osteoarthritis and joints

adduction is the movement of a limb toward the midline of the body

the opposite of adduction is abduction

“ A 20 percent increase in the peak knee adduction moment is associated with a 6-fold or greater increase in the risk of knee OA progression over 6 years.

Overall, the peak knee adduction moment when walking in shoes was 7.4% higher than when walking barefoot. The effect of footwear, however, varied considerably among individuals. While most demonstrated an increased knee adduction moment while wearing shoes, 6 of the 40 subjects actually demonstrated a beneficial decrease.

The use of a cane resulted in a striking 10 percent average decrease in the knee adduction moment. What's more, a quarter of the participants demonstrated a reduction of more than 20 percent. While individuals tended to walk more slowly with the cane than unaided, they exhibited greater stride length and improved pelvis control, alleviating the destructive load on the affected knee ”

“ reducing joint loading in medial knee osteoarthritis: shoes and canes ”

eileen's comment: “ i guess that's what the compendium has done for my knees ”

andrew's comment: according to that study the knee has quite good self repair mechanisms that somehow the full span of the compendium and BCD approach is able to tap into !

interestingly this study says that subcondral bone spurs are the root cause of ostearthritis!

the pic is very illuminating, uneven bone building stands out a mile !...

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“ Several lines of evidence suggest that various nutritional supplements can improve osteoarthritis conditions, including antioxidant vitamins (C and E), non-antioxidant vitamins (D and B), glucosamine, chondroitin sulfates, trace elements (boron, selenium, zinc and copper), avocado-soybean unsaponifiables and fish oil. ” study

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SHOULDERS

watch those shoulders! they are free floating joints and fragile

the damage is done with repetitive actions of the arms above chest height and also carrying too much weight so the acromial-clavicular joint gets stressed and set on the path to partial and complete dislocation

skin vitamin D and the compendium pumps up muscle reducing the acromional space in the shoulder while also creating a strength and ability to stress the joint outside the developmental parameters, plus immune stimulation with the potential to induce osteoarthritis, so you need to be careful to reduce shoulder stress

however vitamin D is essential in reducing osteoarthritis because it counters the effect of cartilage injury upregulating genes governing inflamation or adverse subchondrial bone changes, i find 1000iu of oral vitamin D daily very helpful for this, also skin D

while oral vitamin D is very useful, i do feel that the right sun or broad spectrum uvb from my homebuilt uvb lamps are essential for joint issues

maybe sun/uvb somehow improves the immune system's tolerance of collagen, one can only guess ..........

“ Identification of the Molecular Response of Articular Cartilage to Injury, by Microarray Screening: Wnt-16 Expression and Signaling After Injury and in Osteoarthritis ” study

“ Wnt activity may be important in OA, possibly driving bone changes in disease, such as osteophyte formation, but not necessarily directly injury-regulated. ”

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copper helps, but you need zinc, manganese, selenium and the full compendium

human shoulder design trades off a wide movement range against strength and damage resistance, be wary of repetitive, above chest height actions with the arms

joint tissues have a reasonable natural rebuild rate so by minimising use and wear and tear and autoimmunity you are allowing the natural rebuild rate to dominate

autoimmunity is the tough one since it goes for cartilage

the net repair rate is slow which is the difference between the natural rebuild rate and ongoing damage

same for bone fractures or breaks except longer

the main thing is reduced loading, thats my experience, its important to stop the bone on bone wear which induces the osteo which makes the immune system strip the cartilage faster than it can reform

i damaged the acromioclavicular joint (eorthopod) on my right shoulder from the jarring when using a blocksplitter on extremely hard wood and the strategy i am taking with my shoulder is to minimise use of it by using my left arm for as much as i can

i think the injury was a combination of ligament and cartilage damage and osteoarthritis, i never realised the acromioclavicular joint was a true joint

“ osteoarthrosis is a physiologic imbalance, a "joint failure" similar to "heart failure," in which mechanical factors play a role. The initiation and progression of cartilage damage are distinct phenomena. One of the mechanisms of initiation may be a steep stiffness gradient in the underlying subchondral bone.

Progression of cartilage lesions probably requires stiffened subchondral bone. In such situations, transverse stresses at the base of the articular cartilage could cause deep horizontal splits in that tissue. The most likely cause of subchondral stiffening in an otherwise congruent joint is repeated failure of the musculoskeletal peak dynamic force attenuation mechanisms.

