Customer Reviews

Arthritis Rx: A Cutting-Edge Program for a Pain-Free Life

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First off let me say that this is the most optimistic book on this "disease" that I know of. The author seems highly qualified and really knows his subject.

I have joint pain (hip and knee), and I take glucosamine and chondroitin for the pain. It seems to help. However, I have my doubts that these things "build" or "rebuild" cartilage. One orthopedic surgeon in L.A. wrote that there is no evidence that they build or rebuild it, and that from what he read, glucosamine only "mimics" Tylenol on a molecular level, so if you take it, the pain is less, but it is the same as taking an aspirin. Trust me, I would love to believe that these things actually rebuild my knees and restore cartilage, but like I said, I have real doubts about that now. Chondroitin - I have read and heard from doctors - cannot penetrate the stomach wall, and there is no way it can reach the joints, from what I read. Most Glucosamine studies are either too limited, or are from Europe from long ago, so it is highly doubtful if they are good studies. I looked up ginger on the Mayo clinic website, and it stated that ginger is not proven as a cure for arthritis, but some limited trials suggest it might help (Mayo has one of the best rheumatology and arthritis departments in the world). It gave the studies that show ginger helps against joint inflamation/pain only a "B", i.e., there is some evidence, but it is not iron-clad, that it works (but there is no evidence that it does any harm, either).

But I want to make it very clear that I am not a doctor or scientist, and so what I am relating here should be viewed as that of a moderately-well informed reader who is not a doctor. All I am doing is relating some doubts that I have read from doctors in this field, after doing some research into this.

I like the exercises and the general discussion of arthritis in this book. I would still highly recommend this book. It is one of the more optimist books on the subject, too. I like the book. I even bought the pills the doctor sells, Zingerflex, and I take them every day. They DO reduce my subjective pain, too. I have almost no knee issues now. However, like I said, I would treat glucosamine and ginger as pain reducers that are safer than other pain reducers, but I don't think chondroitin works, from my layman's reading on that, and I think ginger might work, or might not. Most doctors view glucosamine as effective at reducing pain.

This is a great, practical book for people with osteoarthritis. The exercise program has helped my knees be pain free for over a year. I ordered this book as a gift for friends.

The book has good nutritional and exercise information from a doctor who seems well-informed and realistic. He tells which foods help arthritis and which foods make it worse. He also tells you which activities are safe, which ones are moderate, and which to avoid. A must-have if you have arthritis. I am glad that I got it.

I first read this book along with several others from my local library when I was diagnosed with osteoarthritis of the knee. I bought this book because, as one reviewer said, Dr Vad was optimistic, but more because his 3 pronged approach to dealing with arthritis was sensible and I felt I could do it. His book is well organized and 3 years later I still refer to it.

At first I found it painful to do the easiest of 3 levels of his exercise program, but eventually I got stronger. I was already taking glucosamine/chondroitin which now has been shown to help some of the people who have taken it in clinical trials. My diet was already pretty good, eating 5 fruits and veggies a day and avoiding processed foods.

I wasn't consistent about following the advice in this book, but his suggestions motivated me to gradually make bigger improvements in exercise and diet. I recently started a yoga class, learning the hard way I had to do the poses gently. Doing yoga in class has made a huge improvement in my level of pain through strengthening and stretching the supporting muscles of my knee. Dr Vad adapted the exercises in this book from yoga.

Last year, I had gone to a gym and hired a trainer who taught me to do floor and machine exercises. That helped but it was work, and in my 6th month of this regimen I injured my knees (without the trainer). Although everyone is different and this might be the right path for some, people with medical conditions have to be very careful exercising with machines.

This book also motivated me to explore improving my diet and now I'm eating even healthier food and focusing on eating more food that help or prevent inflammation. His suggestions on supplements to take encouraged me to "get used" to green tea, ginger tea, and use ginger in some of my cooking. I added some of the other supplements he recommended, like vitamin D.

All and all, Dr Vad's multiple approach to helping oneself has been very inspirational to me. The current medical environment has little to offer patients with osteoarthritis short of knee replacement. Injections and even knee replacements may help the pain, but whether or not these treatments are taken supporting muscles have to be strengthened to support the knee. This prevents more damage and pain. His advice on inflammation is also very helpful, could improve many aspects of health affected by inflammatory reactions, and really can't hurt to do them.

Hopefully conventional medicine will catch up with these treatments and this approach. I definitely recommend this book for people with arthritis as a starting point to managing this condition!