Arthritis is a degenerative disease that can affect the spine and joints, including the hands, hips, knees and ankles. This condition often gets worse with time. In fact, osteoarthritis is one of the major causes leading to knee and hip replacement surgeries in Australia.
The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare found that 1 in 13 Australians had osteoarthritis in 2011-12. Interestingly, 2 out of 3 of those affected are women. Moreover, there has been a 47% rise in total knee replacement surgeries and a 17% rise in total hip replacement surgeries from osteoarthritis since 2003-04. Arthritis is no longer a disease we can ignore.
Inflammation and arthritis
In almost all types of arthritis, inflammation is involved either as a direct cause as in rheumatoid arthritis or as a byproduct (as in osteoarthritis). That swelling, stiffness and immobility in your joints is a by-product of inflammation. Over time, persistent or chronic inflammation within a joint for example, can end up damaging otherwise healthy cartilage, fluid and tissues.
During inflammation, the body releases an excess of free radicals to repair trauma to the body or fight allergens. These free radicals require an electron to stabilise their positive charge. They get these electrons from the harmful substances in your body. So far so good. But, things can get out of control. Sometimes, when the harmful substances are gone, the free radicals continue their attack, this time turning to healthy tissues. Over time, this attack on healthy tissues can result in chronic inflammatory illnesses like rheumatoid arthritis or psoriatic arthritis, which are thought to be caused by chronic inflammation.
The good news is that earthing helps get rid of those excess free radicals from your body. Moreover, it does it so simply that you might wonder why no one told us about this before!
Earthing and inflammation
The earth’s surface has a subtle negative charge and is rich in free electrons. By grounding your body to the earth, you’re allowing those potent and free electrons on its surface to stabilise the free radicals within your body. These electrons give the free radicals what they want; a single electron to nullify their positive charge. In this way, earthing is likely to improve the symptoms of arthritis including pain. Several researchers have verified the health benefits with earthing. Let’s look into some of them to know how earthing can help you or a loved one.
A pilot study by Ober on 60 subjects to find the link between chronic pain, sleep, and earthing was an eye-opener on the benefits of this therapy. Amongst improved sleep, pain relief, and other health benefits, his subjects also showed improvement in the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis.
A father and son duo in Poland, K. Sokal and S. Sokal conducted double-blind studies on groups of subjects ranging between 12 and 84. They found that earthing is likely to help with osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, and other bone diseases too. The subjects showed a significant improvement in the mineral levels in their blood after just a single night of earthing. It also reduced the elimination of calcium and phosphorus from the kidneys and urine, which resulted in an increase in these minerals in the blood. This is ideal because they are essential for maintaining bone health and for improving arthritis and its symptoms.
Dr. Amalu conducted a series of 20 case studies to note significant improvements in chronic pain and inflammation regardless of their cause after just a few days of the subjects sleeping while earthed. Here’s a thermographic image of one of his patients that shows a marked reduction in inflammation and pain after 4 nights of sleeping earthed. The patient was a 65-year old female with chronic hip, thigh, and knee pain, stiffness, swelling, insomnia, and was walking sore and stiff.
The arrows in the top set of images denote the inflamed, swollen, and painful areas. The images below them show a marked reduction in all of these parameters after 4 nights of earthing.
Ground yourself to ease your arthritis
Instead of battling the pain, stiffness, sleep disturbances, and other symptoms of arthritis each day, give earthing a try. Go for a barefoot walk on moist grass or soil, along the beach, or for a swim in the ocean. Just 30-40 minute barefoot walk on a daily basis can do wonders. Or, for maximum health benefits, get 8 hours earthing while you sleep with a Better Earthing Sheet Underlay, which sits on your mattress underneath your fitted sheet. It’s Mother Earth without the ants!
References:
Sokal K, Sokal P. Earthing the human body influences physiologic processes. Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine. 2011;17(4):301–308.
Ober C. Grounding the human body to neutralize bioelectrical stress from static electricity and EMFs. ESD Journal. January 2000.