(ed. in other words the huge recoil forces generated by block spitting wood thats too hard and effectively stops the block splitting head within 2 mm of the entry point into the wood, is outside the ability of the shoulder to dampen so causing horizontal splits in the cartilage and the oesteo sets in and maintains the damage)

The health and integrity of the overlying articular cartilage depends on the mechanical properties of its bony bed. In certain models of osteoarthrosis, alterations of the bony bed occur before the cartilage changes and suggest that this can occur in clinical conditions. Stiffening of the subchondral bone also can effect joint conformation, which involves deformation of articular cartilage and bone to create maximum contact areas under load. ”

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osteoarthritis is too many of the bodies resources going into beating ones own body up

its basically a failure of cartilage which only regrows to the extent of covering the bone in a thin layer, bulk once lost, is lost

its rather galling to find oneself like a car with bald tyres and little prospect of replacement

once bone starts rubbing on bone you get an autoimmune cycle which strips away what little cartilage that might be replaced again

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“ Cartilage is the skeleton's shock absorber, and its stiffness, strength and other mechanical properties derive not from living cartilage cells but from the densely woven matrix of collagen and proteoglycan that surrounds them. This extracellular matrix, or ECM, is produced during cartilage development in children, but cannot be repaired following injury in adulthood.

Injured cartilage often serves as the focal point for arthritis formation, so tissue engineers have long sought a means of growing new cartilage that can be transplanted into adults to repair damaged joints before arthritis can develop. Unfortunately, cartilage is difficult to engineer, in part because there are no natural healing processes to mimic. ”

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i am treating the joint injury a bit like rsi and also trying to offload onto the left hand as much movement as i can

to be truely ambidextrous requires a considerable while to work in, so just be patient, vigilant and let the brain changes take place

also i notice some hereditary weaking of the left hand and a close relative has left arm muscle wasting (at an advanced age) so i am quite keen to avoid this : o )

so i think using the left hand much more will counter this tendency in the left hand and also stop the right hand becoming more dominant which i think is a negative feature of aging anyway !

when i was writing this i thought umm... and switched back to using my mouse in my left hand which in fact i normally try to do !

recursive that : o )

since the acromioclavicular joint supports the shoulder blade, i found its also important not to carry any heavy weight with the right hand as the weight just pulls the shoulder blade away from the trying to heal joint

generally i kept the arm movement just out of the discomfort area and certainly not in the pain area

i have stopped using trouser braces and gone back to a belt, the pressure of the braces reduces blood flow to the acromioclavicular ligament in the shoulder, most likely bra straps act in a similar way

braces really are a problem, after my shoulder had been good for a while, i started wearing them again and the AC joint got damaged within days, albeit exacerbated by taping a firewood stack into place

"Backpack straps typically rest on an area of the body where they compress the axillary vein which causes abnormally high blood pressure inside the veins and a subsequent decrease of blood flow in the shoulders and arms." study

sleeping with the arm by the head and not the side compresses or pinches the axillary arteries and veins and thier tributaries, decreasing blood flow in a similar way

the 40 degree position of the arm from the side seems to create maximal subacromial space, i tie my arm to a sash around my waist when sleeping to stop the arm going much higher

you can see why repetitive overarm use causes shoulder injury, you get muscle, ligament, tendon and joint damage, but reduced blood flow at the same time so less repair and more scar tissue and it accumulates

daily aerobic exercise maybe useful for oxygenating the ligament repair, but the arms want to be kept below chest height

there may be a bone spur issue as well, bone spurs are not jagged but usually raised bone which can be rough or smooth

"Any traumatic injury to the joint, its ligaments or supporting muscles makes the joint unstable. The increased stress on the joint cartilage may lead to arthritis."

so long term there needs to be a rearrangement of load use between the arms to minimise instability stress and arthritis on the now permanently damaged right acromioclavicular joint

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i think what happens is if you get an injury and the position of the bones becomes slightly different and the ligaments and tendons are pulling a bit different the bone then changes shape to provide the right strengths for the new stress pattern

unfortunately the body does not seem to be able to feed back to the bone that its growing into an area that is creating impingment problems

so a healing sleeping position, movement limitations, and reduced use of the bone should in theory be able to affect changes in the right direction by changing the loading on the bone and also allow bone roughness to smooth and stress accreted bone to be reduced

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recoil from hammering or use of the axe is a well known cause of tendon damage

