If my beloved Flamenco teacher had not passed away suddenly last summer, I may still be clapping my hands and stamping my feet, and unfortunately, injuring my hip joints and knees. Usually I feel stiffness and aches in rainy weather. That’s normal, I thought. With humid weather, barometric pressure drops and joints and bones swell. Over several years the movement of my left hip became limited: It was harder to reach my left foot, impossible to lift my leg to my chest. My chiropractor told me my hip joint was “bone on bone” and someday, when I could no longer stand the pain, it would require hip replacement surgery. Who has money for that? Twenty thousand or so? I did not want to know, as a recent MRI showed, that I had acute arthritis in the left hip joint and the right one was going too. BOOOOH!
Monthly Archive for January, 2010
I am happy and feel great after my first PRP injection. I am very positive about the experience. This is my personal running commentary to inform you of an extremely successful treatment for injury and arthritis, including my natural health advice, to reduce discomfort and speed healing. Platelet Rich Plasma PRP injections have been used for some thirty years in operating rooms and on the battle field to speed and increase natural healing of wounds. Blood is taken from the patient, whirled in a centrifuge to separate the platelets, which contain growth factors, and the platelets are re-injected into the wound site. It cuts healing time to a fraction because the body uses its own building materials to heal torn ligaments, worn out cartilage and many other injuries.
Do you have chronic joint pain? An Injury?
Orthopedic surgery, sports medicine, osteoarthritis — You may think you don’t need help. You may not be an athlete. But anyone over 40, anyone who smokes or has a compromised immune system, anyone who exercises regularly, runs, dances or plays tennis can benefit from the cutting edge work now being done in orthopedic medicine. You will be reading about my experiences with Dr. Alan Lazar in Plantation, Florida, a suburb of Ft. Lauderdale in a running commentary on my treatments. He uses PRP injections, using a patient’s own blood, fat and growth factors from bone marrow in order to heal damaged joints and cartilage. PRP injections, used for over 30 years to speed healing after surgery and more recently in Sports Medicine treatments, are now being used experimentally to improve everyday injuries, osteoarthritis, muscle and ligament tears, and nervous system diseases.
I am experimenting with natural ways to ease joint and muscle pain. Outside of the New York medical orbit, I find all sorts of non-surgical, non-drug ways to deal with osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, injury pain, and poor joint mobility. Lots of people want to avoid joint-replacement surgery—athletes, post-menopausal women, the elderly. The risk of infection, badly fitting parts, the need for re-operation due to complications in 1 out of 4 operations, not to mention the COST of joint-replacement are enough to warrant research into natural methods. They may replace surgery for some people or at least provide a stop-gap treatment to delay surgery to the age of 62 or 65 when Medicare kicks in.
Lots of people following WWII and those living in third world countries have had poor nutrition before and after birth. As a dancer, yoga enthusiast my ligaments became quite flexible, which allows the joints to move around too freely. Eventually, with inadequate nutrition and wear and tear and reduced estrogen, cartilage wears down. Some MDs inject an acid at the joints to make the ligament tighter–less flexible–in order to reduce joint movement and wear.
At a recent outdoor fair held at the wonderful Fruit and Spice Park in The Redlands south of Miami, I met Mike Weise, who with his wife handcrafts very strong natural magnets into attractive jewelry. Man-made magnets lose power over time. His magnetite (AKA loadstone mined in South Africa, Sweden and Italy) are so strong I cannot wear my bracelet while typing. It shuts down my computer! It may be draining the battery! My bracelet is made with small beads strung on metal wire with a clasp made from four magnets touching. It works!
I spend so much time and energy studying and using herbs I tend to ignore vitamins. My diet is rather clean and healthy–mostly fruits, vegetables and nutritious high fiber foods so I don’t supplement. This article may help you to keep pill-taking straight. I recommend taking water soluble vitamins like C and B together. With vitamin D3 (2,000 iu daily) add an acidic food like tea or orange. Take 2,000 mgs calcium and 1/2 as much magnesium with D3, fruit and tea. Usually my breakfast. Other than D and calcium, I am lazy about vitamins. Herbs I take daily tend to be cleansing: Trifala guggul to eliminate digestive impurities and dissolve/prevent masses. At night, herbs to ease joint discomforts like hyuralonic acid and MSM. See the section at this website devoted to “Flesh and Bone” health.
