Hi and welcome to this episode of Food for Thought with Deborah Walker and this week I’m with Brendan Ridings who has a degree in Human Nutrition and Dietetics, and further qualifications in Corrective Exercise, he’s also a world power-lifting champion.
Outside of this work he works with the organization named PLAT, a school in Haiti, which invented Posture PT back support started with 500% funding on Kickstarter, and recently partnered with the ‘Make in India’ initiative to develop and implement advanced wound care to underprivileged populations. A fascinating set of projects which we partly talk about as well as discussing the main subject of this interview arthritis a musculoskeletal issue that has 1 in 5 suffering in the US.
Everyone knows that arthritis and related conditions are common. You only have to stand on a street corner and watch people walk by to realise that many, especially the elderly, have painful feet or a reduced range of movements in their hips or knees. Join any queue and you will overhear tales of back, neck and shoulder pain and how it’s ruining people’s lives. Something I had no idea about was that there are more than 200 different types of arthritis musculoskeletal conditions, astonishing really that so many are suffering.
We have more than 10 million people in the UK diagnosed with arthritis, and 50 million in the US. In the US that means 1 in 5 adults have this issue. The number of people expected to have doctor-diagnosed arthritis by the year 2030 is 67 million in the US, which is a phenomenal number of people and an incredible medical burden in our society. It’s one of the leading causes of disability in both the UK and the US.
Many people think this is just something they have to bear when they are getting older and it’s something that happens to them and everyone because it’s such a common condition, even our National Health Service states that it’s a common condition that happens. An interesting statement made on the NHS website about the condition states that “Arthritis is a common condition that causes pain and inflammation in a joint.” We discuss how this isn’t accurate, and how working with corrective exercise can have profound changes on the body, and how it’s experiencing pain. This interview isn’t about taking supplements, it’s all about how the body moves, and how that movement has an impact on the stress and pain it experiences.
What is interesting about arthritic conditions is that over 50% of people who are reporting to their doctor are not taking any drugs. Around one in four (23%) of those with arthritis and joint pain have taken some form of complementary medicine, such as homeopathy, acupuncture, herbal medicine or glucosamine sulphate for their arthritis(1), people are open to alternatives with this condition in particular. So listen in to find out how it’s not just about taking supplements and getting the diet right, but how posture can be key.
http://confidentposture.com/
1. https://www.ipsos-mori.com/Assets/Docs/Archive/Polls/arthritis.pdf Arthritis the big picture.
