Category Archives: upper limb

Arthritis and Diet

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There are many in the alternate medicine community who advocate diet therapy for the treatment of arthritis, two of the best known ones are the alkaline diet and the nightshade -free diet. Orthodox medicine for the most part considers these therapies at best ineffective and at worst quackery. Fortunately you can safely try these therapies for yourself and see if they work as well for you as others have claimed they have for themselves.

The alkaline and nightshade-free diets may or may not work for you but pharmacuetical medications may not either and best of all you can do both if you like.

The alkaline diet as it’s name suggests, is aimed at lowering the body’s acidity, the rationale is that the body becomes more acidic when there is inflammation in it.

The nightshade -free diet is about eliminating foods in the solanaceae (nightshade) family because people with sensitivities or allergies to them are, it is claimed, more likely to get an inflammatory response when they eat them. Nightshade crops include capsicum, egg plant, potatoes, peppers, tomatoes and tamarilloes.

It is important that with either diet you are not lacking essential vitamins and minerals, for instance if you love tomatoes and normally you get most of your vitamin C from them and then eliminate tomatoes  from your diet,  you must get your vitamin C from elsewhere. This does not mean that you have to stock up on expensive suppliments,  just choose a healthy balance from the foods that you can have.

If you are going to find out if a dietary approach to your arthritis is going to work or not, being consistent is important and so is trying it long enough to show some results. If it makes you feel worse stop it.

If you are on pharmaceutical medication don’t mix it with herbal medication without consulting a pharmacist as they can react with one another, elimination diets and medicines should not be confused with one another.

There is nothing wrong with doing your own research by reading and listening to different ideas and opinions, the quality of online information is improving all the time because the demand for self-help knowledge is there. The popularity of cooking shows and the plethora of cook books now available shows that people want to eat real wholesome food- not many diets, recommend processed foods including those listed above.

Unfortunately arthritic conditions can recur, the older you get the more things break down and your body become less tolerant to mistreatment. Whether it is rheumatiod or psoriatic arthritis, PMR, fibromyalgia or some other auto immune condition causing your inflammation learn all you can about it once you get it properly diagnosed.

You wouldn’t put kerosene into your car so please show your stomach some respect and eat well.

Arthritis II

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Osteo Arthritis (OA) was the main subject of September’s post about arthritis, today other causes of arthritic pain will be looked at. Auto immune diseases such as Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA), Systemic Lupine Erythromatosis (SLE or Lupus), Polymyalgia Rheumatica (PMR) and Fibromyalgia (Fm) are some of the more commonly known of which.

Auto immune disease sees the body’s own defenses attack the body’s own healthy tissue, there are slightly more than eighty of them, nobody knows why they occur or how to cure or prevent them. The whole focus of treatment for auto immune disease is to manage the symptoms, in Western Medicine (WM) this is  done with anti-inflammatory drugs such as cortico steroids whilst in alternate medicine the use of diet and soft tissue therapies are more common place though anti-inflammatory herbs and mineral suppliments are also employed.

Auto immune diseases tend to be episodic in nature and they can start with quite vague symptoms such as a persistent low grade fever, fatigue, irritability, joint and muscle pain, weakness and lowered resistance to infections and allergies. The next stage  of symptoms onset of auto immune diseases can be intense and have you fearing the worst. PMR for instance can make your shoulders very stiff and sore very quickly, it affects people (mainly women) in the 50+ age group.

Auto immune diseases that produce arthritic symptoms can affect other tissues also, Lupus can inflame your skin and produce digestive problems, RA can weaken your heart and Fm (fibromyalgia) often will manifest with chronic fatigue symptoms alongside the stiff muscle and joint sensations. Self diagnosis is futile, if you get your problems properly diagnosed to begin with you can get help much faster.

Even if you get  very satisfactory relief from the medications you take there are other forms of treatment that can improve the management of your auto immune arthritis. Your ability and desire to exercise can be really tested with getting diseases like PMR and fibromyalgia, for months you may only be able to do gentle “nana exercises”, for a previously fit and strong person this can be truly demoralising, keeping your morale up can become a big issue in itself.

