Osteoarthritis is said to affect 500 million worldwide and one in five adults in the US. With so many affected it’s good to know the ins and outs of how it develops and how it gets treated for pain relief, healing and prevention.
You may have had it explained by your doctor that your arthritis is “bone on bone” and as the bones of the joint rub together, the cartilage at the end of the bone wears away leaving a rough surface instead of a smooth surface. When the joints rub against a rough surface this can inflame the tissues and create more pain.
You may still be wondering what caused the cartilage to wear away?
In essence it comes down to a deficiency of the affected channels and tissues. This also correlates with why we see more osteoarthritis is older people who also tend to have more channel deficiency. For example, osteoarthritis of the hip joint reflects a deficiency of the Gall Bladder channel that runs through the femoral head.
Osteoarthritis of the knee
joint reflects either a Stomach or Spleen channel deficiency in most cases. The Stomach channel runs through the lateral knee and the Spleen channel runs through the medial side of the joint. Similarly, after a trauma, osteoarthritis may begin to form whereby the original trauma creates a deficiency in the channel which, if unresolved, can lead to incomplete healing of bone and sets the stage for osteoarthritis.
How is Osteoarthritis treated conventionally?
The most common treatment for osteoarthritis is medication: NSAIDs, cortisone shots, and Tylenol. While medications may provide temporary relief, they do come with some serious side effects when used long term. I will go over this below. Physiotherapy can help strengthen muscles surrounding the joints however this alone is not healing bone tissue. Surgery is a last resort and can often be prevented by using acupuncture and nutrition as described further below.
NSAIDs refers to non- steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. These include ibuprofen, naproxen, and Voltaren. NSAIDs reduce the pain but harm the stomach. NSAIDs stop prostaglandins from being made by the stomach. Prostaglandins are a substance that protects the lining of the stomach from stomach acid. Without prostaglandins, the stomach forms ulcers. Patients will need
to be on broad spectrum digestive enzymes for 3 – 6 months to fix this issue. When the stomach organ is weakened it leads to all kinds of nutritional deficiencies down the road.
Cortisone shots are used to quell the inflammation because cortisone is a natural anti-inflammatory. However, cortisone shots are a hormone therapy. Hormones work on feedback loops so that the exogenous cortisone causes the body’s own innate production of cortisone to stop. When this happens, you have less cortisone and the effect of the shot stops working.
If Tylenol is being used for osteoarthritis pain, the main concern is liver damage. Tylenol creates liver inflammation and liver damage. Tylenol-induced liver damage can be treated using electrical acupuncture on the Liver channel and the dermatome spinal level that supplies nerves that feed into the liver. Although you may not be ready to go off pain meds completely, you can take a gradual approach of tapering down the pain meds as the acupuncture effects kick in.
How does acupuncture treat pain?
Electrical acupuncture at a low hertz causes the release of ACTH and beta -endorphins that have up to 30 times the power of morphine. There are also specific acupuncture points that produce a global reduction in pain and inflammation due to the endorphin production. The effect of these is not instant, because the body takes about 24 hours to make endorphins in response to acupuncture treatment. In this way acupuncture addresses the main symptom which is pain as well as the underlying tissue damage which I will go over below.
Many studies have shown that acupuncture is an effective treatment for osteoarthritis. One study looking at 18000 patients found that acupuncture was effective for multiple pain conditions including knee osteoarthritis.
How can acupuncture heal osteoarthritis?
To understand how the cartilage got stripped off the bone and how that gets reversed, we need to look at pH. In terms of health, the ideal pH of the blood cells needs to be at -7.365. Unfortunately, many people in the world have acidic blood. What happens when blood becomes acidic? Acidic blood cells will pull calcium ions from the interstitial fluid to buffer the acidity. This now creates more acidic interstitial fluid. What happens when the interstitium becomes acidic? It pulls calcium ions from the bones to buffer it. This bone tissue, having lost ions, then starts to break down and become rough, making movement of the joint painful.
Acupuncture heals osteoarthritic tissues by healing deficiency of electricity in the affected channels as well as deficient dermatomes and tissue levels.
Electrical acupuncture heals the bones and joints by restoring alkaline pH as electrons move from the electrode wire to the acupuncture needle into the tissues. In essence, pH means the percentage of hydrogen atoms that creates a negative charge. Healthy blood is pH -7.365 = -20.8 millivolts. To restore healthy pH, electrons, which are negatively charged are added comfortably to the channels and tissues via electrical stimulation acupuncture. This results in healthier tissue terrain that is alkaline. Alkaline blood transfers excess alkalinity to the interstitium. When the interstitium is alkaline, the surplus of negative ions are then donated back to the bones to form smooth cartilage so that joints can move easily and without pain.
What nutrients are most important for healing osteoarthritis?
In addition to acupuncture, best results can be obtained by providing the right nutrition to the joints. Three common issues with osteoarthritis are: calcium-magnesium balance, vitamin D and digestive enzymes.
What is the correct calcium-magnesium balance?
When the body is putting calcium deposits on the bones, as in bone spurring, osteophytes, this is an issue of calcium not being properly absorbed which is often due to magnesium deficiency. Most people need more magnesium because modern diets tend to be low due to soil depletion and many food products are fortified with calcium which throws off the correct calcium-magnesium balance.
Magnesium levels should be at least half or equal to the amount of calcium in your intake. You can try magnesium malate or chelate, however if there are digestive issues with magnesium you may
need to try another version of magnesium and try to not take too much at once. A easy way around any digestive issues is to use a topical magnesium like a spray or a rub-on oil. You can rub this all over your arms, legs and abdomen morning and night. This may feel itchy at first and if so, it’s a sign that your magnesium levels are too low, In this case keep supplementing magnesium and the itching or tingling will go away as your magnesium levels normalize.
