An 80 year old woman suffered from a stiff, painful, grossly swollen monoarthritis of the knee, which no longer responded to NSAIDS or intra-articular steroids. The joint surfaces were completely destroyed and knee-joint replacement was ruled out. The patient was told she would never move the joint again and to learn to live with the pain as nothing more could be done for her. Unable to drive a car for eight years because of pain and stiffness, she had also not slept for 6 months because of hyperesthesia over the medial aspect of the knee.  Approximately 15 minutes after applying the wheatgrass cream to the joint margins, she had regained almost a full range of pain-free movement and walked out of the consulting room without her stick.

She remained pain-free for about a month and continued to use the wheatgrass cream every day. However the pain returned, but she remained free of joint stiffness several months afterwards.

Having seen this phenomenon of rapid return of joint movement in numerous osteoarthritis sufferers, one wonders what kind of biochemical, neuro-humoral or other pathway could be involved. It appears that it is not one that medical science has so far attempted to elucidate, describe or explain. If such a mechanism can be determined it could result in a major breakthrough in the treatment of this often crippling disease.

The most important aspect of rapid increase in joint movement in this case is that the severely degenerated joint surfaces appeared to have little to do with the cause of joint stiffness. It is clearly more to do with stiffening of soft tissue around the joint - a strong departure from classical medical teaching.