If you are a person who is quite happy to avoid exercise arthritis might be a tempting excuse to avoid it altogether but it is important to stay as physically active as your symptoms will allow you too because of all the benefits exercise gives you. Your circulation, posture, lung capacity and even your digestion benefit along with your muscles and joints when you exercise.

Getting expert advice on how you should exercise when you have strong arthritic symptoms is important, there will be activities that normally are no problem for you that become impossible and even embarrassing when your arthritis is acute, like a chameleon we must mentally adapt when things like this happen. Massage, chiropractic and osteopathy can all help you exercise more efficiently.

I have met several people over the years who have found low acid diets to be effective in combatting the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis, if you want to go down this path figure out a plan with a nutritionist so you don’t miss out on any important nutrients when you adjust your diet.

Iron Overload

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About 1 in every 300-400 people of white Northern European ancestry (one in 600-800 in coloured populations)  suffer from a hereditory disease that can dangerously store up too much iron in your body, it is called haemachromatosis (pronounced: he-ma-crow-ma-toe-sis) or Iron Overload (I.O.). It is kind of like the opposite of anaemia where you have too little iron in your body though strangely enough they do share some similar symptoms such as lethargy and weakness.

Even though only about 1 in 300 people get it I.O., one in 7 carry the gene  making it one of the most common hereditory diseases. When you have I.O. too much iron is absorbed from your diet and gets stored mainly in your liver and your joints,  unfortunately your body can’t squirt it out when it gets too much and left untreated it can make you sick and shorten your life.

This is a great shame because when it is detected early it is easy to fix, you don’t even need drugs or surgery. One of the big problems is getting I.O. diagnosed in the first place, it effects men earlier than women (30 to 60 years) and it shares many symptoms with other diseases, apart from lethargy these may include abdominal pain, arthritis (especially in the first two fingers), hair loss, forgetfulness, jaundice, mood swings and extreme irritability.

I.O. left untreated can give you liver cirrosis, impotence, diabetes and heart disease, it can be misdiagnosed as chronic fatigue syndrome or fibromyalgia even though it is really simple to confirm with a blood test.

Your liver can be a very robust organ but when it’s had enough you can find out very suddenly and dramatically, when you have I.O. this might come about after a big boozy night that can give you the mother of all hang overs.( Alcohol does not mix well with I.O.) It may be several days after you have had that big night out and you still feel shattered then your doctor might give you that blood test that finally picks up your I.O.

Blood letting has gone out of fashion since the middle ages to treat most things but not I.O., infact it is the only way of treating it directly. This can happen in the form of a phlebotomy or venesection which are identical procedures to donating blood. When 500 mls (one pint) of blood is taken  with a regularity in proportion to the iron levels in your body over time, those nasty things that can happen to your liver, pancreas, heart and sex life can be completely avoided.

As always there are things you can do to help yourself manage I.O., avoiding alcohol,  going easy on  red meat consumption, raw seafood such as oysters are particularly hazardous, dark chocolate may not agree with you and taking iron or vitamin C supplements are out too. Vitamin C from fresh fruit is ok though.

Pretty unusual sounding disease isn’t it? I.O. can even set off metal detectors!, it is good for one thing though, it will make you a regular blood donor, it will make you a giving person even if you don’t want to be.

Ganglions and Bakers’ cysts

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The word ganglion basically means a collection of bundled tissue and it occurs in nerve tissue and the tissues surrounding your joints such as tendon and synovium (the smooth  lining of your joints). In  neurology a ganglion can be a naturally occuring essential structure in nerve tissue that acts like a nerve junction or it is an unexplained thickening of nerve tissue that may or may not result from trauma and serves no useful purpose.

The other type of ganglion (simple) is a benign tumour that occurs in tendons and synovium. Not all reference sources define ganglion the same way, for instance some authorities claim that  simple ganglion are idiopathic (has no known cause) where others state that participating in high impact activities  make one much more susceptible to simple ganglion.

Most simple ganglion occur as bumpy nodules in the back of our wrists (about 80%) and you can get them on the top of your feet too (Mortenson’s neuroma). Playing handball, boxing, martial arts and heavy manual work can help form wrist ganglion and running, jumping and other forms of high impact exercise can help create foot ganglion.

