QUESTION from a reader who asks how to regrow\/repair cartilage:
\n“Hi Lawrence. Do you have any information of how to 1) repair or regrow cartilage in the joints, hips specifically, and 2) how to eliminate bone spurs? I’m having great progress with somatics to improve posture and reduce tension and muscle pain, but I still get a sense of a deeper soreness and also grinding in the joint which feels like it could be from the cartilage wear and spurring that was detected in my joints. Any advice on this? Is it indeed possible? \ud83d\ude09 Thanks!”<\/p>\n
ANSWER:
\nTo regrow cartilage, you need some cartilage in the joint; the remaining cartilage is the “seed” for regrowth.\u00a0 Then, you need to remove overcompression by freeing the surrounding musculature<\/p>\n
If there’s no cartilage left, I don’t know.<\/p>\n
Sometimes, muscular soreness near a joint is mistaken as joint pain. In that case, there’s no need to regrow cartilage.<\/p>\n
For hip joints, the muscles involved are the gluteals (see The Cat Stretch Exercises<\/a>, with a modification of Lessons 1 and 5 for the gluteus medius muscles) and Lesson 3, the adductors, hip joint flexors and psoas muscles (Free Your Psoas<\/a>), and the deep adductors (obturators)(The Magic of Somatics<\/a>).<\/p>\n With the pressure removed, cartilage can regrow (slowly). I don’t know the value of chondroitin sulphate for growing cartilage, except that when muscular tension around the joint is high, it’s impossible to regrow cartilage.<\/p>\n As to bone spurs (osteophytes), same thing. Bone spurs grow along the line of pull of chronically tight muscles, at their tendonous attachments.<\/p>\n So, bone spurs and cartilage loss come from the same cause:\u00a0 muscles held tight over a long period.\u00a0 Bone spurs can dissolve, and cartilage can regrow, when the cause is removed.<\/p>\n Please also see, “Completing Your Recovery from an Injury”.<\/p>\n in your service, <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n QUESTION from a reader who asks how to regrow\/repair cartilage: “Hi Lawrence. Do you have any information of how to 1) repair or regrow cartilage in the joints, hips specifically, and 2) how to eliminate bone spurs? I’m having great progress with somatics to improve posture and reduce tension and muscle pain, but I still … <\/p>\n
\nLawrence Gold<\/p>\n