Here’s where you begin

Gentle Reader, What is the difference between fixing a problem and prevention?  Most of my blog posts consider specific problems developing from pain in the joints caused by traumatically induced arthritis or the age related osteoarthritis and spinal stenosis issues some of us face just because we’ve been moving hard and fast all our lives.  The fix-it approach tries to […]

The last word on Consumer Report’s warning against Vitamins

Gentle Reader, This week Dr. Chaney concludes his analysis of the article titled “10 Surprising Dangers of Vitamins and Supplements” in the September 2012 issue of Consumer Reports. The article consists of 10 warnings about the potential dangers of food supplements. The first six of those were at least partially true, but they pertained to such a small portion of the […]

10 Surprising Dangers of Vitamins and Supplements Refuted

Gentle Reader, In the September 2012 issue of Consumer Reports an article consists of 10 warnings about the potential dangers of food supplements. In my last post, I quoted Dr. Steven Chaney’s refutation of the first six of those warnings. As he pointed out, “all of those warnings were true, but they pertained to such a small portion of the food supplements in the […]

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 on X-rays of the weight-bearing […]

Eat to eliminate inflammation

Eat to Defeat Inflammation Gentle Reader, At a picnic last night there was a lot of talk about pomegranate for lowering pain and inflammation in joints affected by arthritis.  I have posted about this before, and wanted to bring this post to you from the health sciences department of Shaklee.  The Shaklee corporation scientists and medical staff work to develop […]

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 on Wednesday; stayed up too […]

Go ahead and dig in the garden

Dear Gentle Reader, With the strains of Vivaldi’s 4 Seasons setting the tone, spring has finally come to Seattle. While so many of you are enjoying unseasonably warm weather, we have seen snow flurries, much rain and the thermometer has not climbed into the upper 50’s. Until the last couple of days.  The parking lots at the nurseries were full […]

It comes down to what we eat

Gentle Reader, A friend sent me a TED talk by Dr.Terry Wahls  on MS this past week.  In the 5 minute screening she recounts her productive life as a research scientist up to the debilitating onset of MS.  Seeking the best care medical professionals had to offer, her condition worsened.  Driven by her inquiring mind to know as much as she […]

But I have to have an operation!

Gentle Reader, I was talking with a guy last night who had to have an operation for his hip.  The osteoarthritis had become so advanced into the hip joint that various movements were impeded.  A long time supplement user, he fortified himself with various supplements in order to tolerate the operation well and heal quickly.  He is a little disappointed […]

Yoga and arthritis

Gentle Reader, My morning routine of lying on the floor, legs over the Back2Life machine, followed by several gentle yoga poses gets my body functioning.  I am then ready for the chair chi gong exercises, free weight lifting both standing and the lying on an ethafoam bolster and more stretches with a theraband, emphasizing the IT band with the leg […]