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Author Topic: Aging, arthritis, joint pain...  (Read 1850 times)

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Dick Rees

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Aging, arthritis, joint pain...
« on: July 05, 2019, 03:11:58 PM »

Friends...

As a life-long musician it was inevitable that I'd have to deal with issues of repetitive stress, nerve damage and other debilitating injuries sooner or later.  I post this to offer hope to the afflicted.

Over the past ten years or so I experienced increased joint swelling in my thumbs, index fingers and even my big toes.  Sharp pains developed making it intolerable to offer or receive a simple handsgake.
Painful twitching spasms in my toes signaled the onset of a gout-like condition and began to diminish the quality of my nightly rest.

Good news!!!

After consulting my chiropractor, my masseuse and various friends in the medical profession, I can report that 7 months after a change in diet I am almost pain free (90+% reduction) and the swelling in my joints has been noticeably reduced.  What changes were made?

SUGAR.  I cut down on or eliminated all foods with refined sugar, high-fructose corn syrup or any of the chemical sweeteners so rife in todays foods.  This seems to be one of, if not THE bad actors.

 N.B.  ALCOHOL is sugar concentrate.

SALT.  Reduced my intake by about 50%.

ANTI-OXIDANTS.  I increased the number of ingredients in our diet (I'm the cook in our house) with anti-oxidant properties and added tart cherry juice to my daily regimen.  I also advocate the use of arnica in its various forms, both oral and topical.

Please feel free to ask any questions or share your own experience.  I wish you all good health and pain-free skweezing.

DR
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Steve_freereeder

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Re: Aging, arthritis, joint pain...
« Reply #1 on: July 05, 2019, 03:22:39 PM »

That's good news Dick.

I have arthritis too in my knees and fingers but keep it at bay in a similar fashion to your regime. I also take vegetarian glucosamine hydrochloride tablets once a day which also seems to help significantly (I notice if I stop taking them).
https://www.lambertshealthcare.co.uk/glucosamine/

 
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george garside

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Re: Aging, arthritis, joint pain...
« Reply #2 on: July 07, 2019, 10:42:11 PM »

I have arthritis in  fingers of both hands, toes and right shoulder.     Its counter intuitive  but the more I play the easier it gets  so eg most days I play morning and evening for around half an hour to exercise  the digits etc.   If for any reason I can't play for a few days it gets worse again.  As one medic told me 'use it or lose it'  and certainly in my case that was very good advice and has also enabled me to cut down on prescribed anti inflammatory medication

george
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Winston Smith

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Re: Aging, arthritis, joint pain...
« Reply #3 on: July 08, 2019, 12:23:34 AM »

I have arthritic joints all over the place! Sometimes they're very painful, and sometimes they're not. My experience, so far, has been that when the "disforming" is actually occurring, they hurt like mad, but when they stop, the pain eases dramatically.
I've stopped taking/applying anti-inflammatories and painkillers as I've found that they take quite a long time to really have much effect, and then I'm left seriously wondering if the pain would have subsided by then by itself?
Thankfully, this hasn't affected my being able to play, yet. But I tend not to play for more than 30 to 45 minutes at a time.
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The Oul' Boy

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Re: Aging, arthritis, joint pain...
« Reply #4 on: June 13, 2023, 07:42:21 AM »

I've been playing melodeon for a few years now but this year I have started getting swelling and pain in my left wrist (I think the capitate bone; anyway, the big one and it's even bigger than normal on my left hand). This isn't isolated; I've been getting pain and swelling in my left foot and toes too (waiting to see the podiatrist...), and bits of pain in other joints that comes and goes.

So is swelling in the capitate (which makes some use of the hand, such as tilting saucepans, very painful) a common melodeon injury, and is there anything I can do to help it, or am I, like some of the rest of you, starting to get arthritis (the doctors so far have been very non-committal and blood tests have come back 'normal')? It's not really affecting my melodeon playing but I wonder if that's helping to irritate things. (Dick mentioned cutting out sugar; this helps, but I have such a sweet tooth it also makes life a misery!)

Thanks!
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Warren M (Edinburgh, formerly Tyneside and Tyrone)
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Re: Aging, arthritis, joint pain...
« Reply #5 on: June 13, 2023, 09:19:25 AM »

(Dick mentioned cutting out sugar; this helps, but I have such a sweet tooth it also makes life a misery!)

A "sweet tooth" is acquired by years of training. Cutting out sugar will similarly take time before it stops feeling like there's something wrong.
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Chris Ryall

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Re: Aging, arthritis, joint pain...
« Reply #6 on: June 13, 2023, 09:47:34 AM »

A bit of medical insight

The capitate bone isn’t technically in at the wrist joint. It’s more or less middle of the hand, about one third of the way from your wrist to your knuckles. It is the largest metacarpal and the others sort of rotate around it. isolated arthritis. There is rare as the more peripheral bones take most of the friction.

        https://www.physio-pedia.com/Capitate

if you have gout, you’ll know about it! There is a simple blood test. most hand and finger joint arthritis is due to hydroxyapatite crystals. It is very much age-related.

  sugar, and salt, don’t directly affect joints, and don’t have much in the way of indirect effects. They are best moderated for many other reasons! fructose syrup goes down the sugar pathway, and is more or less the same metabolically. As an intermediate metabolite the energy “hit” is faster. As far as I know, artificial sweeteners don’t cause arthritis. that will have been checked before they were approved. Anything you have read on the net is likely to be … speculation.

   alcohol doesn’t affect joints either … except by putting on weight. Morris dancers knees, et cetera.

modern skin application, anti-inflammatories are excellent!  I use volterol, as sparingly as possible. Arnica seems to be effective in the same way. It is not really pharmaceutical, but many of my dancing friends swear by it.  it certainly reduces swelling around inflamed joints.