Your genes probably play a part in the likelihood of getting ganglion and if you don’t want to wait for them to disappear of their own accord you can have them drained through a syringe (aspiration) or surgically excised. Aspiration is usually only a temporary solution as surgery can be if ALL of the cyst is not removed.

Simple ganglion are fairly common and usually do not produce distressing symptoms, if there is discomfort from them it is usually mild. Some people are put off by their appearance, wrist ganglion can reach the diameter of a 10 cent piece and were once known as “bible cysts” because an early remedy was to physically strike the back of the wrist with a thick book like a bible.

Sometimes this worked but other times they came back and needless to say the odd wrist probably got broken in the process too. Simple ganglion usually form between 20 and 40 years of age, they are semi- firm to the touch and can go away by themselves without explanation.

Occassionally Bakers’ cysts are referred to as ganglion too, Bakers’ cysts (BC) are found behind or beside the knee. Knee trauma is a possible precursor for BC and infection can do it too though usually it happens without apparent warning. In BC fluid builds up in the knee usually pouching out at the back, it is much more obvious when your leg is straightened or fully bent and is sometimes uncomfortable.

Like simple ganglion they often go away by themselves and usually do not cause people problems unless they track down to your calf muscle. Any process that can produce swelling in your knee can potentially cause a Bakers’ cyst. Simple ganglion and Bakers’ cysts can be an auto-immune response too. Sometimes ganglion can be mistaken for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) nodules but is thankfully not debiliating like RA is.

The old saying that “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” certainly can apply here, while some medical authorities state that there is nothing that can be done to prevent them others say that strong and flexible leg muscles can prevent Bakers’ cysts and treating your hands gently will help prevent wrist ganglion forming. There is a theory in Chinese medicine that people who hang onto their anger form more tumours and cysts than people who manage their anger well.

Circulation and your spine

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Your spine is composed of 24 bones (vertebrae) with cartilegenous discs acting as cushions between them, ligaments hold the vertebrae together and muscles (multifidis) running the spine’s entire length gives the spine movement and strength. Your spine  holds you up and provides protection for your precious spinal cord that is encased within.

So how is the circulation of blood and fluids in the spine different to circulation elsewhere in your body and why is it so important to help maintain it?

Firstly your spinal discs are not naturally graced with a very efficient system of circulation, it is non-directional which means that body fluids can get into and out of the disc but it is actually your posture and the way that you physically move your back that pumps the blood around within your discs to keep them healthy.

When we age and lose body height it is mainly due to our discs shrivelling which effectively shortens the spine, the atrophied (worn) discs lose their shock absorbing qualities and the spine stiffens, these factors go a long way to explaining why elderly people stand and move the way they do.

Disc injury is a very common cause of back pain too, the walls of the disc are fibrous but the centre is spongy. When the disc becomes damaged because of disease or trauma it may bulge out one side or even completely rupture which can be extremely debilitating and painful. Needless to say being over weight does not help you one little bit when this happens and apart from localised pain the bulging disc can press against your sciatic nerve and cause pain and weakness from your hip to your toe.

If you are lucky your prolapsed disc can  go completely unnoticed, in a study on disc prolapse several years ago 70% of the people in the sample group reported no back pain at all even though scans showed a clear bulging in atleast one of their discs, most likely because the bulge was not up against a nerve. If you are unlucky even a small disc bulge can cause you alot of grief.

The types of  movement that takes place in a spine when a person does yoga or Tai Qi or Qi Gong do a fine job at moving the fluid safely around inside of our discs. As you can no doubt imagine a disc that may already be weakened might not react as well to sudden violent twisting movement particularly if you are lifting something in an awkward posture.

Disc prolapse can cause other problems too such as creating pressure on the membrane that encases the spinal cord through which cerebro spinal fluid (CSF) moves. CSF is produced in the brain, your brain literally floats in it and it  extends all the way down your spinal cord, it’s composition is plasma like, pink and sweet to taste. It protects and helps nourish your brain and spinal cord. CSF circulation is helped along by good posture as is the fluid inside your discs.

If you drink plenty of water, adopt good posture always, do the right exercise, educate yourself about how your body works and get treatment when you need it you will help your spine last as long as you do.