I抦 sorry to hear about the RA.  It can be a very tricky disorder.  It is common and normal for RA to flare up in random episodes on its own without chiropractic.  However, try to determine if the flare-ups seem more severe than what they were in the past before you started chiropractic care.  It really is a case-by-case situation.  Lots of RA patients go to chiropractors.  However, their treatments all vary.  Some patients only get adjusted when they are not flared up and if they have a flare-up, they only get physiotherapy and no adjustment, such as muscle stim or ultrasound.  Also, some RA patients just get gentle adjustments, such as with an Activator.  Every patient抯 condition is different.  If you feel like the chiropractic is beneficial, you should keep it up.  However, I wouldn抰 say that the RA flare-ups undo the correction; they only increase the inflammation.

Really, the most important thing for you to do is talk to your chiropractor.  Ask him/her what he/she thinks is logical.  If you are having flare-ups, make sure he/she knows.  It may be a good idea to take it a little easier on the sensitive spots.  I don抰 think you necessarily have to give up chiropractic completely if you and your doctor are on the same page as to what your body can and cannot handle.  Many RA patients respond very well to chiropractic, so long as you and your doctor are effectively talking about your symptoms.

I hope this gives you a bit of direction.  Unfortunately, as I mentioned above, it抯 case-by-case, so there is no clear-cut answer to your question.

Best,

Dr. JR Strecker, DC