What’s the best type of Arthritis Pain Relief?

There are lots of different ways that you can relieve the pain associated with arthritis.  These range from self-help at home by means of diet, supplementation or even habits. These can work really well to give you arthritis pain relief in a natural and safe way.  This said, it is sometimes necessary to get extra help, especially if the pain is becoming worse and these self-help methods stop working. In this article, we will discuss what the best arthritis pain relief strategies are, when to use them, and briefly what the benefits and risks are.

Understanding Arthritis Pain Relief

It is important to understand what type of arthritis you are suffering from.  The overwhelming majority of people with “arthritis” have Osteoarthritis.  Other more complex variations of arthritis, such as rheumatoid arthritis (significantly more common in women than men) or psoriatic arthritis, unfortunately, are slightly more dependent on drug-based treatments as they are more complex than “wear and tear”.

To avoid having to write a book on the topic, and to provide as much useful help and guidance, for the sake of this article, when we are talking about “Arthritis Pain Relief” we are talking about relieving the symptoms associated with Osteoarthritis – the most common type.

What Joints Are Most Commonly Troubled?

Arthritis often affects the joints that weight bear most, typically, the Low back (lumbar spine) hips, knees, ankles, and thumbs. And is often due to the excessive wearing of the joints.  In other articles, we talk about spinal alignment and how, when it is incorrect, and when the joints have to bear more weight than they are designed to do, this wear and tear progresses at an accelerated rate.

Natural Approaches to Arthritis Pain Relief

Generally, healthy lifestyle choices are the best option when considering how best to alleviate arthritic pain. Simple things like gentle movement, for example, swimming, can really help reduce inflammatory build up and therefore reduce pain.  Other proactive habits, like consuming good fats in the diet are particularly helpful when thinking about prevention of arthritic pain. A quick google search will show a whole host of articles similar to this which give you good ideas on how to relieve the pain associated with arthritic joints.

Arthritis Pain Relief & Weight Loss

As you might expect if the joints are being worn away and becoming inflamed, losing weight will help by decreasing the burden on a damaged joint, this is a really good approach but should be done properly.  The wrong thing to do here would be to go running to lose weight to ease your arthritic knee pain.  The right thing to do would be diet changes, and swimming for exercise or another form of exercises like the cross-trainer or “elliptical” machine in the gym.  This protects the joints from further damage.

Supplements For Arthritis Pain Relief

The pain in arthritic joints is down to the inflammation caused in the area, and there has been a range of supplements that have become popular in the recent years.  These supplements such as Turmeric have been shown to have potent anti-inflammatory effects to help relieve the pain from arthritis.

Can You Cure Arthritis?

Unfortunately the approaches to arthritis are not a cure, as the change in your body is permanent, however, that isn’t to say that the pain experienced cannot be relieved.  The trick to arthritis pain relief is to maintain a significant reduction in pain through lifestyle habits. Sometimes, however, this is not enough and we need something stronger.

Medications For Arthritis Pain Relief

Hopefully, you have tried a number of self-help approaches before you turn to medications for pain relief from arthritis.  And realistically, seeking treatment from a medical practitioner would be a wise move before turning to drugs for pain relief. The reason for this is quite simple.  Treatment of Arthritis to provide pain relief is often quite successful, and at The Mayfair Clinic, we have had significant experience in treating particularly low back, neck and knee arthritis.  The best thing about the treatment we offer is that there are next to no side effects!

With Medications for arthritis pain relief, there are significant risks, even with over the counter medications like ibuprofen and paracetamol. Although medications generally have minimal short term side effects, the nature of Arthritic pain is that it is a long-term (lifelong) condition that needs management.  So taking such medications long term can affect your heart and kidneys, as well as NSAIDs like ibuprofen damaging the digestive system if used habitually.

Prescription Medications & Injections For Arthritis Pain Relief

This includes opioid medications to provide pain relief.  These come with even more side effects than the over-the-counter medications and should be considered carefully.  Injections invariably, assuming the do work, will provide a period of pain relief, however, are likely to be required again when the pain comes back.

The Big Problem With Medications For Arthritis Pain Relief

Because of the nature of arthritic pain, it is something that affects, in general, the more aged individual.  As people that suffer from arthritis pain are more likely to have other health problems which are being medicated we start to see the number of medications multiply.  This is extremely concerning.  Medications are given to the public only after rigorous testing and need to have a proven benefit to the individual or they cannot be given.  Unfortunately, it is impossible to test the endless variety of drug combinations on people, it is worth noting that there is no research that tests more than 5 medications being used at the same time.  So your prescribing doctor will not know how this extra compound will react to what you are already taking which is worrying.

Surgery As An Option For Arthritis Pain Relief

Knee and hip surgery are relatively common for severe arthritis.  Of course, this is a procedure that involves significant risks so you should always make sure that you are comfortable with the pros and cons of having such a procedure.

Arthritis Pain Relief At The Mayfair Clinic

The treatment we offer at The Mayfair Clinic is designed to reduce the inflammation and pain associated with Arthritic Pain, as well as providing you, the patient, with a series of strategies at home to help manage the condition without the use of drugs or other more invasive procedures.  Typically we have a good success with the treatment of low back neck and knee arthritis pain, as mentioned earlier. Unfortunately hip arthritis is more difficult due to the deep nature of the hip joint, however, the investigation should always be done to confirm it is in fact hip pain and not a referral of arthritic pain from the low back.