Living with osteoarthritis is an everyday struggle. It can make seemingly simple tasks like going for a walk, getting up in the morning, cooking, cleaning, or enjoying hobbies almost impossible.
As many as one in every seven people over 55 suffer from osteoarthritis, and while symptoms are often mild at the onset, they increase over the years. (1)
So what is Osteoarthritis?
Osteoarthritis is the most common form of arthritis. Often nicknamed wear and tear
arthritis, it is a painful condition that occurs when the protective cartilage that cushions the joints wears down over time, making joints stiffer and hindering their movement.
This can affect your hands, knees, hips and spine, with symptoms such as joint pain during or after moving the joint, stiffness after being in one position and general loss of flexibility. There can also be tenderness when applying pressure to the joint, swelling, a grating sensation or popping sound when you’re moving the joints and the development of bone spurs.
It is affected by factors such as genetics, aging, joint injury or repetitive overuse and stress on the joints, gender (women tend to suffer from this condition more), weight and overall health.
For many suffering from osteoarthritis, doctors assign a treatment plan of anti-inflammatory and pain relief medication, but often these can only help so much.
There are, however, ways of relieving the swelling, pain and balance issues that are symptomatic of osteoarthritis with the help of homeopathy, which takes a more individualised and holistic approach to improve your health and quality of life.
A client’s experience of Osteoarthritis
Bernadette, aged 67, came to homeopathy not hoping for a big change for her osteoarthritis, which she’d had for 15 years, but being in so much pain and discomfort, she said any relief would be welcomed.
Her symptoms included joint swelling, stiffness and pain, impacting her mobility daily. Her pain was worse when she was in any one position too long: after a night’s
sleep, after standing or sitting.
She felt stiff when she was getting out of bed in the morning and had to find her balance and then hop 10-15 steps before she could walk properly.
Bernadette felt marginally better when moving around for a while, but she was in pain throughout the day and her balance was poor. As exercise was difficult and often too painful, she had to stop doing simple tasks like standing while doing the ironing because the pain was unbearable.
Her hands and wrists were stiff and swollen, and her grip was very poor. Bernadette loved knitting and reading but even these simple activities became problematic. Damp weather also made her symptoms much worse.
When your knees won’t hold you
When she was telling me about her troubles, Bernadette related some of them to 15 years before when she felt a weakness in her knees which she described as “never holding me” and she had a limp. She underwent surgery and had a left knee replacement. The knee never felt right since then, and the surgeon recommended a patella replacement which took place three years later. Bernadette still did not feel it was right and was dismayed when, 2 years later, her right knee went from under her and she fell. The doctors said the bone was wasting away and so she had her right knee replaced – but she experienced pain and swelling again. She also had a very limited range of motion in bending her knee, even with the use of anti-inflammatories and pain medication.
The Homeopathic treatment plan for Osteoarthritis
Relieve your pain and improve your quality of life
References:
Jones, Adrian, and Michael Doherty. “Osteoarthritis.” BMJ: British Medical Journal
, vol. 310, no. 6977, 1995, pp. 457–460.
