One Step Ahead of Osteoarthritis

Stay Flexible and Keep Moving

Frances Ive

• Publisher: Hammersmith Health Books
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9781781611654
• Topic: Medicina
• Subtopic: Malattie e allergie

Osteoarthritis is generally regarded as a progressive disease related to aging, 'wear & tear' and former injury that can be kept at bay with anti-inflammatories and painkillers but will lead inevitably to disability, surgery and joint replacement. But do not despair! As Professor Sir Sam Everington, London GP and a board member of NHS Clinical Commissioners, says: 'This book is not just about length of life, it is about something much more important - a happy and healthy life, whatever is thrown at you. It is about self-motivation and wellbeing. It should be prescribed on the NHS by all doctors. It can't be, but if you have osteoarthritis or want to live a happier and healthier life, buying this book is the best investment you could make.' Health writer and long-term arthritis sufferer/tamer Frances Ive has been researching and experimenting with ways to live well with osteoarthritis for many years and has developed this new, holistic, practical guide embracing exercise, diet, weight loss, complementary therapies and other strategies that will allow a full and active life. While existing books focus on nutrition/diet alone, or on the dangers of prescription drugs, One Step Ahead of Osteoarthritis looks at a wide range of approaches and how each can contribute to being healthy and pain free.

Foreword 1

As a GP I can prescribe thousands of pounds a year of NHS drugs or Consultant time for the treatment of arthritis. I cannot prescribe this book on the NHS, yet the advice it gives is absolutely critical to minimising the pain and suffering of osteoarthritis. I would go further and suggest in many cases it offers far more than I or my medical colleagues can. Keep in mind the ineffectiveness of many of the painkillers and other drugs used in osteoarthritis, the overuse of opioid painkillers such as morphine and tramadol, and indeed their addictive qualities and a raft of serious side-effects.

In 2018, an article in the British Medical Journal1 stated: ‘A recent systematic review focusing on adverse drug events in ambulatory care (in A and E) found prevalence rates ranging from 2.8% to 34.7% up to a quarter of which were judged preventable.’ Another systematic review reported that 9.9% of all hospital admissions in people aged 65 years or over were as a result of an adverse drug event.

You must also add to this the growing evidence of poor diet, obesity and inactivity being among the causes of life-threatening and -shortening diseases.

The NHS has stated on many occasions that every 10 days of bed rest in hospital is the equivalent of 10 years of muscle ageing when it occurs in people over the age of 80, and it can take far longer to recover and a lot of hard work to get back to their previous condition.

A further study shows that inactivity increases early death by 7% and avoiding obesity could reduce deaths by nearly 4%.2 Many academics, such as Sir Muir Gray, say, ‘Sitting down is the new smoking’.

Many of us will face long-term illnesses, such as osteoarthritis, later in life. This book is not just about length of life, it is about something much more important – a happy and healthy life, whatever is thrown at you. It is about self-motivation and well-being. It should be prescribed on the NHS by all doctors. It can’t be, but if you have osteoarthritis or want to live a happier and healthier life, buying this book is the best investment you could ever make.

 

Professor Sir Sam Everington, GP in Tower Hamlets, Chair of NHS Tower Hamlets Clinical Commissioning Group and a board member of NHS Clinical Commissioners

References

1. Perez T, Moriarty F, Wallace E, McDowell R, et al. Prevalence of potentially inappropriate prescribing in older people in primary care and its association with hospital admissions: longitudinal study. British Medical Journal 2018; 363: k4524. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.k4524

2. Ekelund U, Ward HA, Norat T, Luan J, et al. Physical activity and all-cause mortality across levels of overall and abdominal adiposity in European men and women: the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition Study (EPIC). American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 2015; 101(3): 613-621. Doi: 1, https://doi.org/10.3945/ajcn.114.100065

Foreword 2

This easy-to-read book offers sufferers of osteoarthritis new ways of managing their symptoms, which in turn leads to a more positive outlook on their prognosis.

