We hear about the gut microbiome, skin microbiome—even the vaginal microbiome—but did you know you have a joint microbiome, too?
Yes, those achy knees, stiff shoulder, and swollen fingers are home to their own complex microscopic ecosystems. And when that ecosystem is out of balance, inflammation takes over.
So COULD your gut be causing your arthritis. Let’s zoom in.
What Is Arthritis, Really?
Before we talk causes, we need to understand what arthritis actually means.
- Arthro- = joint
- itis = inflammation
Arthritis literally means joint inflammation.
But here’s a key question: If arthritis is just part of “getting older,” why doesn’t it affect all your joints equally?
Think about it…
Have you had arthritis diagnosed by an x-ray, MRI, or CT scan?
Is it only in one knee? One shoulder? One hip?
Your bones are all the same age—so why is arthritis showing up in only one area?
✨ The answer: inflammation—and inflammation doesn’t just appear out of nowhere. It’s triggered.
What Triggers Arthritis?
Triggers do not just appear one day and all of a sudden, BAM, you have arthritis. No, I want you to think of it as a low-burning fire of inflammation, fueled by all of the thoughts, traumas, and toxins your body has been exposed to over time. Each one may seem small on its own, but together they’re like constant wear on a hinge—eventually the joint stiffens, swells, and breaks down. Arthritis isn’t just a moment—it’s the final result of years of internal stress your body’s been trying to manage.
One of the biggest sources of inflammatory triggers is the gut, especially when it’s inflamed, leaky, or overrun by the wrong microbes.
But as a chiropractor, I’d be doing you a disservice if I didn’t go deeper.
What’s Fueling Your Joint Inflammation?
Inflammation doesn’t come from just one place—it comes from a combination of stressors your body is trying to adapt to. In chiropractic, we call these the 3 Ts:
👉 Thoughts (mental and emotional stress)
👉 Traumas (physical stress, past injuries, spinal misalignments)
👉 Toxins (chemical stress from food allergies, environmental toxins, or gut imbalances)
So if you’ve been told your joint pain is “just aging,” I encourage you to look closer. Is your gut inflamed? Are you under chronic stress? Have you had injuries or misalignments that never got corrected?
Arthritis isn’t random—it’s a response.
Wait—What Type of Arthritis do I Have?
There are more than 100 types of arthritis, but here are the most common:
- Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) – An autoimmune condition where the immune system attacks the joints.
- Osteoarthritis (OA) – Often labeled as “wear and tear,” but more accurately described as low-grade inflammatory degeneration.
- Psoriatic Arthritis – An autoimmune condition linked with psoriasis.
- Juvenile Arthritis – An umbrella term for autoimmune and inflammatory arthritis in children.
Each has its own unique causes and patterns—but the one thing they all share? Inflammation.
And that’s where the gut comes in.
The Gut-Arthritis Connection: Where Inflammation Begins
Let’s talk about what can really happen inside the body when arthritis shows up.
When the gut is inflamed, it becomes more permeable—a condition known as leaky gut. This allows undigested food particles, toxins, and bacteria to leak into the bloodstream. Once these foreign particles are circulating, the immune system flags them as threats and ramps up the inflammatory response.
Over time, this creates a chronic, low-grade fire of inflammation that can land in different areas of the body—including the joints. Even in cases of osteoarthritis—often considered just “wear and tear”—inflammation from the gut can speed up joint breakdown and slow down repair. So whether your arthritis is autoimmune, degenerative, or inflammatory in origin, your gut is still part of the story.
Research Is In: Joints Have Microbiomes
A microbiome is a community of bacteria, fungi, viruses, and other microorganisms (plus all their genetic material) that live naturally in and on your body. These microbes may be tiny, but they play a massive role in how your body functions—especially when it comes to inflammation and your immune system.
Synovial joints—like your knees, hips, fingers and shoulders—contain a gel-like fluid that helps them glide and function smoothly. Recent research suggests these joints also house their own unique microbiome, which may help maintain immune balance and tissue health inside the joint.
So if your gut microbiome is off, it can impact the joint microbiome, triggering inflammation, immune dysfunction, and increased joint degeneration– think arthritis!
✨ Your gut may be calling the shots more than you think. That’s because your gut and your brain are in constant conversation—literally wired together through the nervous system.
What Your Nervous System Has to Do with Arthritis (and Why Chiropractic Care Matters)
Here’s the part most people overlook: Your joints don’t operate on their own. They’re connected to your nervous system, and that system controls and coordinates every movement, function, and signal your body sends—including pain and inflammation.
When there are misalignments (subluxations) in the spine or surrounding structures, it can interfere with nerve function, decrease joint mobility, and disrupt blood and lymphatic flow. All of this can contribute to inflammation and poor healing.
That’s why chiropractic adjustments are so powerful for joint pain and arthritis. Chiropractic adjustments are not just “cracking” your back—they reduce nerve interference, restore motion, improve circulation, and allow your nervous system to communicate effectively with the rest of the body.
When your nervous system is clear, your body can heal.