"an indirect force may be transmitted up the arm as a result of a fall on an outstretched hand. The force continues through the humeral head to the acromial process, displacing it superiorly and stressing the acromioclavicular ligaments. The coracoacromial ligaments are not injured with this type of mechanism." emedicine

cahill in 1982 noted the presence of microfractures in the subchondral bone in 50% of his cases and proposed that repetitive microtrauma caused subchondral stress fractures and remodeling.

he reported on 45 male athletes with distal clavicle osteolysis, confirming repetitive microtrauma as an etiology. forty-four of cahill's patients were weight lifters.

another page says these issues resolve in about one to two years with changes in the way the joint is used which seems about the right time scale article

"Interestingly, after surgery to repair the ACL injury, the radionuclide uptake into the subchondral bone was shown to decline, suggesting that restoration of more normal loading may be able to mitigate the bone remodeling effects observed."

"possible role of subchondral bone in the osteoarthrtius process" article

also page 2 of that article and the role of matrix metalloproteinases is very interesting

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i don't think skin applications of stuff help joints or ligaments much, the blood from the skin goes back to the kidneys and liver and usually doesn't transport significant amounts of whatever is in the ointment to the area of interest

emu fat/oil had some mild pain reducing effect and enhancement of limb mobility

excessive olive oil and avacados, by inhibiting prostagladin production, retard healing of the joint and can exacerbate the effects of osteoarthritis

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why bones, ligaments and cartilidge are slow to heal, and to some extent tendons as well, is that they need stem cells which have to migrate to the right positions

so you can see why the young heal quick and the old slowly

mammals are designed to self destruct through auto immunity issues as they age, so you need to think very carefully about movements, weight and loads on the joints and ligaments as you get older, especially past 50

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glucosamine hydrochloride is supposed to be preffered to glucosamine sulphate (less laxative?), but both it and chrondroiton are degraded by a healthy digestion and may depend upon a poor digestion and leaky gut to get across into the blood

"Poly-N-acetyl-glucosamine polymers are found in biofilm matrices in a large variety of bacterial species, including Staphylococcus species and Escherichia coli"

"In addition, N-acetyl-glucosamine in the matrix was found to be important for the initial development of the biofilm. These results suggest that B. bronchiseptica biofilm formation is growth phase dependent in addition to being regulated by the Bvg virulence system."

i think biofilm must go for glucosamine and chrondroiton in the gut

"Unfortunately, through degradation during digestion and processing, almost all of the glucosamine in an animal's diet is unavailable for use. The body, therefore, synthesizes most of its own glucosamine through a biochemical reaction utilizing glucose." pet education.com

“ the bus driver said it either does wonders or does nothing, think he knows a few that might use it or have tried it ” (eileen)

“ high doses or prolonged use of glucosamine causes the death of pancreatic cells and could increase the risk of developing diabetes ” study

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my shoulder injury was caused by firewood splitting with a blocksplitter and the autoimmune excitation inducing osteoarthritis from applying 35% hydrogen peroxide to the skin as an antiviral

also, since i have a hooked acromion, i think some light overhead presses (2-3 kg an arm dumbells) had an adverse effect

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"The physiotherapists reason for the overhead press being a cautionary one for shoulder injuries was that the ligaments and tendons have to all roll in a way that allows the bone to remain in the socket for that range of motion. He used a shoulder model to demonstrate how the rotators twist in order to accomodate this motion, which decreases space in the shoulder socket. The smaller amount of space increases the likelihood of impingement due to ligaments being squeezed or rubbed under load. Also, the bursa sack, a barrier between the rotators and the clavical bone, can be irritated against the Acromo-clavicular joint, a very common rotator injury"

"I am expected to make a full recovery, but experience an oscillation of the shoulder feeling better then worse, until finally all better. "

thread

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i had a shoulder x ray (9th april 2008) and have already sorted out most of what the story is without going to the doctor by reading and looking at x rays via google on the web, its a partial dislocation of the acromioclavicular joint and some bone accretion/roughness on the underside of the clavicle and no doubt bone spurs in other areas and possibly in the ligaments

the other bones and cartilage "present normally"

injury promoting factors:

lugols, retinyl acetate, vit k, smoke, smoked fish, sleeping with arm by head, lifting and carrying heavy weights, lamp D?, hydrogen peroxide

ameliorating factors:

oral vit D, eye q, msm, fish oil, frequent small dose vitamin C (for collagen synthesis), gelatine/collagen broth, minimising repetitive use of the shoulder and not carrying heavy weights, broccoli (preferably organic - goitrogens? antioxidants? immune modulators?), sleeping on back with round cushion under knees so hand stays by the side during sleeping, zinc, povidine iodine, uvb lamp on joint skin vitamin D, uvb lamp skin vitamin D, vit k

the body does make cartilage, its just a slow process because it comes from a long chain though stem cells, (including a step, the rate of which is limited by the amount of vitamin C), and you need to have the osteoarthritis down enough that it doesn't destroy the cartilage at a rate faster than its made and also keep the wear rate right down

i have found the collagen broth with later very small doses of vitamin c so immediately effective, that i suspect it coats bone spurs, and in fact all bone must have some degree of coating of cartilage since bone being made is a progression from cartilage

“ the bone surface is not static but is being constantly remodeled by osteoclasts which remove bone and osteoblasts which fill in the removed hollows with collagen which then infuses with calcium and other bone minerals

vitamin a promotes osteoclasts and bone loss (resorption) and vitamin D inhibits osteoclasts ”

research shows that smoke has a very deleterious effect on blood vessels, their repair by endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs), and cartilage growth, this seems to cover smoke from burning wood, cigarettes (even second hand inhaled) and since taxi and other professional drivers have a lot of joint issues, i would assume vehicle exhaust has a similar effect

EPCs are circulating stem cells in the blood that play a key role in the repair mechanism of injured blood vessels. study

another study showing that smoke contains isocyanic acid which can induct osteoarthritis !

“ in the body isocyanic acid is part of a biochemical pathway linked with cataracts and inflammation that can trigger cardiovascular disease and rheumatoid arthritis ”

a study showing that second-hand cigarette smoke was associated with moderate to severe irritative bladder symptoms in children!

smoke slows cartilage formation and bone healing

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i bought a "V" pillow in town last night cheap and slept with it and also didn't tie my hand at the side so it can't rise above about 50 degree to my side like i usually do, and my shoulder is worse this morning

its too bad cause it was real comfortable

so sleeping on my back with a round cushion under my knees and a thinish pillow under the head, with one hand tied to my side with a dressing gown slash giving a bit of extension so there is some movement of the hand, but it can't rise above 40 degrees to the side seems to be what works and is very healing for the shoulder

when my shoulder got better (no longer sleeping on my back), i went back to a medium thickness pillow on top of a thin pillow as it seems to help stop me sleeping with my arms above my shoulders, reduces intraocular eye pressure and i think there may be an advantage to using a pillow with an antibacterial/fungal treatment as pillows become quite bacterial and fungal over a while !

an anti-bacterial pillow seems to help with acne !

the downside of the anti-bacterial treatment may be toxins, but it's hard to say !

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my appendix attack the 11th of may 08

sleeping on the back is a very static position and also seems to place the appendix at an angle it doesn't like, and is more prone to develop an obstruction which has actually happened to me, so i am working on not sleeping on the problem (right) shoulder and lying face down when in a position that would use this shoulder

the weight of the gut must act in such a way as to block the appendix sleeping on my back

probably there's a constant inflow and outflow of material into the appendix and it doesn't have to be blocked long for a problem to occur

however sleeping on the back is what gives the most healing to the acromioclavicular joint

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appendix pain is distinct , intially not being that specific to the appendix, but under the belly button, in the peri-umbilical area, then, as the appendix becomes more inflamed, it enlarges and the pain moves to its location to the right hand side of the stomach near and above the hip bone

breathing gets laboured from shock as the toxic appendix contents spill past the obstruction into the bowel, also there is a feeling that having a bowel movement would improve the situation.

the pain comes and goes in waves every half hour?, i had a peak pain wave and after that the pain peaks started dropping off, i took small amounts (45 mg?) of ester vitamin c every couple of hours to detoxify the poisons and help build up collagen in the gut wall.

also some vitamin A as an antibiotic and some vitamin E (maybe not a good idea?) once and a small amount of a B multi later

also squeezed half a lemon into hot water so that a pasturizing temperature of 68C was reached and drank that

i recovered in about 48 hours, but it was surprising how exhausted it left me, it was not a minor thing to happen.

