Healing Arthritis

by

Mitch Hall

Osteoarthritis

    Arthritis means joint inflammation, and the Arthritis Foundation has identified over 100 different diseases that cause joint pain and inflammation.1 In common parlance, arthritis usually refers to osteoarthritis, a degenerative joint disease in which there is a “progressive wearing away of cartilage and other structures that cushion bones where they meet.”2 The afflicted joints are cold, stiff, painful, swollen, and sites of excessive mineral deposits that cause the buildup of bone spurs, called osteophytes. Range of motion becomes increasingly limited with the progression of the disorder. Depending on the extent of the condition, pain can range from mild aches to extended, severe, shooting pain. Weight-bearing joints of the hips, knees, spine, hands, and feet are the most commonly afflicted sites.

    The incidence of arthritis increases with age. According to some estimates, 16 million Americans suffer from osteoarthritis.3 Surveys have found that 80 percent of people over 50 have osteoarthritis.4 In general, women are more likely to be afflicted with osteoarthritis than men, while men who are 20 or more pounds overweight have a 100 percent increased risk of osteoarthritis in the hip and knee joints.5 When age is factored into the gender distribution of osteoarthritis, we find that the condition is more common in men than in women under the age of 45, but ten times more prevalent in women than in men over the age of 45.6 Worldwide it has been estimated that 4 to 7 percent of the population are afflicted with osteoarthritis.7

    As indicated above, several causes of osteoarthritis have been identified. These include decades of “over-use, mis-use and even dis-use.”8 In such instances, damaged cartilage releases collagen-destroying enzymes.9 Other causes include congenital abnormalities of joints, local trauma to joints, obesity, abnormal cartilage, previous inflammatory diseases, excessive mobility, age-related decline in collagen-repair processes, hormonal imbalances, genetic predisposition, biochemical imbalances, environmental toxins, stress, chronic muscle tension, restricted circulation of body fluids, and faulty nutrition. Whereas doctors have at times prescribed non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs to relieve patients from the pain of osteoarthritis, these medications inhibit cartilage repair and thereby exacerbate osteoarthritic joint destruction.10 Emotions may also play a role in the etiology of osteoarthritis. “Emotions have an immediate, tangible, measurable and provable effect on your body: they can contract your muscles, slow or speed up your circulation, alter your digestive processes, and suppress your breathing, as well as all other functions of your autonomic nervous system. Tightened muscles and slowed circulation of body fluids will only make your condition worse.”11

    Regarding therapeutic interventions that help slow down, reduce the severity of, stabilize,  reverse, and cure osteoarthritis, this paper will refer primarily to natural therapies, after reviewing the approaches offered by allopathic medicine. Unfortunately, “conventional medicine has not been able to address arthritis successfully.”12 Even the prestigious Mayo clinic acknowledges that, “there’s no known cure for osteoarthritis, but treatments can help to reduce pain and maintain joint movement so you can go about your daily tasks.”13 The treatments that the Mayo Clinic recommends are admittedly palliative, rather than curative, and they summarize the contributions of allopathic medicine to the treatment of osteoarthritis. The clinic mentions the following medications: acetaminophen, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, tramadol, codeine, propoxyphene, and local cortisone injections. However, each of these medications entails serious, specified risks of side effects such as liver and kidney damage, tinnitus, cardiovascular problems, nausea, constipation, sleepiness, and even joint damage. Surgical interventions include joint replacement with prostheses, realigning bones, and fusing bones. Finally, the Mayo Clinic also recommends some less invasive modalities: physical therapy, avoiding stressing joints, using braces or shoe inserts, and taking a class about coping with chronic pain. Having given this overview of how allopathic doctors deal with osteoarthritis, let us now consider natural therapies, which are free from the risks of harmful side effects and may actually contribute to cures.

