Manage Arthritis: Hip labral tear

Gentle Reader, One of the strong older ladies I ski and hike with just wrote that she had a hip replacement.  I was stunned to hear the news and asked more about it.  She had a sudden tear called a labral tear, something I had never heard of.  Intrigued, I thought I’d share what I …

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Oh, my aching hamstrings

Gentle Reader, What a ski season it is here in the Northwest.  The snow conditions surprise us every Wednesday as my band of 16-24 friends head up to the pass on a big bus (potty included).  It’s a good thing to use this bus company for January and February when the road conditions are dicey …

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Hiking the Engadine: Avoid arthritis pain

Gentle Reader, I am back safe and sound from my hike through the Engadine Valley in the Alps in Switzerland and the Writers Workshop in Villa Lina north of Rome.  And my body is not suffering from arthritis!  Sitting in the airplane for the long flight to Amsterdam, the first stop of my journey, I …

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How to Keep Your Hand Moving–Without Pain

Gentle Reader, A good friend is suffering from arthritis in her hand causing discomfort playing tennis and gripping the handles of her hiking pole. Her pain, like the arthritis pain in many aging hands, is the gradual deterioration of the joints because of continued use and abuse over a long, productive life. In 1980 when …

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Knee Pain: an early warning sign of Osteoarthritis

Gentle Reader, This is just in from the Johns Hopkins: Knee Pain: An Early Warning Sign of Osteoarthritis Osteoarthritis is the most common form of arthritis, affecting an estimated 27 million people in the United States. By age 40, approximately 90 percent of us have at least some signs of osteoarthritis that can be seen …

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How about Stinging Nettles?

Gentle Reader, If I could tell you why some days I wake up with no pain whatsoever– like today– and catalog the food I ate yesterday, the stretches I made, the delicious sleep, the supplements, the aerobic activity—why surely I would have a recipe for a pain free life.  I cannot. I cross country skied …

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Ankle replacement? How bad is it?

  Gentle Reader,   Have you dried off from your most recent visit to the Y’s water aerobics for arthritics?  Not there yet?  Today I want to share information about replacing those joints that just keep hurting so much that you prefer to sit or lie down rather than try to move through the pain.  …

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The Fat Trap

Dear Reader, I have been thinking a lot about weight and arthritis, about weight loss and how challenging it is to begin and maintain a healthier relationship to food.  In my last post, I talked about the study that found our hypothalamus may be running the show.  If this regulating organ has been damaged by …

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