Traditional Chinese Medicine for Osteoarthritis ?

In coping with osteoarthritis, most arthritis sufferers
would go for the conventional Western method of
treatment, which mainly involves painkillers and
anti-inflammatory pills, plus physiotheraphy and
glucosamine sulphate tablets.

However, there are some patients who seek
alternative methods of treatment, particularly
methods which are natural and does not involve
drugs.

One such method is the use of traditional
chinese medicine. or popularly known as TCM.

TCM largely consists of Chinese herbal medicine,
acupuncture, dietary therapy, and massage,
though the term is often extended to a wide
assortment of largely unregulated over-the-counter
supplements and remedies

The underlying principle in TCM is that illness
occurs due to the imbalance between the organ
systems in the human body.

As all the organs are inter-related to each other,
when one organ weakens ..... it then weakens
the other organs as well, thus causing a chain
reaction which results in the illness.

In short, the Ying and Yang elements in the
body is not balanced and synchronised.
Thus,  the aim of TCM is to nurture and
restore the affected organs back to a
healthy and balanced state.

To buy traditional chinese medicine,
one can do an online search or visit
the practitioners of TCM.

In countries like China, Taiwan, Hong Kong,
Singapore and Malaysia, it is common to
locate a shop selling traditonal chinese
medicine.

And in the west, one can easily find such
TCM practitioners if you stroll down the
Chinatowns in cities like New York, Toronto,
Vancouver, San Francisco, Los Angeles,
and so on.

If one is to pay a visit, most likely the
practitioner will tell you that the level of
acidity in your body is high ..... thus
compounding the effects of osteoarthritis.

He will then prepare for you a concoction
of Chinese herbs, which consists of over
10 different types of tree barks, leaves,
roots, flowers, fruits, seeds and shoots.

The herbs are meant to reduce the acid
level ...... and subsequently neutralize it
to achieve a balanced Ying Yang in you.

The concotion of herbs need to be boiled
with water over slow fire for about 30 minutes,
after which the herbal residue is drained off
and the extracted herbal juice is ready for
drinking,

Chinese medicine are usually very bitter
in taste. Thus, if you have a sweet tooth,
it is recommended that you get yourself
ready for a lingering bitter effect.....

As such herbal preparations are not a
one-off miracle cure, you will need to take
it for at least 10 times to be able to gauge
its effectiveness in helping you to treat and
cope with the osteoarthritis.

Relieving osteoarthritis pain ....

In trying to cope with having osteoarthritis,
the first thing that one should do is to try to
relieve the pain.

The common methods to relieve pain are :

---  eat well and eat wisely
---  keep a diary of the pain
---  always get a good sleep
---  do not stay in the same position for too long
---  do exercises to strenghten the muscles
---  always maintain a healthy, balanced weight
---  have regular warm baths and hot soaks
---  using topical analgesic creams in early osteo

The above are what you can do on your own
to overcome the pain and stiffness related to
osteoarthritis.

As for the doctor, the common prescriptions are :

---  over-the-counter pain relievers
---  non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs

What one should realise is that arthritic conditions
will be there for a long time....... usually for life
...... and needs constant monitoring and treatment.

As such, it is imperative that you establish a good
working relationship with your doctor to find a
care that is best suited for you to relieve, contain
and possibly overcome the pain.

Apart from physical pain, the other aspect that
should be considered is the mental pain.

Any osteoarthritis sufferer will have thoughts like :

---  what if the stiffness become worse ?
---  what if I cannot move my fingers in future ?
---  what happens if I can't bend or straighten them ?

All these negative thinking will somehow surface
at one time or another, since fear will arise that
one would not be able to use the hand as normally
and as effectively as before.

For example, some people will fear that they
cannot type properly on the computer keyboard,
........some will fear the inability to hold onto
the car steering wheel ..... some fear that they
cannot have a tight grip on the sports racquet
...... some will fear the pain and stiffness will
affect the way they hold their pen in writing
..... and worst, some unknowledgeable folks
may even fear that they will end up with a
stroke !

