Arthritis

I hammered my body in the past, especially during skiing training sessions by jogging in ski boots, doing over 100 km per hour and jumping over moguls using my knees as shock absorbers, and breaking my leg a couple of times. When I was young I didn’t feel the impact of any of that but it caught up with me in my mid 50s with excruciatingly painful osteoarthritis in one knee. At 60, that pain is now over 90% gone purely through researching, experimenting and treating it, with lifestyle.

In TCM, arthritic pain comes from chi and blood stagnation, and dampness in the joint. When I do lifestyle consults with clients with arthritis (osteoarthritis not rheumatoid arthritis – which is completely different) it is all about introducing lifestyle changes, such as exercises that move blood and chi. Ideally the exercise challenges the limitation of the range of movement because this pushes blood and chi through the joint. Tai chi, which is often described as ‘medication in motion’, is awesome for this. It is a form of exercise that gets blood and chi moving and can even heal the condition.

Dietary changes are really powerful as well, I create ‘spleen-building’ diets for clients to counter the ‘dampness’ trapped in the joints (your spleen is the main organ that either creates or treats dampness). These avoid the aggravating foods such as sugar, processed carbs and raw and cold foods and introduce the nice warm nourishing meals that your organs love. The dietary basics are covered in my book Clock On To Health. Regular acupuncture is highly recommended and seeing a health practitioner for anti-inflammatory and collagen supplements for cartilage.