Using Herbs for
Osteoarthritis

Osteoarthritis is more an expression of cartilage and joint deterioration than inflammation. While inflammation does not dominate the process as in rheumatoid arthritic conditions, it does stimulate bone deterioration and can impede bone and cartilage repair. No matter what type of arthritis you may have, they all have pain and inflammation in common.

COX-2 inhibitors refer to compounds, both synthetic and natural, that have the ability to inhibit an enzyme in the body referred to as cyclooxygenase-2. Anyone living with arthritis is all to familiar with the benefits and dangers COX-2 type pain medications. You may not realize, however far from being a modern medical phenomenon, the story of COX-2 is as old as Hippocrates, who was prescribing an herbal COX-2 inhibitor for pain and inflammation thousands of years ago. As is so often the case, the pharmaceutical industry attempts to synthetically recreate the extraordinary healing properties of traditional herbal medicine has gone awry. So what makes the difference? Synthetics like Celebrex have only one molecule, designed to do one thing. Ginger has at today's count, approximately five hundred identified compounds, many with known biological benefit. Each compound has some effect, whether influencing a particular enzyme or protein, or buttressing the activity of other compounds. It is the synergistic wisdom of the whole herb that makes the difference.