Arthritis is a common health complaint and here at Freedom Chinese Medicine, we help people who suffer from this sometimes debilitating illness, on a daily basis, often with excellent results.
We have seen people who have tried every other available treatment with no success, walk out of the clinic with a renewed sense of wellbeing and hope for recovery. I have seen people with even the most severe cases of arthritis enjoy significant freedom from pain.
This is one of the great joys of being a Chinese medicine practitioner.
If you try our treatment process, some of the results you a likely to enjoy are:
• reduction of pain
• improvement in mobility
• reduction of swelling
• increased strength in joints and muscles
What is Arthritis?
Arthritis is an umbrella diagnosis that covers many conditions, including:
• Osteoarthritis
• Rheumatoid arthritis
• Gout
• Ankylosing spondylitis
• Juvenile arthritis
• Systemic lupus erythematosus (lupus)
• Scleroderma
• Post-trauma arthritis
However, put simply, it can be classified as ongoing stiffness, inflammation, pain and sometimes even deformity of joints.
How do you know if you have arthritis?
Two of the most common complaints that people come into our clinic for, are knee and neck arthritis. If you are having trouble with these areas, or any others for that matter, it is a good idea to make an appointment to have a treatment and assessment with one of our experienced Chinese medicine practitioners. They will look for common complaints such as:
• pain or tenderness in any joints
• decreased mobility and range of motion
• stiffness, especially stiffness that is affected by weather changes
• swelling of the joints
• reduced strength
• bony outgrowths
Tips to manage arthritis
1. Omega 3 supplementation
DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) and EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) can reduce the proliferation of chemicals inflammation, the causes of pain and swelling in arthritis.
2. Glucosamine & chondroitin sulfate supplementation
Two integral components of cartilage are Glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate. These are building blocks for new cartilage growth
3. Avoid foods that encourage inflammation:
• Sugar
• Trans fats
• Saturated fats
• Foods containing Omega 6 fatty acids
• Refined carbohydrates
• MSG
• Gluten and Casein (for those with gluten intolerance or Coeliac’s disease)
• Aspartame
Reference to support above statement: https://www.arthritis.org/living-with-arthritis/arthritis-diet/foods-to-avoid-limit/food-ingredients-and-inflammation-12.php
4. Eat more foods that are beneficial for your joint health such as…
• Tuna
• Mackerel
• Herring.
• Red beans
• Kidney beans
• Pinto beans
• Salmon
• Fresh garlic
• Soybeans
• Walnut oil
• Safflower oil
• Avocado oil
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Cherries
• Broccoli
• Green tea
• Oranges
• Grapefruits
• Limes
• Walnuts
• Pine nuts
• Pistachios
• Almonds
Reference to support above statement: https: https://www.arthritis.org/living-with-arthritis/arthritis-diet/best-foods-for-arthritis/
5. Stretch and move!
The old adage ‘use it or lose it’ applies here. Often our worst enemy can be a modern, sedentary lifestyle. Joints need circulation, muscles need to shorten and lengthen and tendons and ligaments need activity in order to stay strong.
Even a simple, gently daily stretching routine can be of great benefit. Yoga, under the guidance of a properly trained health care professional, is an ancient and wonderfully gentle path that has stood the test of time for not only joint health, but overall wellbeing as well.
Proof acupuncture works for arthritis!
Across 18 high quality studies involving 18,000 participants, acupuncture was shown to relieve pain by about 50%.
Reference to support above statement: https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/acupuncture-is-worth-a-try-for-chronic-pain-201304016042
Acupuncture is not only a well-known way to relieve pain in people, animals are also receiving the benefits of this ancient practice. Would you believe acupuncture has been successfully tried on giraffes? The Roger Williams Park Zoo in Providence, Rhode Island, is one of the first places to use acupuncture on a giraffe.
A nearly 2,000-pound patient named Sukari suffers from arthritis. Click here to see her getting an acupuncture treatment.
If you’d like to try Acupuncture to see if it helps your arthritis. Contact us on 9486 5966 or click here to book online.
Is deep, solid sleep starting to feel like an illusion for you? We all know that good sleep is essential for good health. But what do you do if you just can’t seem to get sufficient sleep? And what is adequate sleep anyways? It is about quantity and quality. Extensive research has shown that most adults need 7-9 hours of sleep each night to perform at our optimum¹. When it comes to quality, we need blocks of uninterrupted sleep. Frequent sleep disruption causes you to transition to the lightest sleep stage which detracts from recuperative sleep. Quality sleep is the amount of time which is set aside for sleep spent in the recuperative stages.