Osteoarthritis
WHAT IS (OSTEO)ARTHRITIS?
There are various forms of arthritis, but osteoarthritis is by far the most common. This is why most people refer to it simply as arthritis. Osteoarthritis is also called degenerative joint disease or DJD. From here on the term arthritis will be used to refer to osteoarthritis. The root word "arthr" means joint and the prefix "itis" means inflammation so the word "arthritis" means inflammation of a joint. You will soon learn what causes this inflammation and the excessive (and unnatural) degeneration of the cartilage of a joint.
WHAT CAUSES ARTHRITIS?
When someone does a physical activity to excess they strain the muscle that was overused. This can happen to a well-trained athlete who is striving to excel or a retired person who overdoes it working in their garden. This scenario is often seen in the "weekend warrior" athlete who sits at a desk all week and then plays softball or tennis all day on the weekend. The resultant muscle strain (mild tear) creates inflammation and pain. This strain usually occurs near the end of the muscle where it attaches to a bone or blends into its tendon. This creates a condition known as acute tendinitis. This condition could also be created if the muscle is strained from trauma such as a fall. Keep reading, this really is about arthritis.
The usual treatment for acute tendinitis is to rest the area, apply ice periodically for the first 24-72 hours and then to use moist heat. Rest prevents further muscle injury, the ice reduces the initial inflammation and swelling and the moist heat circulates blood through the area to speed the healing process. Now, if you added gentle mobilization, muscle therapy, and stretching to this treatment plan the muscle would probably heal totally back to normal.
However, this is not what the average person usually does. They may ice once or twice and rest a bit, but most often just take an over-the-counter pain medication and continue on with their normal activities. If the strain was minor, their body may be able to heal the muscle fibers normally. Unfortunately, this is not the usual result because the injured muscle is being used instead of rested. Because of the stress on the muscle, their body heals the injured muscle fibers by binding them together with fibrotic adhesions or scar tissue. This is done in an attempt to prevent further damage to the injured area. It is a normal protective response of their body.
Formation of scar tissue in an injured muscle causes it to become shorter and tighter than normal. This places more tension and stress on the muscle making it easier to strain during future physical activities. If the muscle is over-stressed or re-injured further, eventually enough scar tissue will form to shorten the muscle to the degree that it can pull the bone it is attached to out of normal alignment. The result is a joint misalignment which causes a chronic condition to develop. If a tendon receives most of the stress from the joint misalignment then chronic tendinitis develops. If the bursae around the joint receives excess pressure and stress because of the misalignment then a chronic bursitis develops. If a nerve is stretched or has excess pressure on it from abnormal swelling caused by the joint misalignment then a chronic neuritis condition will develop. This happens most often when the spinal vertebrae are pulled out of their normal alignment (subluxated). Now, last but not least, if the cartilage of a joint is receiving abnormally high pressure on it because of the joint misalignment then a chronic arthritis condition will develop.
A lot of people seem to believe that arthritis is something that just naturally happens to people when they get "old." The truth is, arthritis is totally preventable and usually curable. Let me tell you a story to illustrate.
OUR UNIQUE APPROACH TO TREATMENT:
If you have arthritis, Dr. Tucker teaches you PROGRESSIVE BODY MOVEMENTS. You learn gentle repetitive movements that you do at home. You'll not only learn how to eliminate the cause of this condition but also how to speed your recovery and how to prevent its return. These movements can eliminate years of pain and suffering and save you a lot of time and money.
The misaligned joint directly causing the arthritis must be aligned properly and any other joint imbalances which could cause the problem to return must also be aligned. Then we must determine what caused the muscle damage leading to the joint imbalance. If it is an activity that you are doing using incorrect body movements or poor posture, then you must be educated in how to do it in such a way that you won't over-stress your muscles.
SYMPTOMATIC RELIEF
The symptoms of arthritis can be treated in various ways. Some relieve the pressure on a joint temporarily while others help reduce the inflammation caused by the joint imbalance. In my experience, none of these treatments remove the primary cause as PROGRESSIVE BODY MOVEMENTS do, but they are helpful to varying degrees.
Nutrition doesn't remove the cause of arthritis, but can be very helpful at treating the inflammation and pain. It is one important part of treating rheumatoid arthritis, but this form of arthritis has a different cause than osteoarthritis. However, since they are both inflammatory conditions their symptoms can be reduced with proper nutrition.
A great deal has been written about treating arthritis with nutrition so I'm not going to go into a lot of detail here. The best foundation is to increase your intake of fruits and vegetables and decrease your intake of fats, grain products and meats. Since most fruits and vegetables leave an alkaline ash after being digested they have an anti-inflammatory effect. I recommend you follow the REDUCE INFLAMMATION DIET (RID). They also help reduce excess body fat so you should also become leaner and therefore place less stress on any arthritic weight-bearing joints. There are also many other health benefits from eating more fruits and vegetables, so explore and enjoy the many varieties available.
A number of nutritional supplements have an anti-inflammatory effect. I recommend KAPREX (Metagenics) and ULTRAINFLAMX (Metagenics) as good natural anti-inflammatory supplement. These should be safe for anyone to use.
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