Thus, in trying to relieve the pain associated
with osteoarthritis, it is important that one
should not only focus on the physical pain,
but also on the mental pain and agony too.

This will certainly create a better pain-management
and pain-relieving strategy for the longer term .

Physiotheraphy for osteoarthritis

The physiotheraphy treatment basically evolves
around you dipping your hand into a container of
hot wax several times, in and out ..... so as to
create multiple layers of wax covering the hand.
It is just like wearing multiple layers of gloves.

Then the waxed hand is covered by a large
piece of cloth, and wrapped around a few times.
Alternatively, your hand may also be covered
with a large linen glove.

Thereafter, you just sit down for 15 minutes.

The idea is to let the hotness of the wax
stimulate the blood circulation to the joints
of the fingers.

When the time is up, the wax is then removed
and peeled off, and you will be ushered to another
section of the physiotheraphy centre.

This time, the physiotherapist will put some patches
onto the painful finger joints, inserted some wires
into the patches .... and then switched on the
electrical pulse machine.

And for the next 30 minutes, you will feel relieved !!

For the incessant electrical pulses induced
a totally painless sensation ..... each time
the pulse striked the joint, you could feel an instant
jolt ..... and immediate nirwana ..... a blissful
feeling of joy ......

So as the electrical pulses probed  the
joints every 5 seconds intermittently .....
and continued for another half an hour,
one can really feel hooked on this physiotheraphy
treatment !

When the time was up and the wires were
removed, the joyful state of mind persisted.
This may continue for about another 5 hours
...... after which the pain may gradually come
back again......

As different osteoarthritis patients will have
different reactions to this treatment, it is
generally recommended that one undergo
one month of treatment, either daily or
on alternate days.

To complement this, it is also recommended
that one should soak the affected
hands into a tub of warm water twice a day,
and massaging the fingers thereafter, plus
doing the range-of-motion finger exercises
as taught by the physiotherapist..... like
bending, straightening, curling and grasping
the fingers .

Then too, it is important that you continue
supplementing it with the medication as
prescribed by the doctor, as well as taking
tablets containing glucosamine sulphate,
chondroitin sulphate and methylsulfonylmethane
( or popularly known as MSM ) which is sold
at the pharmacy as adjunctive theraphy for
osteoarthritis and joint cartilage health.

What causes osteoarthritis ?

Most osteoarthritis sufferers would experience
symptoms like pain on walking, morning stiffness,
swelling, tenderness of the joints, heaty feeling
around the joints and limited range of motion.

That was why the doctor will ask questions like
.....does it hurt in the morning ?
.....is the pain confined to the finger joints ?
.....is the pain episodic ?
.....does it hurt while sitting, climbing or exercising ?

His objective is to let you realise the symptoms
of arthritis in hands, in particular the exact symptoms
of osteoarthritis.
To understand what causes osteoarthritis,
just imagine the cartilage .... the protective layer
that cushions the end of the joints .

And imagine the cartilage being rubbed and
scraped numerous times per day, being worn out,
until the ends of the bone become exposed .....
resulting in pain and stiffness.

During use, while the cartilage is being worn out,
it is also being replaced simultaneously.

But if the repair of the cartilage cannot keep pace
with the damage, the protective layer becomes
exposed .

And when this occurs, more bones grow out from
the exposed part, producing spurs or osteophytes of
bones , thus restricting the joint movement.

The oetoarthritis will become worse when bits of
cartilage or bone splinter off into the synovial fluid
( joint lubricating fluid ), thus irritating the membrane
that lines the joints .... and causing more pain and
swelling.

Knowing how osteoarthritis came about will
certainly help in coping with this problem.

Osteoarthritis and me ......

My heart dropped when the doctor told me
that there is no cure for osteoarthritis ....

What ?

In this modern world, with so much advanced
scientific technology .... there is still no cure for
osteoarthritis ?

After letting this reality soaked in, I then told
myself that I would have to live with the often
irritating discomfort of finger joints pain forever,
and that the best thing to do is to learn to cope
with being down with osteoarthritis.

