How Good A Cure?
D
espite much of the advertising
that was done at the height
of the bath era in Mt.
Clemens, not everyone claimed the
waters could cure joint problems.
Rather, they would help people feel
better by relieving the arthritic
pain, according to Nelly Longstaff,
whose family owned the Clementine
Bath House for many years.
"My mother used to say they'd
see people come in on stretchers, and
walk out after three weeks."
Local Warren rheumatologist
and chairman of the board of the
Michigan chapter of the Arthritis
Foundation, Dr. Allan Morton, ex-
plains, "For hundreds of years baths
have been associated with helping
arthritis. The heat makes the ar-
thritis feel better. In that respect,
any bath works. Warm water makes
the joints feel better?'
"Minerals have no effect on
joints at all. If you heat the external
area of a joint, you may increase the
heat inside the joint and this in turn
may decrease the swelling. A warm
bath is very soothing.
"If you take people with active
arthritis and give them enforced bed
rest, they will feel better. When you
look at the three-week Mt. Clemens
regime, which involved a lot of
resting, you can understand why
they felt better when they left to go
home. The disadvantage to this lack
of activity over a period of time is the
muscle around the troubled joint
will get weaker and may in fact have
a decreased range of motion.
"Today, the Arthritis Foundation
has an arthritis aquatic program,
where people exercise in the warm
water. The YMCAs run a
therapeutic water exercise program
designed for people with arthritis.
We know heat relaxes muscles. Ad-
ding exercise to the heat gives peo-
ple a better range of motion to the
joint, and thus a better quality of
life. Exercise, where appropriate,
aids in promoting good muscle tone,
and density in the cartilege."
The mineral bath is just one
Inside the Olympia Bath House.
more in the long list of unproven
remedies and "quack cures" that in-
clude copper bracelets, snake venom,
and uranium mines, says Morton.
"$1.5 billion is spent in the
United States on arthritis drugs and
$8 - $9 million is spent on unproven
remedies," says Morton.
The statistics on arthritis are
staggering. According to Morton,
one in seven people get arthritis at
Looking north on Gratiot in downtown Mt. Clemens, circa 1905, with Reh's kosher hotel in the center.
some stage of their life. One in every
three families is affected by it, and
in the U.S. alone 250,000 children
have it. Ninety-eight percent of peo-
ple may not show the symptoms.
Some forms, particularly those in
children, disappear in time.
The costs involved in treating ar-
thritis, and relieving the pain add
up to an incredible $12 - $15 billion
annually. 1=1