in fact i think it was due to a virus going around that lasted about 2 weeks, not too bad but made me listless and fatigued with some episodes of depression, i didn't get a chest infection, but some i know of did

dr. john tilden photo has some good advice

an inflamed appendix is an out of control biofilm, but sleeping on the back is too static, the appendix must need the body movement to keep from being obstructed and to move lymph along from contiguous lymph nodes

i have read that the appendix not useless, but in good condition is a source of useful biofilm seeding, so you want to save it if you can

lymphoid hyperplasia is one cause also apparently, thats a swollen lymph node or nodes, which you might expect, i guess movement will help keep the lymph node smaller

“ spontaneously resolving appendicitis : if the obstruction of the appendiceal lumen is relieved, acute appendicitis may resolve spontaneously.this occurs if the cause of the symptoms is lymphoid hyperplasia or when a fecalith is expelled from the lumen ”

i did notice walking around helped, maybe massages the lymph nodes, also being upright in the later stages

in the usa standard testing is cat scan and mri, two very toxic testing modalities, ultrasound is less toxic

hospitals scare me too with their viralness, staph, insensitive and unthinking care, and bad food

update 14/6/18 : i had significant peri-umbilical pain on waking after an afternoon sleep, came from nowhere, rovsing's sign was positive so i knew for sure the pain was due to the appendix, but amazingly when i lay down on my left side on top of the bed to do a modified psoas /obturator test by pulling my right leg back with my right hand from the ankle, the pain completely disappeared permanently !

amazing, i still can't believe it, maybe it unblocked the entrance to the appendix or moved things along somehow !

a head or handstand could be another possibility as is a psoas or obturator test from under the covers as the bedding provides resistance

i had also taken vitamin A and vitamin K soonish after noting the intial pain, they are immune stimulators and may have also been a significant factor in the recovery !

i didn't eat from the onset of the pain !

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women may find putting the arm around a stuffed dog or similar helpful, i don't think males can sustain a holding reflex like that automatically over sleep

the concept is similar to the abduction pillow p285

i actually didn't find this approach that helpful, sleeping on my back was best with my arms about 30 to 40 degrees form my side, but the gut weighs on the appendix sleeping on the back, with the possibility of blocking it off

i think that with joint issues that its worth sorting out sleeping positions that the joint can heal in, rather than making it worse and that at least gives eight hours a day the joint can improve in

shoulder operations are not the whiz bang 100% cure-alls that people claim as is easy to see when they go in for their next operation

“ In medicine today, the primary therapy for loss of cartilage is replacement with a prosthetic material, such as silicone for cosmetic repairs, or metal alloys for joint realignment. The use of a prosthesis is commonly associated with the significant loss of underlying tissue and bone without recovery of the full function allowed by the original cartilage. The prosthesis is also a foreign body which may become an irritating presence in the tissues. Other long-term problems associated with the permanent foreign body can include infection, erosion and instability. ” patent

the shoulder is a fragile joint and weight lifting is just plain crazy

reading on the web, the horrendous joint injury price paid by athletes these days just jumps out, normal competition seems to demand injury area performance and it didn't used to be like that

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UVB THERAPY FOR OSTEOARTHRITIS

i have made a homebuilt compact broadband uvb lamp that seems to work very well in reducing the osteo on my right shoulder AC joint, i may run it (always keep it moving, never hold it still over one spot) over the acromioclavicular joints and clavicles when it's sore, being very cautious about burns as they can take hours to show from the intial exposure

however it's the overall body exposure to the uvb from the lamp that does the work to create large amounts of slow release vitamin D in the skin that seems to work best.

i think they use uvb lamps in eastern europe and russia where there is some sort of culture for using uvb lamps for skin vitamin D !

i am not recommending this for anyone else's use at all, its purely a description of what i and a friend are doing, ALWAYS consult a dermatologist before considering any therapeutic use of ultra-violet !

my page on moles

my experience is that using a UVB lamp , you will be faced with the need to have moles removed, again a matter for a dermatologist or doctor, tho personally i find the doctors here relucant to freeze moles without the circus of biopsies and the dermatologists have very long waiting lists for non-urgent stuff so i use a combination of some or all of the following:

