Joint Calcification

Joint Calcification – what is it and how did it get there?   By Phil Wade

And why do the joints calcify (develop “rheumatism”) as this happens.

And can we prevent this from happening?

Following on from my previous article on Osteoporosis……that asked the question: Is it “ageing” or is it osteoporosis and just happening to practically everyone no matter what age? But for what reason???  Now read on…

Calcification of joints and soft tissue

Believe it or not, it appears from the various elements of research that calcium flows from the inner surface of the bone through the joints and into the bloodstream. (see below). This movement of calcium back into the blood supply from bone may be – in my opinion – the ultimate cause of why calcium accumulates in cartilage as phosphate crystals due to the high concentration of calcium developing as it proceeds through the epiphyses and into the bloodstream, giving surgeons the appearance of “false bone”. So it is very possible that the joint capsules may be calcium’s main exit point from bone.

So the the very notion that joints calcify, because the dietary intake of calcium is inadequate, is such an anomalous concept that medicos and indeed many naturopathic colleagues, to be fair – cannot understand it.

That is why I call it the calcium paradox. It is such a foreign concept that many physicians and researchers find it difficult to accept. I don’t know how many times that clients have told me that their doctor has said that they have too much calcium in their body because their joints are calcifying and so must actually reduce their calcium intake when clearly, the opposite is the case.

And how much unnecessary suffering has this caused, when the evidence is clear if a practitioner wants to pursue it. This sadly reduces the patient to taking synthetic pharmaceuticals, one after the other, causing side effects to the point where the patient doesn’t know what’s worse – the drug interations or the condition.

https://courses.lumenlearning.com/wm-biology2/chapter/structure-of-bones/

And so their “arthritis” just gets worse from dietary calcium deficiency in “the land of plenty”!

And it is not hard to imagine that as the calcification accumulates, the joints may become “re-modeled” and the limb or digit become “deformed”.

The image above shows that trabeculae form in the lumen and from there through the Haversian Canals. Next stop? The bone “plates” or epiphyses that are pre-determined to process calcium and other minerals and protein. So logic dictates that in these circumstances the movement of calcium is a 2 way possibility – bone building by osteoblasts absorbing nutrients for the purpose of lengthening the bone until the puberty growth stops and then doing the reverse for maintenance by osteoclast activity thereafter at times of calcium and mineral deficiency.

The other corroborative evidence is that osteoblasts reside just under the periosteum and the osteoclasts in the lumen. So the bone cells renew completely from outside in, resulting in brand new bone mass every ten years or so in a nutritionally normal cycle.

And that is a common observation, a classic example in extreme cases being deformed fingers as in the following image. And you don’t have to be old:

Case studies:           

1.   The fingers of a well-known international female sprinter developed into a crescent shape by the time she was in her late 30s.
2.    A unique case of a patient with an intercecepted small intestine that was undetected and finally discovered after nine days. The patient had vomited all food during that time and felt he was dying at that stage. After aspiration treatment commenced the only “food” then offered was a saline drip. The patient – OK it was me – noticed that in the following 8 hours his finger joints started “crackling” and concluded that his bone mass was breaking down as a last resort to maintain a functional calcium blood level. So I called for a calcium drip (Hartmen’s) and a simultaneous magnesium drip. After half an hour, I felt strength returning after being in a very weakened state. Realising that the only way I could get a bowel motion and release the interceception was to move around I then proceeded to get up and start walking, using the two infusion trolleys as walking sticks. And then normal bowel peristalsis commenced and I recovered – right on 24 hours as the surgeon arrived to commence surgery. This demonstrated to me that my theory was correct – but it was a hell of a way to prove a point!
3. The third example is commonly observed – but not particularly related to ageing, calcium deficiency or osteoporosis. You guessed it: Scoliosis.                                                                              . Yes that’s right. Think about it. It occurs especially in schoolgirls when even the WHO recognises that 94% of these people are calcium deficient, thanks to the ABS.                                        . And INCREDIBLY this phenomenon is STILL not medically recognised to my knowledge. That’s right – parents on generations past have been told that “scoliosis is genetic and there is nothing you can do about it short of surgery”. “And certainly not taking supplements”. And so the poor victims had to endure a lifetime of suffering and deformity because of bone-headed, medical obstinacy. Aand here we are – with the same medicos loudly abusing nutritionists and naturopaths for doing the great work that we do.

So – news flash! Arthropathy is not an auto-immune disease and is rarely genetic* – it is just too little dietary intake of calcium.

*The only connection this has with genes is that a person may be eating foods that are incompatible and not well digested in the first place.

Calcification becomes infected

The sum total of these events may cause at once a weakening of bone structure along with micro-bleeds and infection accumulating in the joints – probably from occasional micro-bleeds due to the crystalline mass occasionally severing capillaries, pressing on nerves, with the whole event eventually causing pain. This became “crystal” clear following the brilliantly insightful hypothesis of C W Buckley [Prof. C.W. Buckley, Uni Syd 1928] who said: “All Arthropathy is a Result of Septic Foci”. This hypothesis was based on the findings of the day.

The above images depict the calcification in the distal joints (phalanges) but also apparently also in the metacarpals and wrist.

But reversing osteoporosis, reshaping bones and increasing bone density?

To understand how this condition in the images above and below may be rectified, you need to know how calcium moves in and out of bones and joints. Please see “Rebuilding ageing bones” and the “osteoporosis” discussion.

And then by treating for this aspect, using relevant supplements and attending to compatible dietary intake, recovery may be possible, no matter what the age. Having said that it is our finding that Herring’s Direction of Cure does influence recovery. That hypothesis says fundamentally that the longer you have suffered from a chronic condition then the longer it takes to heal.

Evidence for reversing the condition

We currently have four MRI results showing “before and after” measurements that highlight beneficial changes according to the respective diagnoses from MDs.

And having said that, we find that the judicious use of TGA-approved Frequency Specific Bioresonance (microcurrent) treatments may help to accelerate recovery from such joint conditions significantly.

Ant according to the Australian Health Survey findings of the extreme rate of calcium and other mineral deficiencies in the average Australian diet, I have created one single supplement that I believe contains every mineral and trace element that will assist this process and that I used in every single case study that showed recovery. See these hyperlinks regarding the specific and sensibly-formulated targeted nutritional therapy

Our goal

So creating such nutritional combinations became a goal, that I like to think has helped many such conditions over 40-odd years!

Summing up.

How calcium moves around inside your body.

Under these constantly-changing dietary conditions that regularly see changes in calcium intake, the blood level of calcium is more or less constant while the bone itself is minutely changing – potentially. Becauseof my friend Prof. Basil Roufegalis’ original discovery that calcium is necessary for normal transmission of nerve impulses that connect the brain to the rest of our body as well as skeletal and cardiac muscle contraction, it is vital that your blood can maintain strict blood calcium levels at all times. So in times of dietary inadequacy bone breaks down to return stored bone calcium to the bloodstream as mantioned.  That’s why the brain monitoring system (pituitary gland) effects this activity, otherwise if the blood calcium level drops too low we would die.

Calcium build-up in joints – how come? – a question for you and me.

So, we were told by our physiology lecturers at Sydney University in 1963 that bone breaks down in the lumen of the bone. From there it is anybody’s guess because certainly nobody discussed the next step as far as I remember, and the only references that I can find apart from the above are from the Clevelend and Mayo clinics that seem intent on finding mysterious medical conditions rather than simple internal responses to dietary imbalances.

So what do you reckon is happening? To me, it seems that the logical sequence is as follows:

1. Widespread osteoporosis occurs in conditions of (now well established) general dietary deficiencies of calcium.
2. The bone breaks down by hormone bio-feedback to release the stored calcium because blood calcium would otherwise fall to a fatal level – that would cause muscle contraction and nerve stimulation, without which we would die.
3. See the end of the article for the The Nerdy bit … Phil’s hypothesis..

The above health survey reveals the shocking information that 94% of Australian schoolgirls between the age of 12 and 16 YO are deficient in calcium.

This would obviously explain the presence of scoliosis, as the statisticians who analysed the survey stated that “calcium deficiency is the number one cause of osteoporosis”.

So, the purpose of this article is to show you how to avoid potential arthropathy that is generally thought to be a genetic ageing process that is unavoidable.

Scoliosis

The 2011 survey – that took 3 years to analyse, being released in 2013 following the survey period of 2010 to 2011, goes on to say that nine out of ten girls between 12 YO and 18 YO are likely to be deficient in calcium. And this deficiency by definition is quite obviously a direct cause of scoliosis.

Why? Because the rapid growth spurt at puberty onset quite obviously requires an increase in dietary intake of the elements from which the body is made. All of them! And as calcium and magnesium are the two structural elements required in thje greatest quantity – along with protein – then these requirements must be attend to.

Traditional orthodox medical denial

So why has there been so much denial on the part of the entire medical/dietitian network? It is hard to say, save for the fact that nutritional availability may not form part of their undergraduate curriculum, as it didn’t form part of mine.

That came later, with independent, further studies in the field of Clinical Nutrition. Even then there was a fair bit of denial and ignorance of this matter until the results of the 2011 survey were finally analysed by the Australian Bureau of Statistics and it became shockingly evident.

Lazy medical prognoses over the generations

Might I say that this is a direct and reprehensible flaw in the system of training medical practitioners and pharmacists – and possibly dietitians – at University level over the generations, whose students were all told that osteoporosis and scoliosis were either unknown or genetic. Full stop.

