Is Arthritis Inevitable?

9 out of 10 people over the age of 60 are living with arthritis!

Yes! that’s a huge 90% of the population who are 60 and above suffering with this degenerative disorder.

With such a high proportion of the population getting and suffering with arthritis, is it just something we should accept is coming to us and learn to live with it?

No! Is the simple answer, there is so much that can be done. However, it is not publicised well and currently all we are given is painkillers and medications. The problem with this is that these methods don’t address the cause of the issue; they simply mask it and do nothing to slow down or stop the progression long term.

So, what is arthritis?

There are many forms of arthritis, I am sure you have heard of rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis and juvenile arthritis to name a few. What is interesting however, is essentially they all have the same aggravating factor, and that is inflammation.

It is the inflammatory response in the joints of arthritis that cause pain and progression, therefore if we can do something about that, then we can have a positive effect.

Firstly though, I can hear some of you saying, well why not take anti-inflammatories? OR why don’t anti-inflammatories work then?

Well it is true that anti-inflammatories work on chemical cascades in the body to reduce inflammation, however they do this in a very unnatural way and come with many side effects. Just look at the packet to see. Common side effects are gut irritations and blood vessel damage.

The good news is that you can do a lot of this naturally and have better results. It all comes down to the food we eat.

Have you heard the saying your food can either be the best form of medicine or the best form of poison?

Well that is true, so here are the things we should have and should avoid, to help our arthritis:

Avoid:

This one is so simple, yet so emotionally and habitually difficult to do. The three things that cause the body to increase inflammation are:

1. Wheat

2. Dairy

3. Sugar

If you are really struggling with your arthritis, it is essential that you have at least a month with NO wheat, dairy or sugar!

Have:

When we look at what we can do from a nutritional point of view, the main things that come up time and time again in the literature is increasing your ‘antioxidants’. These help to reduce ‘free radicals’ in the body that lead to inflammation, arthritis and illness.

Antioxidants are found in colour, any fruits and vegetables with colour are packed with antioxidants.

Therefore, make sure you diet is packed with good colourful, natural and preferably organic foods. However, we must remember that sugar is bad so to just use fruit to get these nutrients is a detriment.

The World Health Organisation recommends 10 portions of fruit and veg a day. My recommendation to you is 8 vegetables and 2 fruit.

Omega 3 fatty acids are also essential to improve the state of inflammation in the joints. These can be found in oily fish and wild game.

Spices, especially turmeric are fantastic for arthritis, bringing these into your cooking or making turmeric tea can be very effective.

So, to summarise the good stuff:

1. Lots of colourful vegetables

2. Omega 3

3. Turmeric

Remember with all these lifestyle choices, it is an accumulative effect over time. A couple of weeks will not make a difference, just like it didn’t take a couple of weeks to develop. Consistent good nutrition over months will make all the difference.

However, there is just one more thing to add…

Say you have a bad right knee; you go to the doctor and explain this. They examine you and say that “it’s arthritis and it is due to your age.” Does this really make sense if the left knee is just fine? Surely the left knee is just as old as the right?

You see, wear and tear on a joint does happen, but not as often or as quickly as we are lead to believe, unless our body is out of balance or alignment. This is where Chiropractic is so powerful at slowing down, preventing or reducing the effects of arthritis.

So in order to really get the best out of your body over time, make the diet and lifestyle changes as well as keeping up your maintenance chiropractic appointments.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this week’s Wednesday Wisdom blog post.

There are only 2 days left of our Rugby World Cup Special Offer so if you or a loved one have been thinking about or could benefit from chiropractic care then for the next 3 days you can get the whole new patient experience for only £40 this is a huge 53% saving on the normal price.

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