35% food grade hydrogen peroxide, nappy rash cream (i had a very successful of a removal of an itchy keratosis type thing on my back with 35% HP followed several hours later by nappy rash cream which has zinc in !), iodine and liquid nitrogen when i can be bothered to get it as i have to get a large quantity and am not allowed to transport it inside a car :o(

why dermatologists and doctors are so tardy and slow to do the obvious to most moles which is simply use liquid nitrogen with several freeze thaw cycles to freeze them off, is that they are liable if the precancer/cancer is the metastasizing type or has that potential, so they insist on biopsies and often punch biopsy which is dangerous imo if in fact the moles is truely cancerous as this would push the cancer deeper ! :o()

anyway, this is just a description of what i do and am not recommending it for you, years ago before i got into the self-help side and uvb lamps, and being somewhat naive and panicky, had three or four of what i thought were suspicious dark moles surgically removed and biospies were done on them, all of which were negative and a dermatolgist (locally famous and adored by his women patients !) i saw said he didn't think i was the type to get melanoma so i took his good advice and haven't seen a doctor or dermatologist again

i wasn't a hypochondriac, but certainly fearful in those days, and i think with good reason being a ripe candidate for diabetes, macular degeneration, glaucoma, skin cancer and arthritis, but today i live sort of carefree thanx to what i have learnt and the BCD and compendium supplementation :o)

it's a marvellous thing to be in one's late fifties with some certainty of a lack of health problems over the coming decades, but who else is interested, no-one ! it's all too contrary to what the doctors, “trusted websites” and newspapers say and even worse requires quite a bit of work and thinking !

the new reflector orientation (at right angles to the plane of the tubes) is more efficient than the old (parallel to the plane of the tubes) , you may as well as no reflector as the old and in fact not having a reflector at all is an option !

the magnetic shielding foil surrounding the barnes bullet box is two strips of 190 x 65mm for two layers and giving some overlap so each layer completes a magnetic circuit and it really needs a magnetic field meter for placement

two 4.5mm holes have been drilled into the box for ventilation

my thinking on the bit of uvc in the /12 series philips uvb lamps is that firstly that the action spectrums for dna damage and some skin cancers ( but not melanoma as the action spectrum has probably a double focus including uva ) is centered on 290-300nm and slopes (fig 2) off considerably both sides, now as this span is also what produces maximal vitamin d, it's sorta hard to escape

the issues with uvc are erythemic and some additonal accumulated carcinogenic/hormesic action, also it's is very burning, particularly on the eye cornea (reversable)

basically it's a lesser continuation of the problems of the optimal vitamin d making band, 290 - 300nm, it is however minimally penetrating and the one change i am making is to leave half an hour between the scrub and shower i usually do before using the lamp so you get some build up of the attentuating body oils and dead skin : o )

the overall effect is hormesic, particularly with melanoma as this spectrum destroys melanocytes so one becomes fairer and moll darkness is eroded, the pigment is destroyed but the machinery for making it is not, one tans quite normally again on exposure to the sun

i still feel that the effect on other skin cancers is overall hormetic, that is, there is some carcinogenicity but a magority of hormesis !

however a majority is not zero risk and in fact an aggressive watch and removal of suspect moles and the like is necessary to get "overall hormesis"

this approach may seem a bit radical or close to the edge for some peopl in northern european countries with very limited sun exposure in their lives but in australasia skin cancer is very common with the intense sun expsoures some of us have had, we are already in the danger area so to speak : o)

if i was not doing the compendium and BCD fully with the strong immune excitation activity of this supplement program then i would have questions about the safety of using this lamp in this way, tho i don't think it causes melanoma and actually may even be protective against it because of the way it causes immune action against melanocytes (my speculation !)

rather actinic kertosis or basal or squamous cell carcinoma or something in that area is more problematic, especially on a background of high childhood and teenage sun exposure such as i had in new zealand, the beach in summer and skiing in winter!

also, very importantly, i proactively remove suspicious moles by freezing or a combination of topical iodine and 35% food grade hydrogen peroxide !

i did intend to use this lamp when travelling, but after reading about how much of a problem the mercury from a broken tube was, it didn't seem such a good idea to risk taking it, especially as it would have to be in luggage, however next time i travel, i may take it, its too useful to leave behind.

ultraviolet lamps can be obtained from prolight

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sometimes i wonder if my compact uvb lamp does anything, but i gave my shoulder a fair dose with it to the extent i slightly burnt the skin

this was after lifting some too heavy water containers that made the AC joint sore again

but my shoulder is real good now , a day or two later

a friend also has used it on her shoulder (for a different condition, bursa?) applying it where the top of the arm joins on (december 2008)

she writes:

“ i think my shoulder has substantially improved cos of that too, its only been this last 6 or so weeks so its got to be the lamp which i have been doing for about 2 mths or a bit less

just this last 2 mths its done an acceleration of improvement so id say it is the lamp

still can't put my arm up behind my back but the pain has subsided quite a lot when i do other things that used to cause quite a bit of pain now its dulled or sort of delayed

like the echo of an ache as opposed to a sharp ache ”

my comments:

you are looking for local blood diffusion from the irridated skin to go to the area that needs the skin vitamin D and other factors, so placement of the irridation will be trial and error

also it will pay to wash the area being irridated before lamping to maximise uvb conversion in the skin

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the compact uvb lamp seems to work very well for heel and arch pain aka plantar fasciitis

“ i ran the small lamp over my heel and sole last night and it's pretty well 90% fixed my foot on just that ”

i think it works particularly well for the foot because the plantar fascia runs right along the inside of sole of the foot

i did the inside of the ankle, the back of the ankle, the heel and the top and sole of the foot

i think the compact uvb lamp tube needs a wipe down with rubbing alcohol before use

also walking barefoot for a portion of the day is necessary to flex the foot muscles and plantar fascia so they develop right

strong/intense sunlight on the sole of the foot is , i think, more effective with it's infrared and red as well !

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“ men were immunosuppressed by solar simulated UV doses three times lower than those required to immunosuppress women. ” study

which may make this therapy quite a bit less effective for women

my comments on eye protection

i don't need to sleep on my back any more because of the use of this lamp, which is just as well, as i got a sore appendix from that

i also take 1000iu vitamin d3 regularly/occasionally (depending on how painful the joint is) and "eye q" efa capsules and other supplements

it may be that the improvement i noticed is not a standalone effect but a synergy with the oral D, since the skin irridation by itself would be somewhat pro-inflamatory.

the "eye q" also seems important, i am not sure why

i have got burnt holding a new tube too close for too long, a good illustration of the integrated nature of doses though (short time x intense = long time x weak)

maybe just a flick over is all thats needed

when you turn on the tube, initally you will see (through the goggles!) bands along the tube length, this is unmixed gases and i wait until the bands are almost gone before using

you don't want the tube to get too hot as high phosphor temps also tend to drop off the phosphor emission efficiency, though i can't say i have seen this effect with this particular tube

i find i can use it without a mirror on the AC joint, but a full length mirror is best though a small hand held mirror can work

the case that acts as the handle has a wrap of a magnetic shielding material around it to protect the hand which is in very close proximity to an intense magnetic field from the electronic ballast inside the case

you can get special magnetic field shielding materials supplier

also check out my magnetic fields write-up

i am not recommending the use or building of this at all, it's a purely informational description, please always consult a dermatologist with a good reputation before considering the therapeutic use of uvb.

my experience of uvb is you need to be very vigilant about moles and their removal write-up

i also run it over my thyroid, i don't have thryoid autoimmunity disease but it may well be therapeutic for that or helping prevent it

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135° THE BEST SITTING ANGLE FOR THE BACK

135° is how i get a quick sleep in the 4wd if tired when driving, just put the seat right back and snooze

bbc article

“ Disk movement was found to be most pronounced with a 90° upright sitting posture. ”

i love that, worse than slouching forward, generations have been taught to sit in the position that best damages the disks

“ It was least pronounced with the 135° posture, suggesting less strain is placed on the spinal disks and associated muscles and tendons in a more relaxed sitting position. ”

“ In general, opening up the angle between the trunk and the thighs in a seated posture is a good idea and it will improve the shape of the spine, making it more like the natural S-shape in a standing posture.

As to what is the best angle between thigh and torso when seated, reclining at 135° can make sitting more difficult as there is a tendency to slide off the seat: 120° or less may be better. ”

my comment:

kneeling type chairs are way the best as even sitting with the back at a 120° angle still seems to put the weight on the prostate, bladder and lower intestine/appendix in a way thats not right

of course the normal 90° chair sitting position really scrunches up the lower gut, prostate and bladder in a way that must have health consequences

the prostate contains proteolytic enzymes in a mildly alkaline enviroment and its the action of these enzymes that is probably responsible for prostate cancer

