Richard Blau - Too Young to Feel Old: The Arthritis Doctors 28-Day Formula for Pain-Free Living

I F YOU BELIEVE that joint pain is a natural and inevitable consequence of aging, youre certainly not alone. Most people do. The idea is that our parts wear out just like the moving parts of a cars engine, and there is nothing we can do about it. Sounds logical. Seems reasonable. And it would be if we were made of metal and plastic. Luckily for us, were made of tougher stuff.

Unlike a car, the human body is composed of material designed to repair and maintain itself. It mends bones, heals wounds, kills germs, gets rid of poisons, and performs millions of other complex biological processes every day in order to stay healthy, whether were young or old. That doesnt mean that our parts never wear out, but with a little tender, loving care from its owner, a body can get through a lifetime feeling good, strong, flexible, and young.

The fact is that theres nothing predestined about joint pain. Its no more natural or inevitable than diabetes or cancer. It isnt necessarily associated with age, and it often has nothing to do with the natural wearing out of the bodys tissue. The pain comes from a common disease, so lets call it what it is: arthritis.

Arthritis has many causes and appears in more than one hundred forms, the two most common of which are rheumatoid and osteoarthritis. Whatever the variety, however, from the everyday to the most exotic, they all share one characteristic in common: joint inflammation. Its that inflammation, not wear and tear, that is the hallmark of the disease and the main cause of its symptoms: pain, swelling, and stiffness.

Like many diseases, youre better off dealing with arthritis in its earliest stages, but unfortunately, that rarely happens. Why? Because as mentioned above, people believe joint pain is an inevitable, natural consequence of aging, so when they first begin to feel it, they dont take it seriously. Heres a typical story.

Wendy was a 51-year-old office manager who gave piano lessons to school children in the evenings to earn extra income for her family. With a garden to tend on the weekends and a hyperactive Border Collie to care fornot to mention a husband, a teenage daughter still living at home, and three grandchildren who frequently came for visits slowing down never seemed an option for her. She depended on her body to be up, running, and in perfect condition every morning at 6 a.m. And so it was... until a morning arrived when it didnt seem quite as perfect as usual.

On that day, she awoke to strange sensations in her hands, especially her fingers. When she tried to move them, she felt a sharp twinge, almost like a bad sting, followed by a cold, achy stiffness. Several times she balled her fingers into fists, as if tightening and un-tightening them would work out the kinks, but that didnt help much.

She felt an even sharper jolt as she turned the valve handles in the shower stall, and a new ache in her hand below her thumb made her drop her bar of soap. She tried to remember if she had demonstrated any particularly demanding passages for one of her piano students the previous evening. It was the only explanation that made senseexcept that she had touched the keyboard only twice to play a simple scale. So if not the piano, then what? What had she done to herself ? Then the unthinkable occurred to her: