Rheumatoid Arthritis, the Silent Killer… of Fun!

Rheumatoid arthritis is known to Western medicine as an autoimmune disorder which most commonly affects the joints, but is capable of manifesting in other tissues of the body as well. Autoimmune disorders cause the body’s immune system to turn against itself, attacking tissues it would otherwise protect. In the case of rheumatoid arthritis, the synovium, which is the lining of the capsules of the joints, is often affected first in the progression of the disease. This assault on the joint capsule lining leads to swelling of the affected joints, heat, redness, pain and stiffness, and can also be accompanied by more systemic effects, like fever, fatigue, and weight loss. Rheumatoid arthritis, like other autoimmune diseases, is prone to “flare-ups”, or periods of dramatically intensified symptoms. Whether a person is experiencing acute symptoms or is in a period between flare-ups significantly changes how rheumatoid arthritis should be approached via massage.


Massage for rheumatoid arthritis
The primary goals of massage as applied to rheumatoid arthritis are to bring relaxation and pain relief to the client, and to maintain joint mobility and range of motion. Because rheumatoid arthritis can cause the joints and surrounding tissues to be extremely sensitive, and because in severe or prolonged cases actual structural changes to the joints can occur, special care needs to be taken during massage application, especially during a flare-up.

If the client is experiencing a flare-up, a massage therapist should:
- Only treat unaffected (pain and inflammation-free) areas of the body
- Not work distal to affected areas, so as not to aggravate swelling in the joints
- Use only active and active assisted range of motion techniques on affected joints

Between flare-ups, a massage therapist may expand treatment options to include:
- Gentle, rhythmic rocking or shaking of the symptomatic joints
- Comprehensive work on muscles that cross or attach to affected joints
- Gentle passive range of motion techniques
- Work proximal to distal of affected joints, always directing fluid towards the core

Massage can serve many of the same functions for rheumatoid arthritis that is does for osteoarthritis: pain relief, maintenance of joint mobility, fluid dispersal, and a general increase in well-being. However, because rheumatoid arthritis is inherently prone to many more complications than are found in osteoarthritis, any massage treatment needs to a be approached with a great deal of caution and sensitivity, so as to not inadvertently injure the client or worsen their symptoms.


Rheumatoid arthritis and Chinese Medicine

Because rheumatoid arthritis can exhibit a broad and mutable expression of symptoms, a diagnosis from the perspective of Traditional Chinese Medicine can be correspondingly complex. However, in general, the three most prominent factors at play are considered to be wind, damp, and cold. These refer to the potential mobility of the symptoms frequently seen in rheumatoid arthritis (as well as other autoimmune diseases), the tendency for swelling and fluid accumulation, and poor circulation and deficient kidney yang, respectively. Because of the redness, inflammation, and joint warmth that can also be symptoms, a TCM diagnosis can also include heat, but cold and damp treatments are said to be much more common. Because individual cases can vary so widely in presentation, a mixture of herbs, dietary changes or supplementation, acupressure or acupuncture, as well as specific Qigong patterns will be prescribed to most closely fit the individual expression of symptoms in each client.

As part of an herbal approach to treating rheumatoid arthritis, some TCM practitioners make use of Lei Gong Teng, a.k.a. Thunder God Vine. Be wary of this treatment, however, because that stuff can literally kill you. Try eating papaya, royal jelly, and black soybeans as a non-lethal alternative.

5 Element Theory

Makeup for Acupressure Theory (1 day)

[Blog article about how learning 5 elements, energy, meridians, acupressure has changed your viewpoints & how you plan to incorporate this info into your career]

Since being introduced to the 5 elements and all that it includes, I have been able to take a more open minded approach to wellness and life in general. I’ve learned that everything has a place, and everything is connected. A disharmony could be caused by something emotional and manifested as something physical, and vice versa. I have been able to move farther away from “black and white” thinking and now have a broader view of how everything interacts and intertwines with everything else.

When I used to be confronted with a physical ailment, I would focus on that one thing and try to pick it apart and fix it that way. Now I know that the pain is a sign that I need to pay attention and do some investigating. For instance, a headache. Pre-5 Elements-Me would conclude that I have a headache because that’s just how things are sometimes, take some ibuprofen, drink some water or have a snack and move on. Now I would notice where in my head I was feeling tension or pain, maybe it’s on a meridian I learned. I would notice if it radiated to or from somewhere else. I would check my posture. I would be curious about how much tension my neck would be holding, if there was an abnormal amount of tension anywhere else in my upper body. I would consider my surroundings, what I have or have not eaten that day, my emotional state. I have a plethora of different approaches to treating a headache now!

