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Arthritis Can Be Delayed and Even Reversed

by Dr. Stephen Sinatra

Published 03/05/09

The winter of 2003 was the first one in 35 years when I couldn't enjoy skiing, and it sure wasn't for lack of snow. I had pain in both my left shoulder and right hip resulting from old sports injuries. The pain got so bad it made exertion unbearable. Reluctantly, I finally caved in and visited an orthopedic surgeon, who x-rayed both my shoulder and hip. As active as I've always been, you can imagine my shock when he informed me that I had calcium deposits in my shoulder and that, even worse, my right hip had lost so much cartilage that bone was rubbing against bone in one spot. I'd always figured that I might have pulled some ligaments, strained some tendons, or had some joint inflammation, but was I astounded when I saw my own hip x-ray! 

There it was as clear as day: Degenerative osteoarthritis had obliterated part of the joint space. I turned to my doctor and asked apprehensively if I'd need total hip replacement (THR) surgery. He nodded affirmatively and indicated that it would probably happen within the next few years. I was stunned as I realized the clock was ticking. 

So now I'm on a mission to try to preserve the cartilage in my right hip and hopefully halt, or even reverse, the bone and joint decline that happen to all of us with aging and degenerative osteoarthritis. But this is no easy task. 

If You Rebuild It, It Will Move 

As a physician and author of several books, I've pored over research on topics like inflammation for the last 25 years. But feeling the urgency in my own life, I've become obsessed with finding and reading all that I can about degenerative joint disease. It's the challenge of actually rebuilding damaged cartilage that really overwhelms me. Let's face it. I'm in-the-know enough to have been ahead of the pack among my peers regarding the benefits of nutritional supplements. I have taken glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate for years to ease the discomfort in my left shoulder, and they have helped. But I haven't been very happy with my own long-term results.

Consider that there are probably 50 nutraceuticals alone that have been touted to ease the pain of osteoarthritis. The list seems endless. There are glucosamine, chondroitin sulfate, boswellin, white willow bark, sea cucumber, cat's claw, MSM, ginger, turmeric, Wobenzym, omega-3s, omega-6s, licorice root, astragalus, cherry juice, phosphatidylcholine, hyaluronic acid, ginkgo, and dozens of herbs from China, Asia, and Australia. Some of you may have even tried apitherapy, a complex name for what is commonly known as bee venom therapy (BVT).

Trust me, I've tried most of them, and while some have helped me, nothing I've taken has actually halted the progressive deterioration of my joints. And I'll never know for sure if the process was slowed down by these interventions. Maybe without them, I would have had to face this problem back in my early forties instead of now. 

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