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I recently received a review copy of Too Young To Feel Old: The Arthritis Doctor’s 28-Day Formula For Pain-Free Living by Richard H. Blau, M.D., F.A.C.R. with E.A. Tremblay.  For frequent visitors to my blog, you may recall Dr. Blau from a video on arthritis exercises I posted a few weeks ago.  Dr. Blau is the founder and medical director of The Arthritis Institute of Long Island and is a board certified rheumatologist.

To begin my review, I must say that I didn’t agree completely with everything in Dr. Blau’s book.  I guess this shouldn’t be surprising though, because as the saying goes, if you ask 10 doctors the same question, you’ll get 10 different opinions (and in my experience it may be more like 12 or 15 opinions!).  The main points of disagreement had to do with a few statements he makes regarding certain alternative treatment options, such as chiropractic and homeopathy.  It is my impression that Dr. Blau may not have direct experience with these forms of treatment, and his opinions, particularly about chiropractic, may be based on either incomplete or outdated information. I consider this a minor detractor, as I don’t think it’s reasonable to expect Dr. Blau to be an expert on chiropractic or other forms of alternative medicine.

The only other area of disagreement I have with Dr. Blau is regarding his belief that all rheumatologists are as thorough in their evaluations and as broad in their treatment of arthritic disorders as he is.  Perhaps the rheumatologists in his part of the country are as thorough as he is and are as willing to discuss diet, exercise, and other natural treatments with their patients. Unfortunately, judging from the reports I receive from patients about their experiences with rheumatologists in my area, this is far from the norm in my part of the country.  All too often, patients are simply given one or more prescription medications and not one word is said about diet, nutritional supplementation, exercise, or any other self-help methods.  I believe Dr. Blau is to be commended for his unusual level of dedication to achieving the best possible outcomes for his patients.

Now that those minor caveats have been addressed, I must say that I found Too Young To Feel Old to be a very well-written and useful book for anyone suffering from arthritis.  The first portion of the book does an excellent job of explaining the main types of arthritis and their causes, using easy to understand language (no “medical-ese”).

Dr. Blau then moves into the topic of dietary recommendations and nutritional supplementation.  This section provides a review of the various dietary and supplementation approaches to controlling inflammation and thereby easing arthritis symptoms. 

The next section provides exercise recommendations, complete with illustrated instructions for gentle exercises for the joints most likely to develop arthritis.  Many of these are demonstrated in the video I referred to earlier.

Dr. Blau then reviews a variety of miscellaneous treatments used for arthritis, including chiropractic, homeopathy, acupuncture, massage, hypnosis, and other alternative treatments. 

Next comes the 28 day part of the “28 Day Formula” as Dr. Blau puts everything together with his daily exercise and supplement recommendations and reveals his 28 day meal plan.  The meal plan includes complete recipes and nutrition information for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and an evening snack for 28 days.  There are many great recipes in the book for making delicious, healthy meals for anyone, not just those with arthritis.  Here are a couple of my favorites from the book(included here with permission): 

Grilled Island Shrimp Wrap

Serves 2

• 1/2 lb shrimp (cleaned, deveined, with tails removed)

• 1 tbs olive oil

•  1/2 cup green peppers, diced

•  1/2 cup snow peas

•  2 tsps fresh chopped cilantro

•  1 tsp curry powder

• 2 tortillas, whole wheat (pre-packaged)

• Heat oil in pan.

• Saute’ green peppers and snow peas until tender.

• Add shrimp, curry powder, and cilantro.  Cook until shrimp are pink

• Divide into two portions and spread in center of each tortilla.

• Fold tortilla into wrap.

Scrambled Egg Whites Italiano

Serves 1

• 4 large egg whites

• 3 baby portabellas, diced

• 2 tsp olive oil

• 1/4 tsp tumeric

• 1/4 tsp fresh oregano, chopped

• 1/4 tsp fresh basil, chopped

• 2 tsp 1% milk

• 1 tsp flaxseed meal

• 1 dash salt 

• Put egg whites into mixing bowl.

• Beat slightly using wire whisk.

• Add milk, tumeric, oregano, basil, flaxseed meal, and salt to eggs.  Beat until blended.

• Heal olive oil in frying pan.  Add mushrooms and cook until soft.

• Pour in egg mixture.  Cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, until reaching desired consistency.

Finally, Dr. Blau reviews the various medication options for treating arthritis, including their indications, contraindications and common side-effects.  I was impressed by the fact that Dr. Blau considers medications to be something that may need to be considered in addition to (not in place of) the program previously outlined.  In my experience, many medical doctors think medication first, and things like diet and exercise second, if at all.  Dr. Blau is clearly a “different breed” of medical rheumatologist.

To sum it all up, I highly recommend Too Young To Feel Old  for anyone looking to take control of their arthritis problems.  The book is available at most book stores and can be purchased online at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, and Borders. 

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The claims made in the above video may seem a little hard to believe, but my 17 years of practice experience treating musculoskeletal pain and arthritis puts me in complete agreement with the doctor in the video.  I often tell patients that there is a huge difference between having arthritis and having arthritis pain.  In the vast majority of cases, as is indicated in the video, the pain of arthritis is not due to the joint degeneration itself, but the muscle and soft tissue reaction around the area of degeneration.  While in some cases, the problem is so advanced that it is not possible to get the soft tissue reactions to subside, in the majority of arthritis cases, even very severe cases, pain can be alleviated by soft tissue release methods. 

Unfortunately, few practitioners who treat arthritis actually address these soft tissue problems, so it can be difficult to find someone who can help.  As a starting point, I suggest looking for a chiropractor or osteopath who either does deep massage in addition to joint manipulation/mobilization and/or who works closely with an experienced massage therapist.  By increasing joint mobility and decreasing reactive tightness in the muscles and soft tissues, miraculous changes can happen very quickly.  Even patients who have been in severe pain for many years and who have had many other types of treatment can sometimes get dramatic relief in the very first treatment session. 

It is important to mention though that in some cases, symptoms may actually increase in the first few treatment sessions before things begin to improve.  It may be frustrating when this occurs, but if you stick with it, things will usually get better after a week or two of treatment.  Remember, arthritic conditions may take 10 to 20 years or more to develop before they start to create significant symptoms, so it may take some time to get the problem resolved.

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