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PROBLEMS WITH OVER-STIMULATION OF THE IMMUNE SYSTEM AS U GET OLDER

i took half a vitamin k2 today before going to town and forgot to take vit D today and also haven't used the lamp, also took a germanium earlier, plus oral and skin iodine, so am on the upside of strong immune stimulation

i can feel a twinge in my hips and an occasional soreness in my good shoulder so i presume that there is some induction of more osteo in this more hyper immune state

the whole problem is the way mammals are designed to self destruct through a lack of differentiation in what immune system targets since the thymus keeps shrinking and producing less of the regulatory T cells that destroy immune cells that might attack the bodies own protiens

over 50, its just going to get worse each year

as as far as i can see its a deliberate evolutionary design to make sure that the gene pool for mammal species is not swamped by over-successful breeders which then reduces the range of genes and expression that a species needs to ride through the inevitable near extinction events

this knobbling of over-successful breeders may be a reason that mammals have survived and the non-avian dinosaurs didn't

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MY SHOULDER IS FEELING QUITE A BIT BETTER ALSO DIETARY AND OTHER FACTORS

lung cooked optimally which about 4 to 8 hours (completely submerged) in a broth or casserole is a big help because lungs have digestible chondroitin sulfate proteoglycans

very tender lungs (young!) can be sliced and shallow pan fried

lungs and especially australian possum lungs are the premium food for joints

whole caracass wallaby/possum broth with some gelatine added is also useful but lungs are way the most signficant

the trachea also has chondroitin in

i think we used to get signficant lung and other important offal like thyroids in sausages, what happens now i am not sure but suspect that a lot of offal now ends up in pet food and not part of human eaten sausages to our very great nutritional detriment

sulforaphane (in cruciferous vegetables, particularly broccoli) blocks the enzymes that cause joint destruction in osteoarthritis (the most common form of arthritis)

also diallyl disulphide which is found in high amounts in garlic appears to slow the destruction of cartilage in laboratory models study

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the compact uvb lamp which seems to work better with just the bare tube and no reflector, it also seemed to work better on just scrubbed and washed shoulders so maybe absolute intensity is important

plus about 2 months from the last skin application of hp, the immune reactivity must be winding down

pasturised (68C/155F) freshly squeezed lemon or orange juice, frequent low dose supplemental vitamin C may help but lemon/orange juice seem to provide something extra that is also needed, probably the collagen repair and anti-inflammatory action of the bioflavonoids

also becoming somewhat ambidextrous and using the other shoulder and arm much more, reducing the loads carried by either arm since loads on the good side do stress the problem side via the clavicle and sternum

and particularly minimising any above chest height action of the arm and problem AC joint

when i was last at the doctors and he was rubbing his hands with glee at the thought of all the future business he was going to get from me after looking at my x-ray, i must have picked up a trend for improvement that made me say to myself at the time that i was out of the clutches of him and his ilk thank god

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my shoulder is now almost completely better and basically it was an autoimmune condition triggered by the skin application of hydrogen peroxide and the autoimmunity has taken about three months to abate from the last application (27th march, now 26th june 2008)

i am really chuffed about the recovery and all the work and things i did has really paid off and its a nasty insight into how dehabilitating joint conditions are

august 2010 update:

i would say my shoulder acj is about 80% recovered, however i am now working through a problem with my left sacroiliac joint which i am writing up below

december 2011 update:

my damaged right shoulder ac joint has being playing up a bit from overuse so i really got some sun on it when out sunbathing and it feels different, feels relieved somehow, might be a combination of the vit D forming, infra red and near infra red rays !

i would feel at this point that the acj has sorta plateaued out at 80% recovered and is quite liveable, but i have to watch not irritating it by lifting my right hand above the shoulder level much and not carrying heavy loads with it and getting some intense sun on it when i can or use my homemade UVB lamp on it and keep up the oral 1000iu daily vit D !

if i hadn't done this or didn't do it now i suspect i would be partially crippled by the pain or had to have an op !

how successful an op would be i do not know, but it would still leave an unstable joint and i think that i would have to do what i do now anyway !

if the ACJ is unstable the bone will grow to a hard and potentially sharpish point you can easily feel

it tries to remodel to give strength in the right places, but because the joint is unstable and the covering cartilage is lost it's chasing the wind : o )

SACROILIAC JOINT

this is a surprising joint between the sacrum and ilium, it has about 3 degrees of movement but is a proper cartilage (2 types of cartilage though) covered joint showing the usual space on x-rays