It has also opened my eyes when it comes to other people. After learning more about myself and how complex I am, I realized that means every person has to be just as complex, just as dynamic. Learning about specific behaviors and how they are tied into our overall health as far as TCM is concerned really helped me understand myself more, which in turn helps me understand other people more fully. I think to myself “Oh that totally makes sense now!” at least 10 times a day these days. When I’m around other people, I pay attention to their attitude about themselves and their beliefs through how they speak and act. This information is often more telling of a person that anything they can tell you about themselves in their own words.

As for my career, this information will be especially valuable when treating a client! When a client comes in with low back pain, I will be able to approach their treatment in more ways than simply relieving them of the pain. I will have more specific questions to ask, and thus be able to gain even more clues as to the true cause of their pain and the best way to help their body treat it.

It’s like playing a game without reading the rules. I’ve been playing blind! Now that I finally read the rulebook everything makes so much more sense.

Pathology Report: PTSD

Imagine this; you’re walking down the street minding your own business when all of a sudden a car slips on the ice, slides through the intersection and crashes into another vehicle. You hear screeching tires and a loud BANG! You are on the sidewalk far from any real danger but you notice your hands are balled into fists, you are ready to run, your blood is pumping, and your respirations are increasing. You become very aware of your surroundings, planning your exit strategy. Everyone involved in the car accident is unharmed. The drivers are tending to each other, exchanging information and the scene is under control. You realize that even though you were in danger, you feel like you were a part of the accident.

Fight or flight, sometimes referred to the “acute stress response” or hyperarousal, is our bodies natural response to dangerous mental or physical stimulus. On an involuntary physiological level, our bodies deploy a series of changes in order to get us out of danger or give us the means to fight in the face of that danger. It is theory that our early ancestors developed this response because of the amount of danger they encountered in their day to day lives; things we don’t typically experience in our day to day lives anymore. Although our lifestyles have drastically changed since the early days, the response is still intact.

Our sympathetic nervous system signals for stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline to be released into the body. These hormones cause side effects like increased heart rate and respirations so that we can have lungs full of air to either run away or fight. Our blood vessels constrict in our extremities and dilate so that the blood is being pumped to primarily to our muscles to give them the power to deal with the situation at hand. Our pupils dilate and we get tunnel vision in order to focus our brains on what is directly in front of us. Typically, after the danger has passed our bodies start to return to normal. This is called the relaxation response, during which all of the symptoms of fight or flight start to decrease and our bodies can recover.

However, in some instances, we are simply unable to convince our brain that the perceived threat is gone. Whenever a person continues to experience the symptoms of the acute stress response for a prolonged period of time they may develop post traumatic stress disorder, PTSD. Anyone can develop PTSD and it can manifest after any kind of emotionally or physically traumatic event. Some examples of things that can cause PTSD are the sudden death of a family member, sudden changes in lifestyle, being robbed, earthquakes and other natural disasters, war, poverty, physical and emotional abuse or neglect. It is thus far impossible to determine why certain people develop PTSD and why others do not.

There is no real way to say how long someone with PTSD will continue to feel the way they do. Diagnosing physicians and mental health workers do have guidelines for what qualifies as PTSD, such as the symptoms having to be disruptive to day to day life and they have to last over an extended period of time. There are two main treatments for PTSD, according to Western medicine, is medication and psychotherapy.

Through the lense of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), things are broken down in a completely different way. Chinese medicine looks at the person as not just their physical body, but their mental and spiritual health as well. If one is unbalanced, an unbalance among the rest is sure to exist. It is known in TCM that a happy healthy harmonious flow of Qi (Chi) is the key to a happy healthy harmonious person. In Western medicine we call this homeostasis. When the body, mind, and spirit experience trauma, that harmony, or homeostasis is interrupted and the person is susceptible to pathogens and other ailments that can cause things like insomnia, anxiety, and depression for example. It is the unbalance that breaks down our defenses thus allowing these things to manifest in our physical bodies as well as our emotions. The end result is diagnosed and given a name. In TCM, practitioners seek to restore the balance and give the physical body the strength and will from the mind and spirit to protect the whole body-mind-spirit. While there is no single diagnosis that mirrors PTSD in its entirety, TCM does have treatments for all of the major symptoms and side effects of PTSD. Anxiety, insomnia, depression, anger, body aches, loss of appetite, have a place and a treatment in TCM.

One of the ways in which alternative medicine can be used to treat the symptoms of PTSD is through massage. Massage is an intervention, where PTSD is a constant whirlwind of stimulation. We often isolate ourselves from others and disconnect our minds from our bodies in an attempt to live with the effects of trauma. Massage is an excellent aid in reconnecting the mind to the body and is one way to build a trusting relationship with another person through safe touch; all  of which are very important tools for resolving trauma. Massage has been proven to help lower levels of physical pain, loosen tight muscles and joints, and increase the flow of nutrient rich blood all around the body. In combination with other treatments, massage can be an excellent aid in treating and curing post traumatic stress disorder.

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