Stem Cells and 10 Illnesses #8

One of the diseases that I think there is real potential for is arthritis, specifically osteoarthritis which is the most common form of arthritis. You may also have heard it called degenerative joint disease. This is a disease that is the result of the wearing away of the protective cartilage in joints. Once gone, it is gone.

Researchers are looking at ways to use stem cells to replace the lost cartilage and repair these degenerated joints.

Omega 3 Protects Us Part 5

The last disease I will talk about is one that millions of us have or suffer from, and that is arthritis. For those of you suffering from rheumatoid arthritis, there are some studies that show less morning stiffness, pain and swelling.

Because the omega 3s work as an anti-inflammatory, it is easy to understand why they would be helpful in arthritis. Any disease whose basis is inflammation will be subject to at least some improvement with the use of omega 3s as a supplement or in foods that you eat.

Easing Arthritis Part 6

Lastly in this series on easing arthritis is to supplement if necessary. There are some supplements that arthritis sufferers find really helpful. Of course these are things that decrease inflammation. So first on your list should be a good omega 3 supplement. While this has many beneficial effects, the most powerful is the anti-inflammatory effect.

Some other foods that will be helpful are ginger. This is a food which has been used in India for centuries to alleviate arthritis pain.

Most people have heard of glucosamine and chondroitin. the active ingredient is glucosamine and has shown to be the most effective. However, I have some patient's who swear that if they do not take it with chondroitin it does not work as well. I won't argue with what works!

Easing Arthritis Part 5

I eluded to this a couple of days ago, but did not go into very much when I was talking about breathing. Exercise is essential if you have arthritis. Many people think that exercise will actually make the problem worse. This is just not true.

In fact simple exercise is essential for proper functioning of an arthritic joint. Start with stretches to the joints affected and work up slow and easy.

Some of the more helpful exercises for arthritic joints are swimming and walking. Again start out slow and only walk for 5 minutes. Increase your time each day by a minute or two. This slow process will find you moving with less pain and better function of the joints. Many people get a lot of relief from water aerobics.

Another great exercise for arthritis is bicycling. Just don't overdo and start slow and easy.

Easing Arthritis Part 4

Today I said I would talk a little about what foods to focus on if you have arthritis and especially if you are having pain. The number one food to focus on is those containing omega 3 fatty acids. These are foods like deep sea fish, brightly colored fruits and vegetables, olive oil, dark green leafy vegetables and flaxseed.

Read the labels on foods that you are buying that are already prepared. Do they contain any of the culprits I mentioned yesterday.

Our ancient ancestors had virtually no arthritis, but there diet was equally split between omega 3 and omega 6. Today we are way over the scale on the omega 6s and way under on the omega 3s.

Easing Arthritis Part 3

The step in easing your arthritis pain is to watch your diet. Yes you may be feeding your pain! I've talked about many of these foods before in great detail, but it bears mentioning some of the culprits again.

Some of the foods that promote inflammation are red meat and high fructose corn syrup. Both these contain lots of omega 6 which is not the omega that you want. These fatty acids actually promote inflammation.

One of the biggest promoters of inflammation is sugar, especially processed sugar which is in almost every processed food in the grocery store. In these very same processed foods there is often saturated fats which also promote inflammation. A side not here is the fact that these foods are contributing to the obesity in this country and if you have arthritis and you are overweight, just think for a moment about the stress you are putting on your joints, especially knees, hips and the spine. Is it any wonder that we are seeing such an increase in the number of hip and knee replacements. How many people do you know that complain of back pain? Are they overweight?

Tomorrow - some foods to focus on.

Easing Arthritis Part 2

Let's start with the basics, like breathing. Yes, breathing can really help ease the pain of arthritis. Slow, controlled breathing really relieves the pain of arthritis because your focus shifts to breathing and not on the area of pain. If you combine this with any form of easy stretching like yoga or tai chi, the relief can be phenomenal.

I have some patients who take pilates and one of the things that is taught with those classes is breathing. If you have a lot of arthritis you may not want to do pilates, but you can certainly learn and use the breathing that is taught.

Easing Arthritis

Having arthritis in my hands, I know how painful that can be at times, especially if I have been doing something that aggravates it like playing hand bells. Over the next couple of days I'm going to mention a few things to help lessen the aches and pains of arthritis.

First just a few words about arthritis. Arthritis is inflammation in and around joints. The irony here is that inflammation is a protective mechanism that our body uses to increase blood supply into an injured area. But when the inflammatory process continues for longer that we need it, we end up with more pain and loss of cartilage in the joints. Other things that lead to inflammation are poor diet and lack of exercise.

The first thing that you want to do to ease the aches and pain of arthritis is to start with noninvasive treatments that are good for the body. More on this starting tomorrow.

Other Treatments for Inflammation

Some alternatives that you can use for arthritis pain are acupuncture and massage. Massage works particularly well for arthritis of the hip and spine while acupuncture is showing lots of positive results for arthritis of the knee.