Sadly generations have suffered

So that is what they told parents with young girls, including us.

And this apparent misinformation has led to generations of girls developing this debilitating malady into adulthood, when the bone epiphyses harden and the malformed joint condition becomes irreversible.

And this, in the light of the cause having long been suspected by a a core group of nutritionists from the 90s or even before that, because it flew in the face of the laws of common sense and basic physiology.

So might I now state that, especially given the results of this survey, from now on, please consult a naturopath or nutritionist who is active in this field to establish exactly how to achieve what is a disproportionately higher intake of calcium that is needed for your child. But a word of caution – please ensure that you ask them how to achieve this in balance with other minerals and other nutrient intakes. Because if you add a supplement that is incomplete or imbalanced then it may not have the desired effect – or even a damaging one.

And sadly, the logical conclusion is that in order to stay healthy on an ongoing basis, you will almost definietly have to add at least one complete supplement to your diet.

Arteries too.

It may also accumulate on the outside of artery walls because the arteries are the first vessels to take this exodus.

But all the while, this ongoing deficiency through the years is causing osteoporosis (inadequate bone calcium and structure) according the Australian Health Survey of  Usual Nutrient intakes of 2011-12 even though these details are hard to find in the most recent survey.

That is why I believe so few people were privy to this knowledge – and even then only when they self-analysed the results, as nutritionist Henry Osiecki did through those years.

Other calcium problems? Groan!

In pronounced conditions of deficiency  may also plunder calcium reserves in artery and heart muscle, as opposed to the artery lumen, so creating potentially coronary chaos.

That’s because you must always have a regulated blood calcium level that is sustained between very narrow parameters by the pituitary gland. This gland constantly monitors blood calcium levels (and other elements) and organises the parathyroid glands, gut and kidneys to “give back” and prevent the excretion of calcium.

Similarly in times of excess, it will order the thyroid gland to store calcium in the bone that is excess to requirements, given sufficient absorption co-factors such as magnesium (see above reference).

These requirements are needed to allow the heart to beat, muscles to contract and many different types of nerves to work.

Known as “electrolytes”, calcium and magnesium work in tandem to allow the contraction and relaxation of these tissues respectively.

And the good part is that consequences of an imbalance in all this may not only be rectified but also prevented by harnessing these natural phenonema!

Maintaining a normal intake of sodium and potassium is also essential, as they are the other two electrolytes that keep our body “ticking”.

Artery calcification – prevention and possible reversal

But it may get worse. As the heart’s arteries are basically en route from this “flow” of concentrated calcium that has just emerged from the bones, calcium may nestle along artery walls.

In that way, calcification may eventually render the arteries brittle by building up calcium plaque, leading into middle age and ultimately cause BP to increase in later life?

I would think that that is the most likely explanation of some otherwise unexplained causes of high BP as we hit the 40s – especially if the cholesterol levels are normal.

Vitamin K2 thought to be made in the liver in small quantities is thought to be responsible for binding calcium in bones and other tissues, so it may protect arteries from undue surface calcification.

Vitamin K occurs in leafy greens and some oils such as flaxseed and walnut oils.

As it is not possible and also unethical to make prescribing suggestions without a consult, please feel free to ring and enquire. But I hasten to add that we may recommend a regime that I use and it has certainly kept my own joints stable, pain free and with minimal swelling (my D.O.B. is January 1944). Of course, the regime naturally includes a combination of choices of a balanced

and complete adjusting of your dietary essential nutrients and/or mineral deficiencies but importantly also offering a way to optimise your health while watching your weight while providing the essentials, aimed at ultimately supporting the body’s ability to remove calcification by biological chelation.

The nerdy bit – how does this work? Phil’s hypothesis.

1. And given the above, known, internal sequence of events, and the known ability of joint-cartilage cells to hold calcium, the first thing that happens is that calcium emerges from osteoclast cells into capillaries within the bone crystalline matrix (calcium/protein structures).
2. From there the blood in the capillaries containing the calcium flows into the joints, which explains the formation of “false bone” in joints as osteoporosis progresses.
3. We were also told that this sequence of events happened when the pituitary released trophic (activating) hormones that targeted the thyroid gland to release a hormone that affected osteoblast (bone-building) cells. Again this is a logical outcome as the pituitary gland is considered to be the master gland in the brain (the Ayveduc “third eye”) that senses the presence of many different elements in the circulation that are essential to life.
4. The hormones involved are calcitonin and parathyroid hormone.
5. So, in summary, the calcitonin is then released by the thyroid gland under the direction of again, the pituitary (brain) gland and stimulates osteoblast (bone building) cells into action.
6. The PTH is also secreted apparently by the tyyroid gland to also act on osteoblasts, but in this case to then itself release PTH to do its thing.