Don’t put up with ‘arthritic’ pain.

I fix arthritic pain every week.

Now I didn’t say I fix arthritis every week. I said I fix arthritic pain every week. Every week I see patients who tell me that they have pain, ‘…but it’s arthritis so it can’t be fixed’. Whether it is hip pain, knee pain or back pain in most cases it can be fixed, or at least greatly alleviated.

Let me explain arthritic pain.

There are many types of arthritis but the most common is Osteoarthritis (now called Osteoarthrosis). Most of the time someone complains about aching knees, wrists or hips, this is the type of arthritis underneath.

Osteoarthritis describes the degeneration or ‘wearing out’ of the protective cartilage capping on the ends of our bones. So it is often called ‘degenerative osteoarthrosis’ (DOA). Bones, amazingly, are always adapting and changing shape according to the load placed upon them. They actually can keep ‘growing’. It is the cartilage capping on the end of the bone that forms the joint surface that prevents the bones above and below your knee growing into each other and fusing.

So if the cartilage capping wears through then nothing is stopping the bone growth and so the bone continues to grow in the form of little bone spurs. So when Uncle Leo says ‘I have bone on bone in my knee’ this is what he is alluding to. Bone on bone ain’t comfortable. In this scenario any period of prolonged activity standing leads to irritation, inflammation and pain.

Are you saying that you can fix cartilage Tim?

No.

Let me explain.

The body is very smart. When your body notices that the cartilage capping in a given joint is beginning to wear out – not worn out, but beginning to wear out – then it will create pain in that joint. The way it does this is as follows: The muscles and tendons that act on that joint, so in the example of the knee, the quadriceps, hamstring and calf muscles and their associated fascia, have built-in receptors that are designed to refer pain into the knee joint.

There are key trigger points located in healthy muscle that send aching, stiffness and weakness to the knee joint. So basically the body is one step ahead. It is saying: ‘Hey, there is cartilage wear at left medial tibial plateau! (That’s part of your knee…) Should we shut it down?’ So head office says: ‘Don’t shut it down, just let the driver know something’s wrong!’

A skilled Myotherapist can examine the location of the pain, determine where the pain is being referred from, manipulate that tendon and fascia and literally switch off the pain. I have had countless patients over the years who have come in, X-rays in hand to point out the cartilage wear, along with the depressing prognosis from the GP that they ‘just have to live with the pain’ only to find that after a treatment or two, the pain is gone. Completely. For months and often years. The pain, aching at night, weakness and tenderness can be present for years before the cartilage wear is anywhere near severe enough to cause pain from bone spurs. In other words the pain can be fixed – without Panadol.

So what’s really happening is that the pain is a messenger . . .

Your body, planning to live forever, is noticing that cartilage is beginning to wear and decides that you had better stop moving that knee because by 143 years of age the cartilage will completely wear out. That’s very nice but your body doesn’t know you plan to die well before that.

The reality is if you stop moving that knee properly, your gait (walking pattern) changes and your lower back starts to hurt! Not only that but the lack of movement in the knee is not good for joint health. Movement helps the synovial juice in the knee to move providing lubrication, and all sorts of little healing goodies to do their thing. All of this means that if your Myotherapist can restore movement and resolve the pain, the best thing to keep the pain away is to move! In the worst case scenario, if you are at the stage where the bone spurs are present, Myotherapy treatment will still remove the pain! You may need to reduce your ‘standing exercise’ and do more bike or water exercise. Either way movement is still the best thing for that joint.

What is also amazing is the fact that often the pain referred from the muscles and tendons has switched on in response to a strain, a period of inactivity or an old injury and there is NO cartilage wear even present. In other words skilful manipulation of the right tendons and fascia will resolve the pain permanently. It is always very satisfying, and in another way a little depressing, when I fix someone’s pain who has suffered with it for years, only to find it didn’t really need to be there all along!

Debbie’s story is an example of one I have heard a lot:

I’ve had Myotherapy treatment for my knee, an old netball injury, which hurt constantly. I had been to other therapies with this problem and went about five times but I still had the problem. Timothy worked on it twice and I’ve never had trouble since, even though it had been sore for about three years.

If you are suffering with pain that is persistent, that tends to improve temporarily with movement then do yourself a favour and visit a good Myotherapist. You have nothing to lose.

 

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Have a swimmingly good week,

Tim