How much vitamin D do I need? Vitamin D allows calcium to move into the bones. 2000 IUs is the minimum daily dose. I do recommend 30 000 IUs per week which amounts to 4000-5000 IUs per day.
Why do I need digestive enzymes? The mesoderm of bone is largely supplied by the energy of the Spleen and Stomach channels. The majority of the population has deficiency in the Stomach and Spleen channels. One simple way to effectively improve the functioning of the Stomach and Spleen channels apart from acupuncture is to take a broad spectrum digestive enzyme before meals. Minerals that make up bone tissue are also the hardest micro nutrient to break down especially when there is low stomach acid or low stomach functioning.
How can osteoarthritis be prevented?
The cause of osteoarthritis is a deficiency of electrical charge of the channels and tissues plus nutrient deficiency/toxins. This means that the prevention of osteoarthritis involves:
- Maintaining healthy pH in the channels and tissues. This is done both through regular electrical acupuncture and very importantly though blood electrification which can be done as part of an acupuncture treatment or as a daily self-treatment using the Silver Pulser (sota.com) or similar device. Blood electrification helps keep the blood and thereby all tissues alkaline which not only benefits osteoarthritis but also helps in the healing and prevention of all disease.
- Optimal levels if minerals through maintaining correct calcium-magnesium balance, vitamin D and digestive enzymes to ensure complete breakdown and absorption of minerals from food. Most people in the developed world are low in magnesium, vitamin D and have poor stomach functioning.
- Removing energy leaks that prevent healing such as exposure to dirty electricity (EMF, cell phones, smart watches, oura rings, etc). Take steps to protect yourself from dirty EMF such as by not carrying cell phones close to your body or in the bedroom at night, and by using grounding mats or grounding straps on your shoes and boots to discharge the dirty electricity (earthingcanada.ca, or earthing.com) . Other forms of energy leak can come from dental issues (mercury, root canals), stuck magnetic fields, and toxins.
If you or a loved one has been experiencing pain from osteoarthritis without relief, now is the time to take action. Call Kingsville Acupuncture at 519-800-4903 and let’s get your bones and joints healing up and aching less.
Yours in health,
Cynthia McGilvray, R.Ac.
Systemic Lupus Erythmatosus (SLE) is an auto-immune disorder in which the immune system attacks its’ own tissues leading to chronic inflammation. Several or
gan systems may be affected such as kidneys, heart, skin, blood cells, joints, brain and skin. Western medicine explains the cause of lupus as essentially unknown but beyond that is believed to be a combination of genetics and environment where some people have a genetic predisposition to developing lupus and then various environmental factors such as sunlight, medications (anti-biotics, anti-seizure meds, blood pressure medications) can be the triggers that set off the lupus symptoms. Commonly used Western drugs such as NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs), corticosteroids, anti-malarial drugs and immuno-suppressants are used to manage symptoms. Although these drugs may be able to control flare-ups to some extent, there are often side-effects with long-term use.
ive increase in Heat caused by a lack of Yin which shows up as low-grade fever and night sweats. Yin involves all the body fluids including blood and sinovial fluids. A Yin deficient tongue may be peeled (geographic, or cracked) and the pulse may be superficial, thin and fast. Since women are considered more Yin, and require a greater amount of blood and body fluids for healthy body functions (think of how women’s bodies must replace menstrual blood lost each month) , this helps explain why SLE tends to affect women more than men.
“opens” to the eyes) causing a lack of moistening fluids (Liver Blood) to the eyes resulting in light sensitivity and dry eyes. Hair loss is also indicated because in TCM hair is considered a surplus of Liver Blood. Discoid (small round) rashes are another symptom of Blood Deficiency as it is the function of Blood to moisten the skin so the lack of Blood causes red flaky rashes.
The goals of acupuncture treatment with Lupus will depend on how the individual presents. In general, points will be used to clear the Heat/Fire and strengthen Yin and Blood of the affected channels and organ systems. This is achieved by selecting the correct acupuncture points that will do those jobs. Each acupuncture point has its own functions and indications so the treatment will be tailored to the patient’s unique presentation. The treatment for Lupus tends to be longer than other conditions because Yin Deficiency takes a long time to develop and so a longer time to remove. With persistent treatment as well as the guidance I offer in self-care including diet there should be a lessening of flare-ups as well as better energy and quality of life.
reduce pain, strengthen immunity and get relief using natural therapies. A word of caution: if you are experiencing the shingles rash, pain or unusual symptoms in your face, eyes or ears, this symptom that can have serious consequences such as damage to the eyes or ears leading to loss of vision or hearing. Please visit your doctor immediately.
spine waiting for another opportunity. When the immune system is down, the virus may then reactivate, this time as shingles. Since the virus lives at the nerve root in the spine, it tends to affect one or multiple dermatomes or areas that the affected spinal nerve controls. Prior to the outbreak, the immune system could have been weakened by chemotherapy, radiation, HIV, fatigue, organ or bone marrow transplant, physical or psychological trauma or a very stressful life event. Shingles also tends to affect those over the age of 50 more than younger people.
for months, sometimes years. Getting started with acupuncture soon after the pain starts will cut down the amount of time the pain goes on for. Some patients have been told to try various rash ointments that are intended for another purpose such as eczema or psoriasis, but with little success because the pain is not about the skin. It is caused by the infection at the nerve. An excellent remedy for this type of nerve pain is St. John’s Wart oil rubbed onto the affected area.
