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A Healthy Alternative You Don't Have to Use Drugs to Combat the Pain: Complementary Therapies Can Help

Posted on: Monday, 3 April 2006, 09:00 CDT

By MARJORY McGINN

WHEN she was just 25, Hazel Borland was shocked as doctors told her she had osteoarthritis in her lower back, a disease normally associated with older people. Borland had just given birth to her daughter in what was a difficult labour, and doctors believed that may have triggered the arthritis.

For Hazel, 37, the arthritis was the start of years of chronic pain and restricted movement, made worse a few years later when she contracted fibromyalgia, a debilitating rheumatic disorder related to arthritis and that causes pain in muscles and ligaments.

After years of taking conventional anti-inflammatory drugs, which affected her digestive system, Hazel, a former office worker from Paisley, decided to try complementary therapies, starting with aromatherapy massage. "I got to the stage where I was willing to try anything to cope with the pain without having to keep taking anti- inf lammatories, " she says.

"I found the massage helped to loosen the muscles in my back and the pain decreased afterwards, and that would last for a few days. Luckily, my mother was learning aromatherapy massage at the time, so she practised on me and used warming oils with ginger and black pepper."

Hazel then decided to experiment with other therapies and tried reiki healing, where a therapist places their hands on various points over the body, which they claim restores the "balance of energy". She found it so helpful in easing her arthritis pain that she decided to study the technique herself. "Reiki is one of the therapies where you can self-treat, which I now do several times a day, every day, " explains Hazel. "It has helped so much I was able to give up the anti-inf lammatory medication at the end of last year."

More than eight million people in Britain suffer from arthritis, including 12,000 children, and there is no cure for the condition. The most common form of it is osteoarthritis, which is the wear and tear of joints that comes with age, causing pain and often inflammation; the second is rheumatoid arthritis, a more aggressive form where the body's immune system fights against itself and causes inf lammation of the joints and surrounding tissue, which can develop at any age.

Complementary therapies for arthritis are increasing in popularity as sufferers look for relief from chronic pain and inf lammation, without the side-effects of conventional non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) , such as ibuprofen, which is mostly all a GP will recommend to control arthritis. The search for safe pain relief recently intensified after a newer class of NSAIDs called selective Cox-2 inhibitors, such as Celebrex and Vioxx (nowwithdrawn from the market), was discovered to increase the risk of a heart attack in certain people.

Arthritis sufferers are turning to therapies such as acupuncture, homeopathy, herbalism and hydrotherapy, but there is also an abundance of supplements on the market to treat symptoms, including glucosamine sulphate (claimed to repair damaged cartilage), fish- oil supplements, herbal anti-inflammatories, emu oil, creams made from greenlipped muscles and frankincense. The latest natural painkiller on the market, LitoZin, is made from rose hips, and has a fairly weighty study behind it, carried out at a Danish hospital, which showed the product had some impact on pain relief in 82per cent of participants.

And researchers in Israel have recently discovered what could be one of the more unusual arthritis remedies. They have isolated a nonpoisonous molecule in deadly snake venom that has pain-relieving properties and could be produced in a cream form to rub into joints. Homeopathy has long since used a microdose of snake venom in its lachesis remedy, which can be used to treat swollen joints.

But which of these complementary remedies and therapies, if any, are the most effective for treating arthritis? Martin Jones, the senior campaigns manager at Arthritis Care, says: "There is a massive range of therapies available, but in most cases there has not been a great deal of thorough research conducted that would help understand which therapies may be effective.

"There have been quite a few studies into the effects of acupuncture and a large trial on glucosamine, as well as a smaller amount of work on exercise-based treatments such as yoga, but many other therapies lack a good body of evidence to support them."

Dr Paul Lim is a GP near Falkirk and an acupuncturist, who runs the Ochilview Complementary Clinic. He says conventional medication has its place, especially in serious cases of rheumatoid arthritis, but he also believes that complementary therapies will help to heal the body.

"Scientific evidence has already shown that acupuncture helps the pain of arthritis but the Chinese believe it also helps the inf lammation, " he explains. "Acupuncture works very quickly and very well. I have seen people early on in the disease with an acute flare- up and I've done a course of six treatments and the joint has settled down very well - patients have gone back to normal function. Whether it stays that way depends on how much joint damage has already occurred."

In line with most complementary therapists, Lim believes you need to find the root cause of arthritis. "When people have an arthritic process, they generally have a defective immune system. Acupuncture helps rebalance the chi in the body and helps it to heal. But patients also need to detox as well, changing to a healthier diet, staying off things such as caffeine."

Many arthritis sufferers have claimed good results with herbalism. Medical herbalist Maureen Russell, from Ferrington's Natural Therapy Centre in Renfrewshire, believes herbs are powerful agents in relieving the symptoms of arthritis, but says it is more effective to have them prescribed by a qualified herbalist.

Russell says there is an endless variety of herbs for arthritis. "We use hawthorn to help the circulation, celery seeds for cleaning out the joints, analgesics such as devil's claw, orwhite willow bark; anti-inf lammatories such as marigold, cat's claw and horsetail." She also agrees that diet plays a crucial role in the treatment of arthritis.

Consultant rheumatologist Dr Rod Hughes, from St Peter's Hospital in Chertsey, Surrey, believes complementary therapies may work on the pain and inflammation of osteoarthritis, but he doesn't recommend it for rheumatoid arthritis. "The inflammation is so great that it overwhelms any of the mild antiinflammatory effects of complementary medicine. You need strong, serious medicine for this type of arthritis."

As for the health supplements on offer, he says: "People need to be wary. Try supplements one at a time, for a period of time that's long enough to see if they're going to work, but don't try them in exclusion of weight control and exercise, and expect them to work."

For more information, call Arthritis Care on 0808 800 4050 or visit www. arthritiscare. org. uk. Dr Paul Lim, 01324 715 876 www. ochilview. com. Maureen Russell, Ferrington's 01475 540111 www. ferringtons-scotland. co. uk.

New hope to take away the pain of inflammatory illness AUNIQUE machine used to treat painful inflammatory illnesses and troublesome sports injuries is available for the first time for Scottish patients.

The PhyBack System harnesses electronic impulses to stimulate damaged tissue. It is said to accelerate the healing processes that occur following physical wear and tear. Patients suffering conditions including arthritis, neck and back pain, sports injuries, surgical wound healing and spinal problems have reported encouraging results.

Unlike drugs, it works when software-controlled electronic impulses stimulate complex healing processes within damaged tissue. A range of waveforms, frequencies, durations and powers are generated to accelerate specifically the natural tissue repair mechanisms of the body. These are applied via lowvoltage impulses.

Clinical studies at the University of Rome have found PhyBack to be beneficial for some people in relieving pain in acute and chronic patients. The impulses also reduce the recovery time. Many individuals were said to give up their prescribed drugs following repeat sessions with the system. They not only reported a reduction or cessation of pain, but have also indicated improvements in lifestyle, sleeping patterns and a general improvement in wellbeing. PhyBack has become available at the Buckingham Clinic in Glasgow.

To find out more contact the Buckingham Clinic on 0141 339 4340 or visit www. buckinghamclinic. co. uk.

Source: Herald, The; Glasgow (UK)

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