Simulation Suit To Feel the Pain of Osteoarthritis

A BBC news article reported on a suit that gives wearers a "real life" insight into the pain and impaired quality-of-life associated with osteoarthritis (OA). The suit costs £20,000 and was developed by Loughborough University. They wrote: "The JOINT Osteoarthritis Education Programme will be made available to GPs throughout the UK, providing advanced training on the diagnosis and management of the condition, including both drug-based and lifestyle approaches to help improve mobility and minimise pain."

How does this suit work? The specs for this particular suit are proprietary to the company (that means they are not telling). Similarly marketed suits to simulate arthritis use a simple principle to produce the painful feeling - they use straps and other restrictive designs to hold the body in bent positions that cause the rubbing and strain.

The suit would be useful for the kind of health care worker who tells people to live with their pain instead of fixing the cause to stop the pain. Most other people don't need an expensive suit to show them how to hunch over and hurt all over:

• The post Disc Pain - Not a Mystery, Easy to Fix shows how to understand the simple mechanics that damage discs. In my work, I have found it is one of the same mechanisms that increases wear and tear on the vertebrae contributing to spinal arthritis.
  
  
• The second main wear and tear injury adding to spinal arthritis is standing with the lower spine arched inward too much (lordosis) - Using Abdominal Muscles is Not Tightening or Pressing Navel to Spine. The muscles you would use to simply move your spine to a less arched position and restore neutral spine are your abdominal muscles.

• Discs and vertebrae are living parts of your body. They can heal, when you stop hurting them, usually starting within days by stopping the harmful movements that aren't good for you anyway, and using healthy movement during daily life that gives you free exercise. Discs can heal without surgery, just like a sprained ankle. More on how to stop recurring ankle sprains is in How To Treat Ankle Sprains and Prevent Them and No More Ankle Sprains Part II.

• Post on changing bad positioning that increases wear and tear and risk of osteoarthritis on knees: You Can Fix Your Own Knees.
  
  
• Posts on changing positioning that increases wear and tear and risk of osteoarthritis on the neck: Is Your Drinking Hurting Your Neck? and Gaze Perseid Meteors Without Neck Pain.
  
  
• Post on changing positioning that increases wear and tear and risk of osteoarthritis on the shoulder: Upper Back Exercise and Neck Pain Prevention Too.
  
  
• Post on changing positioning that increases wear and tear and risk of osteoarthritis of the lower back: Prevent Back Surgery.

Use all the various articles on fixing injuries in The Fitness Fixer to see how to move in healthful positioning so that your exercise is healthy rather than injurious. You don't need to get treatments, or adjustments, or surgery, or shots, or medicines. It is a win-win situation where you do not have to give up favorite activities, and can become healthier than before. Just use healthy movement as part of normal daily life and get free exercise, better physical abilities, and stop the processes that cause injury, all at the same time.

For books, try Fix Your Own Pain Without Drugs or Surgery and Health & Fitness in Plain English Third Edition. The Fix Pain book concentrates on how to stop injury process in each area, with patient stories in each chapter. The Health & Fitness new third edition covers back and neck pain, plus living and exercising in healthy ways, nutrition, and health issues including measuring body fat tests, bone health, heart health, and other topics. Descriptions on my books page.