More info on mucle imbalances (For those who seek cure)

ITLSusan

Now that's an interesting point too. Would they try to argue that I wasn't cured?

What I can say is that it would impossible for them to give me an OA diagnosis as I don't have a single symptom that fits the criteria. I never had flares - I was just constantly crippled.

But jeez - all the more reason to get the ******* diagnosis right. Imagine doing that to a person - glibly giving them a diagnosis that once given you can never be proven to be cured. You're always carrying around the stigma of being a cripple. Yet all the time it could just have been a muscle imbalance. The ******* had better get that garbage off my medical record or there will be hell to pay!

The NICE guidelines make the point that pain is linked to our expectations and whether we feel in control of our destiny. I firmly believe that mindset is EVERYTHING. What you believe is what you become. They should realise then that it's not wise to be handing out a diagnosis with poor prognosis without being 100% certain. I honestly think a big part of the reason that I'm free of this is because I NEVER believed for one minute that I wouldn't be cured. Failure to beat it just wasn't an option.

A muscle imbalance can always come back. Or new muscle imbalances develop. The human body has evolved to adapt to whatever you do most - and long term that tends to become problematic. The nice thing is that once you learn how to fix a complex imbalance you know how to KEEP your body balanced.

Moderated by Mod JK

Slosh

"The stigma of being a cripple. "

We are living in the 21st century not the 19th, and in a developed country.

I, for one find this highly offensive. As I use crutches and other daily living aids, I assume you would describe me as a cripple.

As for stigma, I work part-time as an assistant headteacher, I am a member of a book club and have a monthly craft stall. I live in the East End of London and mix with people from a whole range of backgrounds,,ethnicity and religon. I am not aware of being stigmatised.

This phrase reveals much about your attitude towards disability.

ITLSusan

I'm am HUGELY proud to say that I do NOT take kindly to being labelled a permanent cripple unnecessarily. I'm sorry, but I want to be able bodied and fully functional. I won't pretend otherwise for fear of offending someone. Nowadays people choose to be offended over anything. Peoples rights are being taken away from them in order to appease 'the offended'.

With an OA diagnosis on your medical records you DO NOT get proper treatment for problems that arise. Doctors write treatable conditions off as 'you'd expect that in someone with OA'.

Physical therapists lower their expectations and don't help you to achieve full function when you have an OA label hanging over you.

So much as mention OA and people see you in a different light. No longer an athlete but an old person that has to be handled with care and encouraged to 'take it easy'.

It is HUGELY damaging.

My attitude towards disability is that I absolutely DO NOT want to be disabled. I will fight until my dying breath to remain fit, healthy and fully functional. When I was first diagnosed I was 42 years old. Based upon average lifespans I had half of my life ahead of me. God help anyone that tries to falsely label me as disabled. They will live to regret that mistake! If that offends someone then so be it.

LignumVitae

I was 21 when I was diagnosed with arthritis. I'm as able bodied as I can possibly be and work as hard as I can every day in maintaining that. I do not see myself as a 'cripple'. I find that and the idea that maybe some of us are happily resigned to being such deeply offensive and unpleasant. Whatever your motives for helping others a quick scan of your posts shows you happily use emotive language and phrases such as the idea that some people probably can't be bothered seeking a cure. There is no cure for my type of arthritis. There are medications to reduce its impacts (hopefully). The idea of being symptom free and medication free is a pipe dream to many on here and using language such as cripple is disgusting and suggests to me that maybe your motives are to be offensive rather than altruistically offer hope.

ITLSusan

Oh for goodness sake.

Dictionary.com definition of the word cripple:

"cripple ˈkrɪp(ə)l/ verb
verb: cripple; 3rd person present: cripples; past tense: crippled; past participle: crippled; gerund or present participle: crippling

1.cause (someone) to become unable to walk or move properly.
"a young student was crippled for life"
synonyms: disable, paralyse, immobilize, make lame, lame, incapacitate, debilitate, handicap; "

It's always the same. People that want to fight their condition and get back to full health are always denied help. Everything is monopolized by "the offended".

Just to clarify the meaning of offended - from dictionary.com:

"offended
əˈfɛndɪd/
adjective
adjective: offended

resentful or annoyed, typically as a result of a perceived insult."

Anyway, I think I've explained enough on this thread. The info is there for those that want it and it'll get onto the search engines.

LignumVitae

If you are capable of googling a definition you are probably capable of understanding that although words do exist and have definitions some are unpleasant. I don't wish to be ill and i imagine I've worked harder than you could ever comprehend to be as well as I am...the key difference is I didn't go around being unpleasant and offensive to others in the process, something you clearly can't imagine or achieve. I pity you, you may have cured one problem but you demonstrate that other issues just can't be mended.

ITLSusan

The thing is you ARE being offensive and unpleasant right now. You're the one launching personal attacks on me. Not the other way around.

