• Osteoarthritis results from wear and tear on bones and joint capsules.
• Five million Germans suffer from the consequences.
• Briefly explained: which osteoarthritis treatment helps whom?

If the joints hurt, it is usually osteoarthritis : it is the most common of all joint diseases. About five million Germans suffer from it. Osteoarthritis occurs when bones, ligaments, tendons and joint capsules wear out.

This is important to differentiate the disease from rheumatoid arthritis. Inflammation is the cause here.

This is important for osteoarthritis treatment

“Arthrosis is a disease that runs in waves,” explains Johannes Flechtenmacher, President of the Professional Association of Orthopedists and Trauma Surgeons. Less painful phases alternate with those that torment those affected.

The aim of the treatment is to relieve the pain on the one hand and to maintain or restore the ability to move on the other.

Osteoarthritis needs combination treatments

Ideally, the doctor combines non-drug treatments such as physiotherapy, nutritional recommendations, and hot or cold applications with medication. These are mainly used in the acute pain phase.

“In the less painful episodes, patients should try to avoid medication,” explains Flechtenmacher. In principle, movement in particular is an important component of therapy. His motto: “Move a lot, load little.”

Five osteoarthritis treatments put to the test:

1. NSAIDs: cortisone-free pain relievers

This is how the drug works: The non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are the classic all-rounders in pain relief. They have both anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects, but do not contain cortisone.

Medicines include ibuprofen, diclofenac, or naproxen. They block two important enzymes that play a role in the sensation of pain: Cyclooxygenase (COX) isoenzymes I and II.

The so-called Cox II inhibitors are therefore well suited to treat acute joint pain associated with osteoarthritis.

NSAIDs also have an antipyretic effect.

Side effects: Gastrointestinal complaints and an increased risk of cardiovascular diseases are among the risks of NSAIDs. “That is why it is particularly important to tailor the osteoarthritis treatment to the patient,” explains orthopedist Flechtenmacher.

For example, ibuprofen is not suitable for patients with kidney problems, and diclofenac hits the liver. Both drugs also have a negative effect on the cardiovascular system. Naproxin is therefore better suited for heart disease patients with osteoarthritis.

2. Opioids

This is how the drug works: Opioids are effective remedies that are used against severe joint pain. By attacking the opioid receptors, they prevent pain from developing and being transmitted.

Tramadol is one of the morphine-like drugs. “Morphines are not suitable for treating acute phases of pain in osteoarthritis,” says Flechtenmacher. This is especially true for plasters. Morphine should only be used for chronic treatment if no other therapy is helping the patient.

Side effects: Many sufferers suffer from the exhaustion caused by morphine. Especially in older people, opioids aggravate many age problems. These include, for example, constipation and dizziness. This also increases the risk of frail patients falling.

3. Hyaluronic acid

In addition to drugs that directly combat pain, there are active ingredients that intervene in the mechanism of the disease. A typical representative is hyluronic acid.

This is how the drug works: Doctors inject hyaluronic acid into the joint to treat osteoarthritis. That’s the only way it works. “In contrast, it is pointless in tablet form, as is sometimes offered,” explains Flechtenmacher. Only in the joint does the drug help the knees or fingers move more smoothly.

With regard to evidence-based studies, hyaluronic acid should be viewed critically, adds the doctor. For example, the relief of osteoarthritis on knock knees or bow legs, where it is biomechanically induced, works less well than on straight legs.

Side effects: As a rule, osteoarthritis patients tolerate hyaluronic acid very well. Since it is injected directly into the joint, there is the usual risk of infection from the method.

4. Natural medicine

This is how the treatment works: Natural active ingredients such as nettle leaves, willow bark or devil’s claw should also relieve pain. The latter contains, among other things, harpagoside. Similar to the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, they are supposed to inhibit the formation of the pain messenger prostaglandin.

“So far, however, nothing has been identified in evidence-based studies that proves the effectiveness of the natural active ingredients,” explains Flechtenmacher.

Side effects: They are dependent on the natural medicine product. The instruction leaflet of the devil’s claw, for example, warns of possible gastrointestinal complaints such as diarrhea, nausea, flatulence, vomiting as well as dizziness and headaches or rashes.

5. Acupuncture

This is how the treatment works: As with natural active ingredients, evidence of how acupuncture works for osteoarthritis has not yet been provided in scientific studies.

On the contrary. An Australian study looked at the effects of acupuncture. The results published in the “JAMA” magazine showed: Acupuncture with needles or laser has no relevant effect on pain and function in patients over 50 with knee osteoarthritis and moderate or severe chronic pain.

However, acupuncture helps some osteoarthritis sufferers. Johannes Flechtenmacher, for example, relies on the alternative form of treatment

• light and irregular pain
• when many illnesses in the affected person rule out other drugs.

In addition, there are many patients who benefit from the doctor’s attention and empathy alone.

Side effects: The symptoms can get worse at first, writes the German Pain Society on acupuncture . And adds: “Occasionally there are slight bruises or bruises, and brief circulatory reactions can also occur during acupuncture treatment.”

In any case, those affected should not treat their joint pain independently, but should always have it checked out by a specialist.

According to popular belief, those who eat vegetables, fruit and whole grain products every day have a particularly healthy diet – and thus possibly make a dangerous mistake, get fat and sick. The American cardiologist and nutritionist Steven R. Gundry is convinced of this, as he explains in his bestseller “The Plant Paradox”, which has also been available as a German version since this year (Steven R. Gundry: “Bad vegetables. How healthy Food makes us sick ”, Beltz).

Vegetable plants use lectins for defense

Lectins are said to be responsible for the harmful effects of supposedly healthy foods. These are certain proteins that plants have developed for defense so that they are spared from fungi, bacteria and parasites. In fact, lectins act similarly to antibiotics and can be toxic, especially when raw.

The substances can harm people

Lectins make green potatoes and raw beans inedible . The best-known lectin is gluten, avoided by many because it can lead to bowel inflammation and celiac disease . Gluten, known as adhesive protein, illustrates the negative properties of lectins particularly impressively: These proteins are extremely easy to bond, stick to cells and tissues, preferably in the intestine. The mucous membrane cells change, the intestinal wall becomes permeable for pollutants, which in turn can make the entire organism sick.

Sick from lectins – from Alzheimer’s to rheumatism

But not only celiac disease is caused by the harmful effects of lectins. The proteins bind to red blood cells, thicken the blood and thus promote arteriosclerosis and cardiovascular diseases. Steven Gundry also explains many other diseases of civilization with the negative effects of lectins.

Because they can actually dock on all tissues, such as the pancreas, joints, bronchi, nerves, brain, and the immune system attacks them there as intruders, autoimmune diseases would develop: diabetes , arthritis and rheumatism, asthma , Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s .

These foods are high in lectins

The doctor therefore promotes a diet that is as free from lectins as possible (LFE, lectin-free diet). The negative list of foods rich in lectin includes the following products:

• loaf
• Potatoes and potato products
• rice
• pasta
• Beans and legumes
• soy
• tomatoes
• Cucumbers
• pumpkin
• Grain
• Vegetable oils
• sugar

Steven Gundry also largely avoids fish and meat, or at least restricts consumption – because breeding animals are mainly fed with corn and soy. Both types of food naturally contain lectins. If they are genetically modified, however, they provide even more of it to protect the plants from pests even better. With the feed they get into the animal and thus into the meat that is put on the plate.

How to eat a lectin-free diet

The negative list is long, but there are also a number of foods that contain little or no lectins. The positive list of desirable foods suggests, among other things:

• Coconut oil
• Coconut milk
• Hazelnuts
• Walnuts
• Sweet chestnuts
• Olives
• Tigernut flour, chestnut flour
• Dark chocolate
• cream cheese
• Goat cheese
• butter
• cream
• Crustaceans, fish (rare)
• certain types of fruit in small quantities (apples, pears, blueberries, raspberries, kiwi, plums, peaches, citrus fruits)
• Cabbage vegetables of all kinds
• artichokes
• garlic
• Onions
• Meat (no more than 125 gr per day)
• Eggs
• Sweeteners such as erythritol, stevia, xylitol
• 1 glass of red wine per day

Of course, all products should come from organic cultivation or rearing if possible, i.e. have the best organic quality.

Lectin-free diet – new fad diet or serious prevention and therapy?

At first glance, the impression arises: after fructose, gluten and carbohydrates, lectins are now supposed to be the bad nutrients that lead to obesity and make you sick. But the impression is deceptive. Steven Gundry’s observations should probably be taken seriously. There is some evidence for his theses:

• It has long been known that lectins are unfavorable and are therefore even referred to as ” anti-nutrients ” in nutritional science . But this fact has had little impact on nutrition plans and diets until now.
• Initial studies show that lectins can be linked to rheumatism and Parkinson’s disease .

However, there is (still) a lack of larger studies on the extent to which lectins can promote obesity and illness. However, in a self-experiment, Steven Gundry lost 35 kilograms within a year and at the same time lowered his high blood pressure , and the arthritis had also disappeared.

The doctor treated around 1,000 patients on the basis of these positive experiences with the LFE. He observed 200 of them as part of a study . For six months, the patients who all had cardiovascular diseases such as coronary artery disease ate according to this diet. After completing the examination, her heart function and blood values ​​had improved significantly.

Conclusion: It should definitely not be a fashion diet. However, LFE cannot be easily integrated into everyday life, the usual nutrition plan has to be fundamentally redesigned. But to make this as uncomplicated as possible, the doctor gives many tips and simple to fine recipes in his new guide on “bad vegetables”.