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pain relief
Yesterday was writing about joint pain and then today saw this article on the same subject
Healthy Joints By Brazos Minshew
I remember the moment very clearly: I was looking at an X-ray of a woman’s hand. She was suffering from Degenerative Joint Disease (DJD, also called osteoarthritis) and complaining of pain as well as loss of function in her hand. As I looked at the image I saw the usual indications of DJD: thinning of the disc spaces between her joints, bone spurs on her knuckles and joints, thickening of the tendons in her hands and arms and thinning of the bones.
Then it hit me: This wasn’t an inflammatory/degenerative condition as we had been taught in school. This was a healing crisis compensating for a loss of water!
Causes of imbalance
All conditions of imbalance, such as DJD, are triggered by four causes: Trauma (or injury), toxins, deficiency and stress. Usually, a body-wide condition like DJD is a combination of all these four factors to a greater or lesser extent.
Current wisdom calls osteoarthritis and DJD “wear-and-tear” diseases. But that does not explain the healing process of osteoarthritis/DJD. It’s true, there is some inflammation involved. The suffix “-itis” means inflammation; osteoarthritis is defined as an inflammatory condition of the bones (osteo) and joints (arthro). And there is some degeneration as well. DJD is defined as a deficiency of water in the discs and cartilage of the joint spaces. They dry out and shrink.
Neither of these medical terms really describes the entire process of osteoarthritis/DJD.
A new view, a new approach
What triggered my change in viewpoint concerning DJD/osteoarthritis was seeing the healing process in the X-ray. The healing process is fueled by nutrients and guided by homeostasis. (Homeostasis is the Robin Hood principle of moving nutrients from one part of the body to another area where there is a more immediate need.)
Homeostasis will try to stabilize your joints by fusing the bones together and thickening the tendons. Homeostasis robs calcium from the bones (hence, the thinning bones of arthritis) to thicken the tendons and therefore limit mobility and further injury. Homeostasis also uses this calcium to fuse your bones together in place of an unstable joint. That is what bone spurs are: your body’s attempt to stabilize an unstable joint by fusing the bones together.
That is a healing process, not a degenerative process. It requires a new theory to replace a view that is too limited. That is important because our belief in our ability to heal allows us to have hope in the healing process and wellness itself.
In with the new…
All conditions of imbalance are triggered by four causes: Trauma or injury, toxins, deficiency and stress. DJD is a combination of all these four factors.
The new theory of DJD goes like this: Toxins in our environment are detoxified in our liver by a process called sulfation. Sulfation requires dietary sulphur from foods like broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, mustard and turnip greens, etc. If we are exposed to toxins and don’t eat enough dietary sulphur, our detoxification process will rob sulphur from our joints to neutralize poisons. When the sulphur comes out of our joints, they can no longer hold water and begin the process of degeneration.
Immediately, our body begins the healing process: as the cartilage dries out, we grow thicker tendons as well as bone spurs to stabilize the joint. This is accomplished through the judicious use of inflammation; therefore, any remedy for DJD needs to focus the inflammation and target only runaway inflammation to facilitate focused inflammation and healing of the joints. (Nopalea can help with inflammation!)
The thicker tendons and the pain of inflammation limit our range of motion and prevent us from injuring this unstable joint. Eventually, the bone spurs grow together and fuse the joint completely. The healing is complete; the joint is stable.
Benefiting from a changed view
How does this new description of osteoarthritis/DJD help us? First, this view is in harmony with the language of healing. The better we become at listening, the greater our chance of understanding. Next, it allows us to understand our body better. The more we understand, the easier it is to work along with our healing processes. Finally, knowledge brings with it hope for an improved condition. Hope is the essential element of positive change!
David Ogden
CEO TheInterbiz LLC
Independent TriVita Affiliate 13142173
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