    According to the integrative physician, Thomas S. Cowan, castor oil packs can effectively reduce the pain and swelling of osteoarthritis. “Castor oil supplies stimulating warmth to the cold, over-mineralized joints of the osteoarthritis sufferer...”14 Dr. Cowan also advises that, “patients with osteoarthritis are crying out for more warmth, more flexibility. For this reason, anything that warms up the osteoarthritis patient is beneficial. This includes virtually any movement, particularly movement accompanied by enthusiasm. In other words, find a kind of movement you enjoy.”15 He also recommends rubbing warming arnica massage oil onto the affected joints prior to exercising, beginning by loosening up and stretching, staying warm after exercising, and then reapplying arnica oil. Mentally, Dr. Cowan recommends breathing while visualizing that the joints have, as it were, lungs in their internal spaces, and that these lungs expand and contract with each breath. He also encourages the avoidance of negativity and criticism, accompanied by finding and engaging in those activities for which we are passionate and enthusiastic.

    Some doctors have claimed, although not proven, that some individuals susceptible to osteoarthritis would do better not to consume plants of the nightshade family because they contain solanum alkaloids that inhibit collagen repair of the joints and increase inflammatory degeneration. The nightshades include tomatoes, potatoes, eggplants, peppers, and tobacco.16

    Some doctors have reported success in treating osteoarthritis with nutritional supplements, including niacinamide, methionine, glycosaminoglycans, superoxide dismutase, vitamins A, B6, C, and E, pantothenic acid, zinc, and copper.17 Some foods and herbs have been demonstrated to be effective as well. These include yucca, devil’s claw, cherries, hawthorn berries, and blueberries, each of which contains compounds that enhance collagen metabolism.18 Clearly a well-balanced diet that supplies all essential nutrients is necessary, although not sufficient, for preventing and healing from osteoarthritis. For an example of one dietary approach, Dr. Cowan recommends avoiding processed vegetable oils, hydrogenated fats, processed foods, whit sugar, fruit juices. He encourages emphasis on consuming raw butter, liver and other organ meats, organic eggs, and bone broths. As supplements, he encourages eating evening primrose, black currant, or borage oils.19

    Hydrotherapy has also been helpful for healing osteoarthritis. “Moving in water--especially warm water-without having to fight the pull of gravity dramatically reduces stress on your joints.”20 Alternating immersion in hot and cold water may also be used to stimulate circulation in the joints and to reduce osteoarthritic inflammation.

    Rather than concentrating on treating only the arthritically affected joint, one needs to increase mobility and flexibility as much as possible since the body is a whole, and immobility or inflexibility in any part will affect other areas as well.

    For many reasons, raja yoga is ideally suited to treating osteoarthritis. Through mindfulness, raja yoga helps a practitioner become more aware of breathing and body usage patterns, and this awareness can lead to improved functioning. The meditation, pranayama, and asanas of raja yoga integrally reduce the effects of stress and induce deeper levels of relaxation. The more relaxed we are, the better our bodies heal. The movements and stretches involved in the asanas enhance flexibility, mobility, and range of motion, not just of one area of the body, but of the entire body. Over centuries of exploration, raja yoga has developed a comprehensive approach to freeing the entire body so that the natural movement of all the joints of the body can be optimized. This improves the circulation of blood, oxygenation of tissues and cells, lymphatic circulation, and enhanced metabolism and healing.

    Raja yoga has a vast repertoire of asanas and levels of application, adaptable to each person’s condition. For example, B.K.S. Iyengar has recommended differential sets of asanas for arthritis of the lower back, dorsal region, and shoulder joint.21 For osteoarthritis of the shoulder joint, I envision that the following sequences could be helpful because they would gently introduce movement, warmth, and improved blood circulation and oxygenation of the shoulder joints. One would progressively work to the edge of one’s comfort zone and extend that over time as the affected joints became less inflamed.

