An Arthritis Cure? WD-40?

WD-40 for Arthritis?

It was a Monday morning, and I was running / walking on a treadmill beside a friendly pharmacist and opposite a marathon runner. I had been congratulating myself on having the guts to actually get to the fitness centre, when the marathon runner chimed in with how she had run 30 kilometres the previous day. That deflated my ego somewhat; what deflated it even more was the knowledge that it was only a practice 30 kilometres to get her psyched up for the real one.

About half an hour into our exercise, a new guy came in and began running beside the marathon runner. At the weekend, he had been a volunteer at a different marathon, at which an old guy had keeled over and died.

The peripatetic discussion centred on the old guy, and the volunteer said….. ‘And you can’t stop the old codgers running. They get very belligerent if you try to dissuade them. You’ve all heard the story….I’ve been running in this marathon for 35 years and you’re not going to stop me….which is exactly why they should get stopped, but they don’t listen. Off they go with their WD-40, leaving us to follow in their wake and pick up the bodies.’

The pharmacist agreed with him ‘…all these old seniors are the same. I’ve got a doddering old fool running beside me just now, haven’t I Mac…’

I ignored the jibe and wheezed in to the conversation, ‘What’s with the WD-40? Is it for the wheel chairs or what?’

Both the volunteer and the pharmacist gave me one of those, ‘where the hell have you been hibernating,’ looks. The marathon runner just shook her head, but they all answered at the same time.

‘The WD-40 is for the runners’ arthritis.’

‘How do you mean?’

‘They spray it on their arthritic joints before they begin the marathon.’

I literally stopped running in disbelief, and the treadmill threw me off. After getting the blood wiped off the machine and my arm bandaged, I got back to the subject, only this time I was standing on firm ground. ‘You mean people actually spray WD-40 on to their own joints in the belief that it will loosen them up?’

The pharmacist answered, ‘Yes Mac, they do. Some of them do it because they reckon they don’t have much time left anyway and others do it because they are as thick as two short planks. They truly believe that the spray will do them good, without having any side effects. They don’t seem to care that the spray is soaking through their pores and going straight into their blood stream.’

‘You wouldn’t do anything like that, would you Mac,” the pharmacist asked.

‘Hell No! For starters, I wouldn’t be in any marathon, and if I was going to spray oil on my joints it wouldn’t be penetrating oil like WD-40; I’d use lightweight lubricating oil like 5W-30.’ As I took my bandaged arm home, I heard the volunteer ask who the ‘smartass,’was.

At home I Goggled WD-40, and discovered a couple of things.

WD stands for the Displacement of Water perfected on the 40^thtry. I also, by looking at the instructions on my own can of WD40, discovered…..

‘….CONTENTS HARMFUL. CONTAINER MAY EXPLODE IF HEATED. Do not smoke. Use only in well ventilated area. ……Do not swallow. DO NOT GET IN EYES OR SKIN or clothing. Do not breathe fumes.

If you’ve got arthritis for goodness sake take Celebrex or some other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID). Alternatively, take soothing cream or pain killers…..and…..stop running marathons. Or you could wear compression pads for your knees, wrist and hands, or for your back; even a magnet. Anything except WD40 OK!