The first thing I did was to learn as much as I
could about osteoarthritis, from my google and
yahoo web search.

I also looked for osteoarthritis forums and blogs
about arthritis and its related forms.

I also searched for arthritis books and ebooks
plus natural supplements for osteoarthritis.

Within one week, I learned that arthritis is an
inflammation of one or more joints that often
results in pain and stiffness, with the most common
affected areas being the knee, neck, fingers, hips
and lower back.

There are many forms of arthritis .... with the most
common being osteoarthritis.

It occurs when the protective layer of the bone,
or the cartilage, begins to wear. It can also occurs
from injury to the joint through sports or accident,
and from over-use of the joint.

If extra stress is added to the joint due to being
overweight, osteoarthritis can also happen.
And it can also pass on to you if your family
has a tendency to develop osteosrthritis.

As the wear and tear deteriorates, pain is the
first symptom of  early-stage osteoarthritis .

In some people, the joint may become too
stiff after inactivity .... but the stiffness will
subside about 30 minutes after movement of
the joint.

And as osteoarthritis progresses ..... the joint
will become less movable.

Studies have shown that by age 65, more than
70% of the population in USA has some form
of arthritis, and that women tend to contract
this disease more than men.

Knowing what is osteoarthritis, and how it came
about , it gave me a better perspective on how to
cope and manage it in my daily life .

Osteoarthritis of Hands

When I went to see the orthopaedic doctor at
the famous sports medicine center, or rather
the sports medical centre, I really did not have
the faintest idea of what osteoarthritis is .

All I know is that my 80 year old mum has
problems walking and standing up after
prolonged seating, and everyone says that
she has arthritis .... which is a sign of old age.

So after telling the orthopaedic specialist of
my problems --- particularly the stiffness and
tightness of the finger joints and how it tend
to move from finger to finger ---  he then sent
me to do an x-ray of my hands, plus a blood
and urine test.

But when the test results came back, he said
that I was perfectly fine !!

.... no inflammation of the joints .....
.... no degenerative disease of the joints
.... no finger bone fracture or cracks
.... no nerve disorders of the hands
.... no musculoskeletal problems

" But doctor, if I am fine ... then how come
I am having all these pain at the joints ? "

" Well ... I suspect that you are going
through the early stage of osteoarthritis
.... the symptoms of arthritis in hands
are all there, like pain and mild inflammation"
replied the doctor.

I was told that there is absolutely no need
to abstain from eating certain types of food,
or to stop doing certain activities. In short,
I was told to carry on with my life.

For everyone of us will experience some
form of arthritis as we grow older..... it is
either sooner or later .....

And the bad news is that there is NO CURE
for arthritis !!

So I left the clinic with a one month supply of
anti-inflammation pills, and the referral letter
to see the physiotherapist ......

Early stages of Osteoarthritis

It happened about 6 months back
when I felt some tightness and pain
in the second and third fingers of my left hand.

The pain only aggravates when I grasped my
fingers .... and it revolves around the joints.

And if I don't curl in the fingers, then I would
not feel any pain at all.

Being an exercise fanatic, my initial thought
was that the tightness and pain could be due
to the dumbbell weight-lifting routines that I
was doing .... and perhaps due to the push-ups
exercises since the entire body weight was
focussed on the fingers of my two hands.

.... as the pain was bearable and not a matter
of life and death to me ..... I just let it be ....

Moreover, the discomfort at the joints tend
to move around !!

From the second and third fingers, it soon
expanded to the fourth finger. Yet several days
later, it subsided gradually ..... and suddenly,
the pain progressed onto my right hand.

For the next 3 months, the irritating pain and
tightness of the finger joints tend to flip from
one hand to the other hand, and vice versa.

I tried my best to cope with it, consoling myself
that this is just a seasonal and temporary muscular
problem .... that it will soon disappear by itself ....
until one day, I decided to seek medical help
..... only to be told that I have osteoarthritis !!

How can a healthy 48 year old be diagnosed
with osteoarthritis in hands ....... or osteoarthritis
of hands ?