How We Can Help Arthritis Pain

We can help you with arthritis pain at our Chagrin Falls clinic.

Arthritis, simply put, is the degeneration of a joint. It is often accompanied by pain and sometimes swelling. However, just because one is older in years and has pain in a joint or joints does not necessarily qualify one as having arthritis as there are other causes of joint pain as well. The two main types of arthritis are discussed below.

Signs and Symptoms

Osteoarthritis (OA)

OA is thought to be a "wear and tear" disease when it is actually a biochemical breakdown of the joint.
It usually involves the hips, knees, spine, and hands, tends not to migrate, and typically does not affect the joint on both sides of the body.
Early morning stiffness and pain is frequent but gets better as the day goes on.

Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA)

This is mainly a metabolic problem and not so much a structural problem. It tends to be a more complex condition involving several systems in the body.
This inflammatory disease progresses throughout the body and migrates from joint to joint.
It frequently follows a severe infection or another stressful event.
Stiffness follows periods of inactivity that gradually improves with movement.
Inexplicable periods of fatigue or weakness.
There is a strong correlation between RA and sluggish liver and adrenal function.
Poor digestion and absorption of nutrients are showing to be correlated to RA. An overgrowth of unfriendly yeast and bacteria can lead to increased permeability of the stomach lining allowing for larger than normal food particles to be passed through the stomach into the bloodstream. The body's immune system recognizes these larger particles as foreign invaders and attacks them setting off inflammatory responses. This process is called “leaky gut syndrome.”

Conventional Treatments

The conventional treatments used by medical doctors involve using anti-inflammatory and analgesic drugs. NSAIDs and aspirin are most commonly used. While they are effective at reducing pain and inflammation, they also have serious side effects.

Ironically, everyday use of NSAIDs can lead to cartilage degeneration. NSAIDs will hinder construction of the chemical building blocks of cartilage and may also increase their natural rate of decay!

In 1995, approximately 41,000 hospitalizations were due to NSAID use.
Approximately 16,500 deaths occur each year due to daily NSAID use.

Some of the frequent side effects of NSAIDs include:

Stomach pain, heartburn, and nausea .
Leaky gut syndrome.
Fluid retention and weight gain.
Wounds bleed more and heal more slowly.
Ringing in the ears.
Cartilage degeneration.
Cramping and diarrhea.
Drowsiness, dizziness, mental fuzziness.
Adverse reactions with alcohol and Vitamin C.
Sleep disturbances.

In half of all people who regularly use NSAIDs, detectable erosions in the lining of the stomach or upper intestine develop and 15-20% get ulcers. One two-year survey of 1,900 people who routinely used NSAIDs showed that 80% of those who had potentially fatal gastric bleeding noticed no warning symptoms!

Our Holistic Approach

Osteoarthritis

1. Treat muscle imbalances around the joint. Often times, OA is diagnosed because there is pain in a joint. Sometimes, there is no OA in the joint at all but just a painful joint due to improper support around the joint from muscle, ligaments, and tendons. By correcting muscle function, many times the joint will no longer be painful. So the very first thing that should be ruled out is altered joint biomechanics.

2. Increase mobility in the joint. The fluid in the joints contains food for the joint and when there is restricted movement, that food is not mobilized. Thus, keeping degenerative joints mobile through chiropractic manipulation will greatly slow down the degenerative process.

3. Fortify and relieve your joints with effective nutritional supplements. Our whole food supplements for joint repair are very effective in maintaining healthy joints and reducing the degenerative process. They also are clinically proven to reduce pain.

Other Metabolic Imbalances that must be addressed for Osteo and Rheumatoid Arthritis

1. Imbalance of the pH level in the body. Conditions such as arthritis, bursitis, tendonitis, and other "-itises" may be due to an excess of alkalinity in the blood. Diet plays a role in maintaining normal pH, but it is mainly balanced by the endocrine system. Structural imbalances in the upper neck and/or pelvic regions are essential to correct in these conditions. In addition, temporary use of specific supplements can help bring the pH to its proper level.

2. Inability to digest protein/Lack of protein in the diet. By the age of 50 we only produce about 15% of the stomach juices we produced when we were age 25. Additionally, over one-third of people over 65 secrete hardly any stomach juices at all! This greatly diminishes protein absorption. This undigested protein rots in the stomach and intestines causing an excess of “guanidine” in the body. Guanidine is the most alkaline substance in the body and an overload of it causes joint pain. Without adequate protein, the body looks for other places to "steal" it, one being the “synovium.” This is the slippery portion of the joint that allows the bones to slide on one another. If protein is stolen from the synovium, the joint will begin to break down. Thus, a supplement that aids digestion is often given to arthritic patients so the body can absorb and utilize protein properly.

3. Arthritis is a cooked food disease. It is an undisputed fact that indigenous people living directly off the land eat mostly raw food and have no arthritis. By cooking food we destroy the live, active enzymes and vitamins in our food. Our body uses these substances to maintain and repair itself. To get what we need, at least 50% of one’s meal should be raw and contain raw nuts, seeds, vegetables and fruit. (Steaming or lightly cooking vegetables is fine and can aid those with compromised digestion.) RAW, UNPROCESSED bovine bone in supplement form helps build human bone. This type of supplement has all of the live enzymes and amino acids to repair damaged bone and cartilage. Other key nutrients include: organic manganese, calcium, magnesium, boron, chondroitin and glucosamine sulfate and vitamin C complex (not just ascorbic acid). We offer the highest quality extracts of these in our office.

4. Eliminating food allergies. Food allergies often cause arthritic pain to amplify. Some of the big culprits include dairy products, wheat, refined foods, overcooked meats, citrus, caffeine, alcohol, and nightshades (tobacco, white potato, tomato, chili peppers, and eggplant). These foods can inhibit collagen repair and increase inflammation. If you or a loved one is suffering from arthritis, consider our holistic approach to addressing this condition. 440.893.0348

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