Wear and Tear: Stop the Pain and Put the Spring Back in your Body [Hardcover]

Bob Arnot (Author), Robert Burns Arnot (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 24, 2002

Wear and tear erodes your joints and stiffens your ligaments and tendons. It's the main reason many of us feel old and creaky. Bestselling author Dr. Bob Arnot designed a revolutionary program to overcome his own advanced case of wear and tear, one that had led to arthritis.

His exciting new blueprint dramatically improves strength and vigor, helps you become more supple and limber, and puts the spring back into your step. Whether you are sixty years old or twenty, this book can help you beat wear and tear.

Based on the latest scientific research and decades of his own experience, Dr. Bob Arnot's easy-to-implement plan provides the steps to repair damaged joints, muscles, and ligaments and eliminate the pain associated with infirmity and injury.

Wear and Tear includes easy-to-follow guidelines to help you select the right shoes, incorporate highly effective new supplements into your diet, and kill the pain associated with sore joints and even moderate arthritis.

For the more athletic, Dr. Arnot provides a regimen of nutrition, diet, and exercise to reverse the damage to joints and overcome stiff man syndrome. You'll even find customized yoga poses and a chapter on joint-friendly sports.

Dr. Bob Arnot will show you how to slow, stop, or even reverse the effects of wear and tear.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

According to Arnot, author of The Breast Cancer Prevention Diet and NBC's chief medical correspondent, with aging comes damage to joints along with aches, pains and reduced flexibility. This situation is made worse for those who have sustained injuries over the course of an active life and for those who are overweight. Arnot offers helpful strategies to help prevent arthritis and minimize further joint damage. Although he sees a role for medications including NSAIDS, aspirin and COX-2 inhibitors to assist with pain, he cautions against overuse and suggests that they be used in combination with topical analgesics. Arnot is a firm believer in yoga and in exercise that builds muscle strength in order to restore joint health; he offers useful descriptions of joint-friendly sports such as bicycling, walking and swimming, and an appendix lists nutrients that promote joint health. Arnot provides clear directions on what footwear to use and which shoes to avoid (high heels). Although the writing is sometimes a bit jumpy, the information will be useful to those who currently have joint problems and to younger people who want to prevent future damage.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Aches and pains have long been considered a normal, unavoidable part of aging. In this clear and well-reasoned book, Arnot, the medical consultant for the Today show and author of The Breast Cancer Prevention Diet, begs to differ. He shows how good nutrition and cartilage-building supplements, combined with proper biomechanics (the way your body moves) and an awareness of one's skeletal predispositions, can virtually eliminate cartilage damage, the primary cause of joint pain. Besides singing the praises of glucosamine, a nutritional supplement proven to aid in cartilage repair and regeneration, Arnot advises how to minimize joint damage in all the popular activities, from running to team sports to riding a scooter. He particularly recommends several types of yoga as the most effective stretching methods not only for toning muscles but also for increasing the range of motion in the major joints of the arms, legs, and back. He also demonstrates how such "aged" phenomena as Cal Ripken and John McEnroe play in ways that help to maintain rather than to break down their joints. Recommended for public libraries and patient-centered orthopedic libraries.
--Susan B. Hagloch, Tuscarawas Cty. P.L., New Philadelphia, OH
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster (December 24, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743225554
• ISBN-13: 978-0743225557
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #910,939 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you're over 30 - BUY THIS BOOK!, March 20, 2003

By 

The Great Buzzwami "Buzz" (Salem, OR United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wear and Tear: Stop the Pain and Put the Spring Back in your Body (Hardcover)

"Wear and Tear" is a gem that should be on the best seller list. This book has been a real eye-opener for me and I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to help slow the damage we heap on our bodies as we age. But to be honest I've been a Dr. Arnot fan since he wrote "Guide to Turning Back the Clock", another excellent book (that needs to be updated).

I bought and started reading "Wear and Tear" because he included a chapter called "Stiff Man Syndrome" which my orthopedic surgeon jokingly said contributed to my knee damage. In "Wear and Tear" there are excellent descriptions and examples of the damage you do to your joints, far beyond what my doctor told me. The "8-Ball" metaphore of a joint alone made me see what 'full range of motion' is all about. Dr. Arnot's discussion of "forceful walking" has given me better tips than my physical therapist has on how I was ginding away my joints by walking (like Godzilla in a hurry). One suggestion I would add, in addition of the examples given in the book, is imagine you're walking on rice paper. Remember "Grasshopper" from TV's "Kung-fu"? Now I notice how everyone else is pounding away as they walk, while I glide along feeling sorry for them.

Because of "Wear and Tear" I'm in the pool working on range of motion (it feels great too, all day long), practicing walking so I don't pound my joints, doing light yoga and stretching (it is remarkably easy to get flexibility back), changed my vitamins and doing the remarkably good (and unique) exercises he illustrates.

The Amazon Editorial Review gives you a good list of subjects in the book so I won't repeat them. I would just add they are covered in a clear and concise style. You don't waste any time reading the filler found in most other health books.

If you compare what you can get out of this book to what you will spend on expensive Doctor and Physical Rehab sessions, not to mention the pain and loss of income, "Wear and Tear" is worth its weight in gold. I think Dr. Arnot has also saved me from a lot of future grief as well by cluing me in before more damage is done to my poor knees and hips. I plan on using many of the principles outlined in this book for the rest of my life.

29 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A cure for Wear and Tear?, December 29, 2002

By 

"yougottaluvthemtitans" (SLC, UT USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wear and Tear: Stop the Pain and Put the Spring Back in your Body (Hardcover)

This book is great for people who suffer from Arthritis, who are overweight, have reducecd flexibilty, or any other pain associated with their joints. Bob Arnot, one of the authors of this book believes strongly in yoga and stretching as exercises for people suffering with pain. In his practice, he does prescribe asprin and NSAIDS, but disourages the overuse of them. He believes more in exercise. Not strenuous exercise, just exercises like bicycling, walking, or swimming. Exercise is the key to strong muscles and joints. He also gives ideas for proper footwear, no high arched shoes. The book is jumpy as you read it, but overall, it would be of good use to those who suffer with joint pain.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wear and Tear by Dr. Bob Arnot, October 10, 2003

By 

Joseph S. Maresca "Dr. Joseph S. Maresca CPA,... (Bronxville, New York USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Wear and Tear: Stop the Pain and Put the Spring Back in your Body (Hardcover)

This book provides specific information on how to preserve
the joints in the body. For instance, the author cautions
against heal pounding while walking. He recommends walking
such that the outer perimeter of the foot absorbs your
weight. He describes the optimal gait which consists of
maintaining hips at a level position and landing the feet
easily while walking. High tech knee braces may help in
redistributing the load around the knee. Ibuprofen may be
helpful in dealing with inflammation problems. Wearing
comfortable shoes is cited as an important step in reducing
stress on the joints. Yoga is cited as a good treatment
for joints , as is stretching, spreading the weight load
and building elasticity and flexibility in the muscles and
joints. This book is a good supplementation to the existing
medicinal regimen and physical therapy regimen.