So often people with a diagnosis of arthritis are given a life sentence of pain and misery. They are led to believe that nothing can be done and they must learn to live with the consequences of their disease. Frances offers hope and, without preaching, she offers tools that can be used to alleviate symptoms. She shows that by taking responsibility for our own health, improvements can be made.

Suggestions range from diet and lifestyle to alternative therapies and supplements. In fact, there are so many suggestions that no-one could fail to find areas where they can make changes and take charge.

I too suffer from osteoarthritis in my knee after years of sporting injuries but I am quite mobile and not in pain. I manage my symptoms with exercise, massage and diet and know that without these interventions I would not feel as good as I do.

Enjoy this book and the hope and inspiration it brings with it.

 

Barbara Cousins, nutritionist and author of Easy, Tasty, Healthy and the Cooking Without series

Acknowledgement

I would like to thank all the following who have helped me with certain aspects of this book:

 

Dr Christopher J. Etheridge; Dr Roger Wolman; Dr Rod Hughes; Professor Sir Sam Everington; Dr Tom Margham; Barbara Cousins; Dr Susan Aldridge; Dr Chris Steele; Versus Arthritis; British Acupuncture Council; Margaret Hills Clinic; Richard Kravetz; Ian O’Donnell; and Dr Miriam Ferrer of Future You.

 

I would like to thank the following for the use of their illustrations:

• Knee and hip exercise diagrams courtesy of Versus Arthritis www.versusarthritis.org (pages 23-31)
• ‘Get Paid While Running’ (page 89) courtesy of Varidesk†
• ‘How Much Pressure Are Your Hands Under?’(page 91) courtesy of Penclic

† Footnote: The citations for the Varidesk infographic are:

^* Dr John Buckley (University of Chester). ‘Standing-based office work shows encouraging signs of attenuating post-prandial glycaemic excursion.’ 2013

^** Harvard Medical School. Calories burned in 30 minutes for people of three different weights.

^*** Calories burnt during a marathon. NY Daily News (statistics from the Cleveland Clinic Center for Consumer Health Information)

About the author

Frances Ive has been a health journalist for more than 20 years, with over 100 articles published in national newspapers and consumer women’s and health magazines. She runs the website www.healthysoul.co.uk, is a member of the Guild of Health Writers and has written several non-fiction books. Following the advice outlined in this book she has reduced pain and inflammation in her osteoarthritis and is able to manage it well.

Introduction

This book is about staying ahead of osteoarthritis, not letting it take you over; about staying mobile and, above all, enjoying life. It aims to make you feel much better.

It is for people who have early signs of osteoarthritis or have mild to moderate symptoms. But many of the tips could help someone with chronic arthritis and hopefully relieve inflammation and pain.

Whenever a doctor tells me that there is nothing they can do for a health problem, I decide to find out for myself what I can do. And so it was with osteoarthritis, which I had diagnosed in my hands and knee five years ago. With my experience as a health journalist and general interest in self-help and complementary medicine I tried to do everything I could to help myself, with considerable success.

I arrived on holiday in Devon a few years ago and could hardly get out of the car because I felt so stiff after the long journey. My knees and hands were painful and my whole body was aching. I decided to start with some changes to my diet...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Contents
• Foreword 1
• Foreword 2
• Acknowledgement
• About the author
• Introduction
• Top tips to manage osteoarthritis
• Chapter 1: Good health and osteoarthritis
• Chapter 2: Looking at weight loss
• Chapter 3: Finding exercise to suit you
• Chapter 4: Exercises to protect and strengthen your body
• Chapter 5: What is healthy eating?
• Chapter 6: Food and drink – acid or alkaline?
• Chapter 7: Supplements and herbs
• Chapter 8: Therapies to manage pain
• Chapter 9: Practical ideas to make life easier
• Chapter 10: The power of sleep and the weather
• Chapter 11: Lonely, depressed and stressed
• Chapter 12: Soups, juices, meals with ginger and turmeric
• Further information
• Index
• Copyright