Arthritis-Proof Your Life – by Dr. Michelle Cook

First, a note about that title of doctor. Sometimes we will mention “you may be wondering, is that an MD or a PhD? It’s both!” because there is some physician-scientist with an MD plus a PhD in, say, neurology or biochemistry of some kind or be it what it may. In this case, the author has two claims to doctorship: a PhD in traditional natural medicine, and a “DNP”, the “doctor of naturopathic medicine” qualification which is usually a four-year degree, and/but is not generally considered a medical degree, or equivalent, or similar.

This may explain some medical errors in the book, such as the claims that “Fibromyalgia is a type of arthritis” (it isn’t, and in fact by definition will only be diagnosed as such if other disorders such as arthritis have been ruled out as the cause of the symptoms) and “Tylenol is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug” (it isn’t, it’s an antipyretic analgesic, which despite the similar uses and shared reference to the imagery of fire, is a completely different class of drugs and works differently to NSAIDs).

However, it’s not all bad. One thing this book has as a strength is that it offers a lot of things to try, if you’ve already tried everything else, ranging from dietary tweaks to try outside of the usual anti-inflammatory recommendations (but yes, those too), complementary medicine methods such as acupressure and aromatherapy, and the two-way relationship between arthritis and mental health.

The style is bold and lively, and proceeds without citations to interrupt one’s flow, though there is a bibliography at the back, mostly for references to herbalism.

Bottom line: if you have arthritis, have tried many things, and are looking for more things to try, this book may have options you wouldn’t have thought of!

Click here to check out Arthritis-Proof Your Life, and get creative with your problem-solving!