Introduction

If you are among the 70 million adults diagnosed with arthritis, you know the pain, stiffness, and outright misery it can cause. You can change that right now with this book!

Pain-free Arthritis gives a proven 7-Step Program filled with workable solutions-natural and medical-that you can start immediately, as you finally get relief from debilitating and persistent pain caused by osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, fibromyalgia, carpal tunnel syndrome, and other pain-related problems. Unlike other books you may have read, the Pain-Free Program does not focus on one "cure" or remedy to end arthritis pain-there is no one cure that can do this. Rather, I give you a proven, tried-and-true holistic program that focuses on a wealth of alternative therapies, lifestyle changes, and medications, if needed, to decrease pain and stiffness.

As a board-certified rheumatologist and geriatric medical specialist with Tampa Medical Group for the past twenty-five years, I've treated literally thousands of arthritis patients. Our group of rheumatologists has three pain clinics and an osteoporosis clinic on Florida's sunny Gulf Coast, which treats and sees hundreds of patients each week. I'm also a Certified Medical Director of long-term care facilities in Florida. Because I diagnose and treat pain-related diseases daily, I am passionate about finding ways to help my patients ease their symptoms.

While most patients rely on medications to ease inflammation and pain, through years of research and professional experience, I have discovered that there is much more to resolving arthritis pain than simply taking a drug. In Pain-Free Arthritis, you'll find a wealth of safe lifestyle substitutions, winning exercise and nutritional strategies, natural supplements and herbal therapies, mind/body and hands-on therapy tips, and 50 pain-free recipes, as well as the latest medications, that have helped thousands of my patients resolve arthritis pain-without putting their active lives on hold.

The chances are that you are busy and want answers-fast-on how to reduce arthritis pain so you can continue being active and highly productive. Unlike other arthritis books, Pain-Free Arthritis places you at center stage by teaching you how a multifaceted program can help to resolve most types of arthritis pain. As you read through the steps, and then on to the Recipes and Special Situations, you will see how the book gives you easy strategies to ease pain-with page after page of personalized self-help tips that you can use right now as you take control of your symptoms, stay healthy, and reduce your dependence on prescribed medications.

The Pain-Free Program is a medically proven lifestyle approach to permanently change the long-term prognosis of arthritis. It includes 7 basic steps that are scientifically substantiated and the result of my 25 years experience in helping thousands of patients to reclaim active lives in spite of arthritic conditions.

Step 1: Your Exercise Rx
Step 2: The Pain-free Nutritional Plan
Step 3: Add Alternative Therapies
Step 4: Make Key Lifestyle Changes
Step 5: Consider Bodywork and Massage
Step 6: Tap into Pain-Free Mind Power
Step 7: Choose the Latest Medical Treatments

The Pain-Free Program will guide you in setting exercise and diet goals, changing your lifestyle habits, monitoring your progress, and finding the right arthritis medication with the least side effects. This program guarantees to put you in control of your health-and arthritis-and covers a wide spectrum of strategies for the most common pain conditions.
Now that baby boomers are facing retirement years, pain treatment for arthritis is becoming even more important. Some new studies show that more than 13 million adults suffer with daily arthritis to the extent that they must live on prescription anti-inflammatory medications to be reasonably active. In the U.S. we spend about $3 billion on over-the-counter pain medications, and about $4.5 billion on prescription medications each year. More than half of all seniors suffer from pain; between 45 and 80 percent of long-term care facility residents are in pain. These statistics will only grow as America ages and the number of arthritis cases increases because of our graying boomer population.

Pain is not healthy. You know how pain affects all aspects of life-your personality, concentration, productivity, sleep, relationships, eating habits, and overall health. There are new studies that indicate pain may affect the immune system so that cancer cells might speed up in growth when there is pain in the body. Where does that leave the millions who have chronic arthritis pain every day? In this book, I'll show you how to wipe out pain and the risk of serious illness and then manage the symptoms so arthritis does not rob your quality of life.

I know that your time is valuable. If you are like many of my patients, you're far too busy to sit down and read detailed medical information about arthritis. As one forty-six-year old mother of three with osteoarthritis of the hands told me, "Dr. McIlwain, just tell me how to stop the pain. Life's too short for trial-and-error." The multitude of simple strategies in this program will do just that-show you how to stop pain and stop it quickly, so you can move on with your life.
Now, let's get started!

Harris H. McIlwain, MD