New arthritis treatment helping Australians with crippling disease
There was a time when country rock legend Jade Hurley could barely touch the piano without agonising pain in his hands. But an over-the-counter drug has helped the star, and thousands like him, who suffer from arthritis.
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Country rock king Jade Hurley never imagined a time when he would have to part with the piano – the instrument he had forged his legendary career on.
But three years ago, the Order of Australia recipient felt such agonising pain in his hands that he could barely move his fingers.
Hurley had become one of the 3.6 million Australians who live with arthritis – a chronic condition.
“I’ve been a musician all my life. About five years ago I started to get terrible pain in both my hands, and I put up with it and put up with it,” he said.
“It was getting so severe that sometimes someone would shake hands with me, and I would almost cry it was that bad,” he said.
But a new breakthrough arthritis treatment has been a source of hope for many sufferers, including Hurley.
An antioxidant plant extract from the bark of the French maritime pine tree has been hailed a miracle cure according to research published in the Journal of Orthopaedics and Traumatology.
Over-the-counter medication Arborvitae combines the plant extract Pycnogenol, Papain enzyme, aloe vera and honey and was tested in the study.
The supplement decreased pain scores by 66 per cent and increased walking distance without pain for 50 per cent of the people.
An astounding 78 per cent of people felt a reduction in their use of on-demand medication for arthritis and 50 per cent of people said their quality of life had increased.
Primary care medicine expert Dr Jeff Strong said the study results were promising particularly with arthritis increasingly emerging among younger people.
“Arthritis is often considered to be a condition that only effects older generations; however, many people will start feeling the effects of arthritis from as early as age 35,” he said.
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“These positive results were achieved through a registry study, meaning the product was tested under real world circumstances that reflect the realities that those living with arthritis often face.”
Cardiologist Ross Walker said it has helped many of his patients with crippling arthritis.
“I’ve had a lot of patients use it and they have had a good response, more mobility and less pain. The problem is many doctors are conservative and believe that if you can’t fix it with a script or a scalpel then it doesn’t work,” Dr Walker said.
“No matter how good the research is there is still a bias to pharmaceutical medications. It has been published in a peer reviewed journal and doesn’t harm anyone so why shouldn’t we push it?”
Arborvitae Director Brendan Howell said the study will give doctors more confidence in suggesting the simple medication for arthritis.
“Chemists have reasonable trust in the product because people are coming and buying it but the study will encourage doctors to promote it,” he said.
“Doctors need evidence and it should give them credibility. The doctors we have been involved with so far have responded really well.”