Dr David McGrath

Spine Physician

MB BS (Hons) FAFOM, RACP, FAFMM
Master of Pain Medicine

"You Have Arthritis"

This is often stated as a sentence rather than a treatable condition. Negative thoughts such as "permanent pain" and "dysfunction" spring to mind. Surgery and drugs are usually thought of first. Alternative inputs like herbs and vitamins are considered.

The cause of arthritis is often overlooked and neglected. Joints can be damaged by a number of inputs which may be continuing at the time of diagnosis. Failure to recognise these inputs will undermine any efforts at treatment.

Simply stated, inputs can be categorized as physical and chemical. Chemical inputs are most usually through the gastro intestinal tract (GIT tract) or mouth. Physical inputs are mostly our relationship to gravity and furniture. Inadequate processing of these inputs leads to negative structural change until a threshold we recognise as pain and discomfort.

Of course arthritis and its many forms is the subject of intense inquiry by scientists around the world. Biochemical pathways are scrutinised in great detail. Most of the outcome from this research is directed towards finding chemical intervention strategies (drugs) or joint replacement techniques.

So what is new?

A closer look at what ails you, means discovering the causative inputs. The strategy becomes control of those inputs by either restriction or by improved processing. This brings us back to attentiveness, knowledge of disruptive inputs and techniques such as recursive modulation (careful retraining).

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