You PERCEIVE the word cripple to be offensive. You have some emotional baggage attached to the word. To me it's just a word to describe what I was for 9 years.

This is the thing. It's an absolute minefield. Those of us looking for cure have no avenue to vent our feelings or to share our desires and methods of getting there. Simply talking about cure makes some people offended. You can't win. Doctors and health pros have to walk on eggshells and can't share honest, helpful info. We can't even share info among ourselves without a bunch of 'offended' people getting downright nasty and abusive.

LignumVitae

You chose to use a word that you knew would be offensive. Once people had told you it was offensive you chose to defend it. That is, at best, socially inept. If you cause offence, even if you yourself don't think it is offensive then apologise, that would be the appropriate thing to do, not to foist definitions at people and defend what cannot be defended. It is widely accepted that a word such as cripple is regarded as archane and offensive. I'm sure, with all your research, you've never seen it used by medics or within articles precisely because it is offensive.

I have no emotional baggage and I fully accept my diagnosis. For what it's worth, many medical professionals I have engaged with have fully understood muscle imbalances, I've met physios who can spot them with the way somebody holds their head. Your 'discovery' isn't new it's just that even once I'm on top of all my muscle imbalances I am still arthritic. No change in attitude can alter the fact. Assuming that people don't want a cure and that medics don't want to offer one is ridiculous. You may have been very lucky and sorted out whatever your problem was. It doesn't mean everybody can and it doesn't mean that some people don't just have to accept that they do have a condition that needs to be treated and managed with the help of medics. Telling us we are the offended and probably don't want to work at a cure is nasty. I'm pretty sure you will have no idea how hard some people you are preaching to on here work just to get moving. You are lucky, don't assume that the rest of us are in some way lazy or wanting illness. You are just lucky so please try to mind your manners and language.

ITLSusan

Telling us we are the offended and probably don't want to work at a cure is nasty.

You told me you were offended. I didn't tell you that you don't want to work at cure - I know nothing about you. Stop trolling.

The word 'cripple' fits exactly what I was for 9 years. It is a word used to describe having physical disability and yes, it does express a low opinion of disability. That is EXACTLY how I felt about my condition. I HATED it. LOATHED it. There are times when I didn't want to live.

It is HUGELY distressing to me to have an incurable diagnosis hanging over me implying that I still am crippled. I'm not.

It is a perfect descriptive word for what I was trying to convey. I stand by my use of the word.

daffy2

Susan, you found something which worked for you and I can understand why you want to share that good outcome. As a result of your earlier postings I did some looking around the internet and found useful and interesting information, for which I thank you. However there is always the risk that enthusiasm tips over into evangelism, and I feel that that is what has now happened, hence the increasingly irritable and irritated nature of forum responses.
You are obviously a strong minded and determined individual and that has served you well. The flip side of that is the risk of implication that those who remain 'ill' are lacking moral fibre and don't want to make the effort to get 'well'. I would also observe that talking about 'curing' OA is inherently contentious and risks deflecting folks from the core of your message. You have resolved your joint and pain problems successfully - whether that constitutes curing the OA which may or may not have been/continues to be present is in fact not relevant in my opinion, since for so many, dealing with the pain is the initial priority rather than trying to 'cure' the condition.
The old saying 'You can lead a horse to water...' seems appropriate here. You have set out your stall, and the information is now available for those who wish to access it. You may feel that we are all wrong for not immediately trying out what worked for you, or apparently dismissing it out of hand, but implying or telling us that won't be the way to change minds. Grab a cup of coffee(or your preferred equivalent) sit behind your stall and let the punters wander by. Some will ask, some won't be interested, some will want to discuss the weather or their dog. It's their choice. At present I fear you've become 'Oh that Susan, she reckons that if I had only enough willpower, and poked myself regularly with a stick I could make myself better'.
Unfortunately I am all too familiar with what happens when things are out of kilter, having lived with scoliosis for 50 years, and know how unknotting muscles can make life easier and less painful. Ironically, given the one and a half inch asymmetry in my pelvis my hips are just about the only area that don't give me problems although I very much doubt that an x-ray would show the joints to be 'normal'.

Jen

Gawd I've never perceived myself as being a cripple and never had this word mentioned from a medical practitioner or other ever.

Do you think people with OA are a cripple Susan?

I can understand why some people would be offended if this is your thoughts / views about people with OA.

Perhaps you are only describing yourself as being a cripple or crippled with pain before your 'cure' ?

Starburst

If treatment for "muscle imbalances" exist, I'd love to see some peer reviewed studies on its efficacy.

By the way, the Oxford English Dictionary says this;

The word cripple has long been in use to refer to ‘a person unable to walk through illness or disability’ and is recorded (in the Lindisfarne Gospels) as early as ad 950. In the 20th century the term acquired offensive connotations and has now been largely replaced by broader terms such as ‘disabled person’.

dated or , offensive
person who is unable to walk or move properly through disability or because of injury to their back or legs.

Slosh

Well said Starburst