AN arthritic pensioner has found a cure for her crippling condition in the shape of a Rubik's Cube.

Grandmother Audrey Percy started twisting and turning Rubik's Cubes 25 years ago, and managed to crack the puzzle after eight frustrating months.

Now the 79-year-old has dusted down the cube and swears by it as an alternative remedy for the arthritis in her hands.

"It is fantastic. I am sure my hands would seize up if it was not for the Rubik's Cube," said Ms Percy, of North Shields, North Tyneside.

She added: "I think the Rubik's Cube is very therapeutic. I have to take painkillers for my condition and I was frightened that the arthritis would get worse and cause me to lose the use of my hands.

"So I got my Rubik's Cube back out and started using it every day."

Ms Percy, who has three children, four grandchildren and five great-grandchildren, taught dozens of former work colleagues how to solve the cube when she was based at the Ministry of Pensions, in Newcastle, where she worked for 12 years.

She said: "People who I worked with were always amazed and they would ask for guidance and diagrams of how to solve the puzzle."

Her arthritis cure comes as the Rubik's Cube is celebrating its anniversary after puzzling people for a quarter of a century.