    In a comfortable seated position with the spine erect and relaxed, one can begin with repeatedly moving the head forward and down on the exhalation and upward and back on the inhalation. Next one can turn the head to look over the right shoulder on the out-breath, breathing in as the face returns to center, and breathing out again as one turns to look over the left shoulder, repeating the sequence a sufficient number of times. The head can also be tilted laterally toward each shoulder while exhaling and up to center while inhaling. These movements can be followed by slow, gentle neck circles in each direction, coordinated with breathing out as the head comes down and to the center, and breathing in as the head comes to the shoulders and back. This can be followed by gentle, mindful shoulder circles in both directions.

    From tadasana (mountain pose), the practitioner can do varied thoracic breathing exercises, such as those in which the arms are raised on the in-breath out to the sides and up over the head, and then lowered on the out-breath back down to the sides of the body. Another variation begins with the hands pressed together in the gesture of namaskar in front of the center of the chest. On the inhalation, the arms are extended first straight forward in front of the chest and parallel to the floor, and then drawn straight back for the full range of motion until the shoulder blades are drawn close together. On the exhalation, the arms are drawn forward twice as slowly to the original position. Each of these thoracic breathing exercises is repeated enough times to bring warmth and circulation to the shoulder joints without causing any sharp pain.

    As mobility is restored, more demanding asanas can be introduced, beginning with those that involve extending the arms in different directions and that loosen the thoracic musculature and mobilize the spine. Eventually, as healing progresses significantly, strengthening asanas that involve weight-bearing on the shoulder joint, such as downward facing dog, and asanas that place more demands on the range of shoulder motion, such garudasana and placing palms in namaskar behind the back, can also be introduced. Iyengar lists over 50 asanas for healing osteoarthritis of the shoulder.

    A person suffering from osteoarthritis would do well to consult with a qualified yoga teacher or yoga therapist to receive guidance about how to apply raja yoga to his or her unique condition. It is to be hoped that through raja yoga, a practitioner originally motivated to get relief from the pain and restrictions of osteoarthritis may discover more joy, hope, and enthusiasm for living along a spiritual path that leads to greater self-realization and motivation to engage in compassionate service of others. This would mean that in addition to freeing the joints from abnormal restrictions, the person would be enthusiastically engaged in a life-enhancing process of freeing and integrating body, mind, and spirit.



References



1.James A. Duke, Ph.D., The Green Pharmacy. (New York: Rodale Press, 1997).

2.Thomas S. Cowan, M.D., The Fourfold Path to Healing: Working with the Laws of Nutrition, Therapeutics, Movement and Meditation in the Art of Medicine. (Washington, DC: New Trends Publishing, Inc., 2007), p. 312.

3.Duke.

4.Michael Murray, N.D. and Joseph Pizzorno, N.D., The Encyclopedia of Natural Medicine. (Rocklin, CA: Prima Publishing, 1991).

5.Linda Page, N.D., Ph.D., Healthy Healing: A Guide to Self-Healing for Everyone, 11th edition. (Traditional Healing, Inc. 2000).

6.Murray and Pizzorno.

7.Murray and Pizzorno.

8.H.C.A. Vogel, N.D., The Nature Doctor: A Manual of Traditional and Complementary Medicine. (New Canaan, CT: Keats Publishing, Inc., 1991).

9.Cowan, p. 320.

10.Murray and Pizzorno.

11. Meir Schneider and Maureen Larkin with Dror Schneider, The Handbook of Self-Healing. (New York: Arkana, Penguin Books, 1994).

12. Page, p. A316.

13. Retrieved October 18, 2009 from http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/osteoarthritis/DS00019/DSECTION=treatments-and-drugs

14. Cowan, p. 315.

15. Cowan, p. 319.

16. Murray and Pizzorno.

17. Murray and Pizzorno.

18. Murray and Pizzorno.

19. Cowan, p. 323.

20. Schneider and Larkin, p. 289.

21. B.K.S. Iyengar, Light on Yoga, Revised Edition. (New York: Schocken Books, 1966, 1977, 1979).