Joint inflammation is a very painful, with multiple sets of conditions (100), progressively leading to joint damage, deformity and loss of mobility. Swelling of extremity joints is the hallmark of the syndrome. Chronic pain, disability and death are unfortunate results.
Joint inflammation problems include:
- pain
- stiffness
- damage to joint cartilage (the tough, smooth tissue that covers the ends of the bones, enabling them to glide against one another) and surrounding structures.
Below we discuss how Chinese medicine for pain and food therapy are employed to bring these conditions back to balance.
UNDERSTANDING JOINT INFLAMMATION
Joint Imbalance doesn’t happen overnight and once understood, can resolve quicker than you realize. According to Chinese medicine, the primary problem underlying arthritis is obstruction with painful results. In varying amount, there is a weakness of both the Liver and Kidneys and deficiency of the body energy (qi). The blood develops obstruction due to cold weather or internal damp-heat or drying imbalanced characteristics. The condition includes:
- cold or hot and painful joints
- difficulty in flexing and extending the joints
- aversion to cold or hot with attraction to the opposite condition
- In some cases the limbs and joints will be aching, numb, painful
- overall physical body feels heavy
- tongue is a light pink or dark red
There are graduating arthritic conditions where the site of pain and deformity is more intense, with heat or cold predominating, however, the primary appraoch is to get the obstruction to move. This is arrived at by altering the inner environment by opposing the wind-cold/hot-damp/dry and varying any external surroundings aiding the blockage. Additional attention needs to be given to the general emotional state that may indirectly support the blockage.
HOW DO WE GET BETTER?
“We are what we eat.” Most of us would agree that most conditions of imbalance are determined by what we put in our mouth. We unintentionally produce imbalances by not being conscious of how important this concern is, particularly in the mid to elderly years.If we select foods and supplements which break down our homeostasis then it would benefit us to become very attentive to our constitution and foods which improve equilibrium. Below, you can begin to choose foods that deliver balance for this obstructive condition:
Foods That Benefit & Foods To Avoid
Foods to Counter Joint Pain: Asparagus, Cabbage (poultice & ingestion), Celery, Cod, Cherry, Chives, Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Garlic, Ginger, Goats milk, Grape, Kelp, Oranges, Papaya, Pineapple (Bromelain), Pumpkin Seeds, Royal Jelly, Scallions, Sesame oil, Spelt, Spirulina, Soy products, Strawberry, Sprouts (mung, red clover, radish, mustard, lentil, adzuki, garbanzo, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds), Tumeric, Water melon, Barley products, Wheat grass products, Alfalfa products (tablets, tea), Chlorophyll foods, Almonds (5-6 dy.),
Foods to Avoid: Excess meat (some fish is best), Excess protein, Intoxicants (alcohol, coffee, tobacco, marijuana, etc.), refined sugar and other sweets, Oxalic acid foods (rhubarb, cranberry, plum, chard, beet greens, spinach), Solanine foods (Nightshade family veggies: tomato, eggplant, bell pepper, potato, if sensitive), Dairy (cow’s milk & bi-products), Nuts, Nut butters, oil-rich seeds
