Is Acid Causing Your Joint Pain?

It doesn’t take a chemistry major to know that acid is bad for your health. Certainly you won’t be opening up a D-cell battery and dumping out its contents on your salad anytime soon, right?

Take a look at the terminals on your car’s battery, or inside a child’s toy after the batteries have been left to sit for too long. You’ll likely get a good visual reminder of the corrosive nature of acid.

But guess what. Acidity is often found right inside your own body. Some of it is good and necessary. But too much acidity, called acidosis, can cause pain… or even death.

What is acidosis?

You may have heard of pH before, perhaps in the term “pH balanced” in a commercial. Basically, pH is a measure of how acid, or in the opposite direction, alkaline (or base) a substance is from water, which is considered neutral.

Measurement of pH usually falls in a range of 0 — 14. Lower numbers indicate more acidity while higher numbers are more alkaline. In the chart above you’ll find battery acid actually falls below that range meaning very high acidity. Stomach acid is also highly acidic. That’s how it helps digest your food.

Blood pH, on the other hand, should fall in a relatively narrow range of about 7.35 – 7.45 pH, which is slightly more alkaline, or even less acidic, than water. Acidosis occurs when acid levels rise in the blood causing its pH level to fall below 7.35. Values greatly outside the normal range can lead to irreversible cell damage.

How bad is acidosis? Just take a look:

Believe it or not, that’s just for starters.

How acidosis causes joint pain

What you don’t see on the Symptoms of Acidosis chart above is how excess acidity leads to inflammation and joint pain. Of course, arthritis itself is a form of inflammation in the joints. So how does acidity cause joint pain? Like this…

As your body becomes more acidic, acid toxins, calcium and other minerals are deposited into your joints. Chronic inflammation caused by chronic acidity becomes widespread throughout your body. Combined, these cause pain and degenerative arthritis in your joints. Worse, chronic systemic inflammation is also linked to chronic fatigue, heart disease, fibromyalgia, and cancer.

The good news is the whole process of acidosis can be reversed by restoring the proper pH balance to your blood through increased alkalinity. Before you know it you’ll have less pain and better health.

Restore proper pH balance to your body

Most westerners consume a diet full of acidic foods and beverages. Coffee, soda, and alcoholic beverages are poor drink choices. Dairy products, processed foods, sugary foods, meats and pastas are some of the top acidic food hazards many of us eat on a daily basis.

But this doesn’t mean you have to give all of these up altogether. Instead, focus on increasing the percentage of alkaline foods you consume to about 75-80% of your diet.

Many fresh vegetables are highly alkalizing, counteracting the effect of other acidic foods we eat. Sour cherries, figs, and fresh coconut make great alkalizing snack choices too.

You can begin your health transformation by eating more leafy green salads with a simple lemon juice, fresh herb and olive oil dressing. If you prefer vinegar, choose a raw unfiltered apple cider vinegar. While lemons and cider vinegar are acidic during digestion, they both have an alkalizing effect on our pH.

Avoid the high acid foods and drinks I just mentioned. When you eat healthier with high alkaline foods you will finally be able to throw off the food cravings that keep you constantly hunting for snack foods. Add in more fruit and especially vegetable juices to your diet for a great acid-busting pick-me-up.

Here’s a great tasting high alkaline recipe you can create at home in your own juicer or high-end blender to get you started:

High Alkaline Delicious Vegetable Drink

2 large carrots
1/4 head of cabbage or a small bunch of kale
1/2 cucumber
1/2 medium red beet
optional: add some parsley and / or a pinch of salt

Filed Under: Anti-Inflammatory
Written By:  Updated:
my avatar

Jesse Cannone, CFT, CPRS, MFT

Jesse is the co-founder and visionary CEO of The Healthy Back Institute®, the world-leading source of natural back pain solutions. His mission as a former back pain sufferer is to help others live pain free without surgery and pharmaceuticals.

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10 thoughts on “Is Acid Causing Your Joint Pain?”

  1. dianne says:

    I have Thyroid eye disease which involves inflammation of the fat behind my left eyeball. Can you tell me if this may in some way be connnected to acidic blood?

  2. marie says:

    i been ate just two apple pie small like cake then next day i feel bit not well just soft toliet like bug then next day i ate other one apple cake small then iwent bed then next morning i was very ill and very painful acid of my chest and my tummy it was horrible, i feel sick i didnot ate all day then i ate only night time then other day i feel better, i am realison too acid make worse badly make me very ill i near faint black out awful and shake my hand some wrong

    1. Zrcalo says:

      That’s called sugar overload and acid reflux. Not related to high body acidity.

  3. bill says:

    You say “by eating more leafy green salads with a simple lemon juice”. But isn’t lemon acidic?

    1. Steve says:

      Bill, by its very nature of lemon Juice is acidic but once in the body it acts as a digestive aid and then the acid gets buffered so in fact the Lemon juice is of great benefit, and does not make the body any more acidic…

      Steve

      1. Zrcalo says:

        false. see comment below.

        1. Vic says:

          Steve is correct …. there is scientific proof to back this up…search for it … Apple Cider Vinegar is also very acidic however… the process of digestion has a PH balancing effect on the body …..if you suspect you may suffer from mild acidosis …half a teaspoon of bicarbonate of Soda in water will sort it out very quickly …drink it 2x per day for a week ..you will notice the difference….

          1. Dirk says:

            Wrong 🙂 Apple Cyder Vinegar (like lemon juice), is the only vinegar that heightens your STOMACH acid, but lowers your BODY acid.

            Be careful of the bicarbonate of soda – use only when needed, not as a supplement.

            Low stomach acid = high body acid = not good / sick.

            Believe me, this happened to me ! I am now on recovery of low stomach acid and high body acid.

  4. Rob Patroney says:

    HI, I hear from time to time people say lemons have an alkalising effect ,they really don’t ,they are very acidic, and your saliva instantly turns alkaline to buffer it like it does with any acidic type fruit ,to first help protect the teeth, then after it enters the stomach it causes no trouble there because there is a lining there protecting it. When it then leaves the stomach and enters the duodenim your pancreas changes it to non acidic like it does with every other food that leaves the stomach especially protein which requires a considerable amount acid to break it down ,also gall bladder secretes bile to digest fats, your intestines cannot handle acid, and have no protective lining , so to say lemons have an alkaline effect is not correct. This is explained very simplistically, but is quite complex. The buffering of all acidic type foods can if consumed for long enough can lead to health problems eventually.
    Rob.

  5. Donna says:

    Check for celiac disease, or gluten sensitivity.

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