There are lots of new technologies that are being researched regarding the injection of gels into the joint space. While these may help, I would highly recommend that you go the less invasive route and see what you can do to change your immediate situation.

Joint Pain - Osteoarthritis

As we begin to age, many of us begin to experience joint pain. This is usually a result of osteoarthritis, often referred to as degenerative joint disease. The wear and tear on our joints does take a toll as we age. The joints most likely to be affected are the weight bearing joints like the hips and the knees.

The very best thing you can do for your joints is to lose weight. Because the joints most affected are those weight bearing joints, if you are carrying around an extra 10, 20 or 50 pounds, the effect on the joints is going to be dramatic. So as you begin to lose weight, the other thing that will help the joints is the healthy diet, high in antioxidants. The other part of that equation is exercise. Begin slow and easy and build it up. The more you can strengthen the muscles that support those joints, the better the joint will function. If you want to know how to get started with your exercise, go get my free eBook on making exercise simple.

Pomegranate Juice and Inflammation

I found this next little bit of information about pomegranate juice particularly interesting since I believe our problem is inflammation not high cholesterol and makes sense to me why it would help prevent heart disease. Studies have shown that pomegranate juice decreases inflammation and decreases the activity of enzymes which break down cartilage. More extensive research is needed to show its benefit in arthritis, but it certainly looks like it may help.

The fact that it is a strong antioxidant helps in the decrease in inflammation. Not everything works for everyone, but this is worth a try and it won't hurt you.

Exercise and Arthritis

If you are having arthritis pain, that is not the time to stop exercise. You should continue to do simple exercises to keep joints working correctly. If you stop exercising, the joints will become stiffer and you will have more difficulty moving.

Some simple things that you can start with are just some simple stretching exercising. This will help keep the joint functional. If you have pain in knees or hips, begin walking each day. Start out slow and work your way up to 20-30 minutes per day. This will prevent further deterioration of the joint. Swimming or water exercises are also great to keep joints active.

The worst thing you can do is to stop moving or be sedentary, moving as little as possible. If you want more information of some simple exercises to help keep your joints functioning, just hit the email button below this post and I will respond to you.

Ginger and Inflammation

Ginger has been around for a long time and has been used for multiple medical problems. Most people are familiar with using ginger to alleviate nausea and gastrointestinal upsets. It definitely helps with gas, diarrhea and stomach cramping.

What you may not know is that ginger has also been used to decrease inflammation especially in arthritis. Fresh ginger is best, but you can use ground ginger. Use some caution in not taking too much ginger. A little goes a long way.

Reducing Inflammation

I've had a lot of questions about arthritis and treatment options. I want to take a few minutes to address this as it seems to be a big issue for many people.

First and foremost if you are having arthritic pain, look at your diet. Certain foods will tend to increase inflammation and hence you experience more pain. Foods that are high in Omega-6 fatty acids tend to promote inflammation. These are foods that have high-fructose corn syrup, red meats, and foods with processed sugars and saturated fats. You may want to go back and review the entries on fats. If you click on fats you will go to the first posting on this topic.

If you think about the foods high in Omega-6 fatty acids, these are the same foods which contribute greatly to being overweight or obese. Extra weight adds stress to joints and further exacerbates inflammation. More tomorrow

More on Corn

Yesterday should have put a little fear into you or at least made you think about eating corn and corn based products. How many of you cook with corn oil? Think about it.

There are some other diseases which are increased when a person is eating a mostly corn based diet. Some of these are osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, tooth decay, and anemia. If you look at the health of Native Americans prior to the arrival of Europeans in this country, they had far less disease when their food supply was gathering what was growing naturally on the land and hunting for food in the form of meat from animals. They developed much more disease once they changed their diet to a corn base diet.

Yesterday I mentioned that the high fructose corn syrup caused a high sugar spike. If that sugar is not used by the muscle fairly quickly through some form of exercise, then it is stored as fat.

Miracle Mineral Solution

Yesterday I mentioned Miracle Mineral Solution (MMS). This is a very inexpensive product that has many uses. As I said yesterday, I use it for arthritis pain. I ring hand bells - in case you don't know what these are, there is a picture to the left.

Miracle Mineral Solution has been an incredible discovery for me personally. Prior to finding this, I used to have to wear braces on my wrists and by the end of concert season in December and May, I could hardly pick up a bell at all. Not true any more!! In fact I don't always wear my braces now and last summer I had the opportunity to play at the International Hand Bell Festival in Orlando. We rang some days for 7-8 hours. That is a lot of ringing. I did have the MMS with me there and took it every day. Still no pain and I never had to wear my braces. This is truly an amazing product.

The great news is that it is not just for pain. I will tell you that acute pain - something that is fairly new resolves much more quickly than chronic pain. It took about a month or so to get resolution with my arthritis pain. If you have questions about MMS, please email me. I will be happy to help you and give you more information.