The Vagus Nerve and Your Arthritis
Let’s take the Vagus nerve as an example. This cranial nerve runs from the brainstem all the way down into the abdomen, innervating the digestive organs along the way. It acts like a superhighway, transmitting messages back and forth between your brain and your gut (think gut-brain connection!). It plays a major role in digestion, inflammation regulation, and even your mood.
But here’s the chiropractic connection: the vagus nerve originates in the brain and passes through the upper cervical spine. If there’s misalignment in that area—like at the atlas (C1) or axis (C2)—it can interfere with vagal tone, which can impact your gut. Poor vagal tone has been linked to digestive issues, leaky gut, and even inflammatory conditions like arthritis.
How Spinal Misalignments Affect Digestion and Inflammation
And it’s not just the Vagus nerve. The thoracic and lumbar spine houses nerve roots that exit and innervate organs like the stomach, liver, pancreas, and intestines. Misalignments in this region can disrupt the communication between the central nervous system and your gut—throwing digestion off track and contributing to systemic inflammation.
Remember—arthritis is inflammation of the joint. And when your nervous system isn’t communicating properly with your gut due to spinal misalignments (especially in the upper neck or low back), it’s like a game of telephone gone wrong. The messages between your brain and gut get scrambled, and that miscommunication can trigger immune imbalances and inflammation.
Think of it like this: if the body were a construction site, inflammation is the crew being sent out to fix a problem. But when the wrong signals are being sent, that crew starts laying down extra cement (inflammation) even where it’s not needed. Over time, that extra “cement” can turn into stiffness, swelling, and even bony overgrowths—the kind that show up on X-rays in osteoarthritis.
It’s not just wear and tear—it’s worn-out communication lines. That’s why addressing the spine and nervous system is so key. When those messages get clearer, your gut calms down, inflammation quiets, and the body can begin to repair.
Chiropractic helps reduce physical trauma and restore nervous system communication—but we also need to be addressing the toxic and emotional stressors if we want lasting relief. That’s why The Wellness Way approach doesn’t stop at the spine—we look at the full picture.
Could the Foods You Eat Be Fueling Your Arthritis?
You’ve probably heard the saying, “You are what you eat.” But here’s a better version:
You are what you absorb—and what you don’t react to.
At The Wellness Way, we dig deep into the root causes of inflammation, and one of the most silent—but powerful—culprits is food allergies. Not just food sensitivities, but true immune responses—the kind that quietly stir up inflammation without causing obvious digestive symptoms.
Here’s the connection: inflammation in the gut can drive inflammation elsewhere—like in your joints. In fact, this is often the missing link in chronic joint pain and autoimmune arthritis.
That’s why we don’t use a one-size-fits-all food plan. Instead, we test your individual IgE and IgG food allergies, which reflect how your immune system is reacting to specific foods you eat. Your body is unique—and your immune responses are, too.
When “Healthy” Isn’t Healthy for You
That gluten-free, egg-white omelet that works for someone else? It could be your personal inflammation trigger.
When we identify and remove your personal inflammatory foods, we’re not just helping your gut—we’re helping to calm down systemic inflammation that may be showing up in your joints as arthritis pain, swelling, and stiffness.
This is especially relevant for autoimmune forms of arthritis like Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA), where research shows that nutrition plays a key role in disease progression and symptom management. Anti-inflammatory diets—like the Mediterranean diet —have been shown to reduce joint inflammation, support the gut microbiome, and improve overall immune balance.
But the key is personalization. You could be eating the cleanest diet in the world and still be inflamed—if you’re eating the wrong foods for your body.
So no, it’s not just about cutting out processed food or sugar (though that helps!). It’s about uncovering and eliminating what’s inflaming you, so your body can finally begin to heal.
When you remove the immune triggers that are specific to you, you reduce the fuel feeding your inflammation—and that’s when real arthritis relief begins.
Test, Don’t Guess:
How The Wellness Way Lake Forest Approaches Arthritis
At The Wellness Way – Lake Forest We don’t guess at symptoms—we test for hidden triggers. Here’s how we approach joint inflammation and arthritis:
✅ Stool Testing – To uncover gut inflammation, pathogens, and digestive dysfunction
✅ Food Allergy Testing – To identify immune-reactive foods that cause silent systemic inflammation
✅ Chiropractic Adjustments – To reduce nerve interference and improve joint function and communication between the brain and body
✅ Inflammation-Focused Care Plans – Including lifestyle, supplement, and nutrition guidance based on your test results
We view the body differently. We don’t believe the body is broken—it’s intelligent and always adapting. Arthritis isn’t random. It’s your body trying to protect you from stressors that haven’t been addressed.
Final Thoughts: Listen to the Signal
Could your gut be causing your arthritis?
Absolutely.
But here’s the good news: If we can find the cause, we can start removing the interference.
Pain isn’t the problem—it’s the signal. And arthritis isn’t just “wear and tear”—it’s inflammation, and inflammation has a cause. And remember, arthritis did not just happen one day—it’s a result of how your body has adapted to years of thoughts, traumas, and toxins.
If you’re ready to stop masking symptoms and start listening to what your body is telling you, I’d love to help.
Let’s test, not guess. Let’s get to the root of your joint pain.
Your body is talking. Are you ready to listen?