I am 70 now and starting to get various small joint arthritis. Basically the human body wasn’t designed to live this long. We evolved in the African Rift Valley, where life expectancy was probably about … 40 at best. There is no archeological evidence that Australopithecus played either concertina, or melodeon 😉 Yes YES. Keep those joints moving!
« Last Edit: June 13, 2023, 09:53:46 AM by Chris Ryall »
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george garside

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Re: Aging, arthritis, joint pain...
« Reply #7 on: June 13, 2023, 11:21:46 AM »

just a thought (something I do occasionaly have!)  Using the hands and fingers to effectively hold the box as well as playing the tune  can only add to any hand/finger aches and pains.  I have always used two padded carefully adjusted shoulder straps  on all boxes fro csmall2 row to 3 row 96 bass.
  fingers play absolutely  no part in holding the box. 
the keyboard  is always where it should be  and most importantly  my fingers are only  being used to play the notes  ( and my thumb is resting LIGHTLY on the edge of the keyboard  so it can slide  along facilitating  using all the notes and playing in all octaves.

most if not all boxes come with two shoulder straps which the manufacturers  presumably think we will all use and there is n0thing cool  about  contorting your boddy to look??????????????  "coool"

I am 80  and have the usual arthritis here and there but  can and do play sometimes fast stuff easily.

for what its worth I consider the best strap setting  is to put the top of the box a stretched haandswidth below the chin ( looking straight ahead)  and so the treble keybord is directly under the chin when looking straight ahead.

It can slso help to play with  minimal bellows opening (according to which bit of which tune is being played.

What are the advantages of  waving the bellows in the wind  or towards the floor  and playing with your upper body leaning at a

strange angle

george (ducking for cover ;)
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Pearse Rossa

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Re: Aging, arthritis, joint pain...
« Reply #8 on: June 13, 2023, 03:41:36 PM »

sugar, and salt, don’t directly affect joints, and don’t have much in the way of indirect effects.
Very misleading statement. https://www.healthshots.com/healthy-eating/nutrition/4-foods-you-must-avoid-if-you-suffer-from-stiff-joints/

Quote
alcohol doesn’t affect joints either … except by putting on weight.
Also misleading.  https://www.arthritiscenters.net/3-bad-habits-can-make-arthritis-worse#:~:text=Alcohol's%20inflammatory%20effects%20can%20aggravate,also%20inhibit%20normal%20joint%20healing.
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Theo

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Re: Aging, arthritis, joint pain...
« Reply #9 on: June 13, 2023, 04:07:42 PM »

Agreed Pearse,  a family member has joint pain that is exacerbated by sugar and alcohol intake.
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The Oul' Boy

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Re: Aging, arthritis, joint pain...
« Reply #10 on: June 13, 2023, 08:36:37 PM »

Thanks all. You reassure me that even if it's a bit of arthritis it's not the end of my playing just yet.

On the sugar front, I've definitely noticed an effect. Of course almost 50 years of training takes a bit of getting over!
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Chris Ryall

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Re: Aging, arthritis, joint pain...
« Reply #11 on: June 13, 2023, 10:12:13 PM »

Very misleading statement. https://www.healthshots.com/healthy-eating/nutrition/4-foods-you-must-avoid-if-you-suffer-from-stiff-joints/

Quote
alcohol doesn’t affect joints either … except by putting on weight.
Also misleading.  https://www.arthritiscenters.net/3-bad-habits-can-make-arthritis-worse#:~:text=Alcohol's%20inflammatory%20effects%20can%20aggravate,also%20inhibit%20normal%20joint%20healing.

  OK, mate. Here’s NHS advice on diet and arthritis. It’s written by proper doctors and dietiticians and is evidence based. “Here’s what I read on the internet” generally isn’t.

  Do watch your weight and eat a balanced diet. But the stuff on calcium metabolism seemed particularly bizarre. There is a sodium/calcium interchange mechanism at cell level, but with regards to diet and excretion, both are strongly, and separately regulated by hormone systems. Also calcium is about the strength of your bones, not your joints. It is, of course a good idea to continue to absorb some in your diet …
« Last Edit: June 13, 2023, 10:13:50 PM by Chris Ryall »
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Pearse Rossa

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Re: Aging, arthritis, joint pain...
« Reply #12 on: June 14, 2023, 01:12:12 AM »

OK, mate. Here’s NHS advice on diet and arthritis.

You got it wrong, mate. Let's just leave it at that.
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The Oul' Boy

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Re: Aging, arthritis, joint pain...
« Reply #13 on: June 14, 2023, 08:00:41 AM »

The capitate bone isn’t technically in at the wrist joint. It’s more or less middle of the hand, about one third of the way from your wrist to your knuckles. It is the largest metacarpal and the others sort of rotate around it. isolated arthritis. There is rare as the more peripheral bones take most of the friction.

Looking at diagrams again, I think it's actually the trapezoid bone, the one you can feel as a bump (or at least mine is a bump!) at the base of the first finger metacarpal. Not necessarily arthritis (it might be tendonitis), but will see. Can't really see why that joint on the left hand would be harmed by melodeon playing.
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Warren M (Edinburgh, formerly Tyneside and Tyrone)
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Re: Aging, arthritis, joint pain...
« Reply #14 on: June 14, 2023, 09:57:44 AM »

If it's arthritis, Enbrel:
https://www.enbrel.com/
Safe, in general no side effects, only bloody expensive.
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