Joint Pain Management Tips & Medical Alternatives
Since there is no definitive cure yet for arthritis, the most effective treatments are centered on pain relief and pain management.1 Your pain may flare up at certain times and recede at others, or it may be a constant factor in your daily life. Fortunately, there are many treatment options available to give you the relief you need to live a happy and healthy lifestyle.
What to Do When You Feel Pain
Perhaps you begin to feel arthritis pain with changes in the weather or a little more with each birthday that passes. Regardless of what triggers your pain, there are certain things you can do when it strikes.
Try to relax your muscles as much as possible when pain strikes, because tense muscles make painful joints even more difficult to move.2 Muscle relaxation exercises, as well as yoga and meditation, can help you do this with practice. It’s also a smart idea to reduce stresses in your life to help manage your pain, and deep breathing exercises can help you relax when life inevitably becomes stressful.3
Treatments Without Pain Medication
Although medications and surgery are possible treatments to control arthritis pain, there are other treatments available that are less risky, costly, and invasive. Nonpharmacological therapies include weight loss, physical and occupational therapy, splits and joint-assistive aids, and patient education and support.4
Some doctors recommend transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation, which involves sending an electrical current to pain points through wires attached to electrodes on the skin. Other treatments that don’t involve pills include trigger point injection, meditation, nerve blocking, acupuncture, peripheral nerve stimulation, facet joint denervation, and deep brain stimulation.5
Advantages of Odorless Topical Treatments
One of the best arthritis pain management strategies is to use odorless topical treatments for on-site relief, whenever and wherever you need it most. You can take JointFlex with you, wherever you go, and conveniently apply it without feeling embarrassed about smelling like ointment. There’s no lingering smell or sticky residue to deal with, so you can get back to living the life you love.
JointFlex eliminates aching arthritis pain without a prescription by quickly and safely delivering beneficial ingredients to the site of your pain. Using this effective cream once in the morning and once in the evening works well for most people; however, you can use it throughout the day as well.
Fusome and Acetaminophen
Acetaminophen is an ingredient in many different prescriptions and over-the-counter pain medications that are used to treat arthritis. In prescriptions, it’s often listed as APAP when combined with codeine, oxycodone, or hydrocodone. However, prolonged or over-use of acetaminophen use can lead to liver damage and skin reactions, such as blisters and rashes.6,7
Alternatively, Fusome, which is the skin delivery technology used in JointFlex, quickly penetrates the top two layers of skin to deliver highly concentrated ingredients to the muscular level. Glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate are the inactive ingredients contained in JointFlex for skin conditioning. This technology helps the pain-relieving camphor release gradually for long-lasting effects, which operating within a barrier system to focus pain relievers directly on the site of your pain.
More Pain Management Tips
Here are some more pain management tips to keep in mind when your arthritis symptoms become unbearable and you become desperate to find relief.8,9,10,11
- Wear flat, flexible, supportive shoes
- Practice physical therapy exercises to improve your posture
- Stretch your, muscles, and joints throughout the day
- Apply heating pads, warm compresses, and cold packs to pain sites
- Engage in low-impact aerobic exercise and light strength training
- Establish a relaxing pre-bed ritual to get better sleep
- Avoid tobacco and alcohol as pain coping strategies
REFERENCES FOR JOINT PAIN MANAGEMENT TIPS
1. Arthritis pain management. Arthritis Foundation. Retrieved November 2, 2018 from https://www.arthritis.org/living-with-arthritis/pain-management/.
2. Progressive muscle relaxation. Arthritis Foundation. Retrieved November 2, 2018 from https://www.arthritis.org/living-with-arthritis/treatments/natural/other-therapies/mind-body-pain-relief/progressive-muscle-relaxation.php.
3. Managing arthritis. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved November 2, 2018 from https://www.cdc.gov/arthritis/basics/management.htm.
4. Cunningham, N. R. & Kashikar-Zuck, S. (2013 February). Nonpharmacologic treatment of pain in rheumatic diseases and other musculoskeletal pain conditions. Current Rheumatology Reports, 15, 306. Retrieved November 2, 2018 from National Center for Biotechnology Information https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3566663/.
5. Natural relief for arthritis pain. Arthritis Foundation. Retrieved November 2, 2018 from http://blog.arthritis.org/living-with-arthritis/natural-pain-relief/.
6. Acetaminophen risks. American Liver Foundation. Retrieved November 2, 2018 from https://liverfoundation.org/acetaminophen-risks/.
7. Questions and answers: FDA warns of rare but serious skin reactions with the pain reliever/fever reducer acetaminophen. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Retrieved November 1, 2018 from https://www.fda.gov/Drugs/DrugSafety/ucm363045.htm.
8. Colorito, R. Prevent ankle pain. Arthritis Foundation. Retrieved November 1, 2018 from https://www.arthritis.org/about-arthritis/where-it-hurts/ankle-pain/ankle-care/prevent-arthritis-ankle-pain.php.
9. Physical therapy for arthritis. Arthritis Foundation. Retrieved November 2, 2018 from https://www.arthritis.org/living-with-arthritis/treatments/natural/other-therapies/what-is-physical-therapy.php.
10. Sleep and pain. Arthritis Foundation. Retrieved November 1, 2018 from https://www.arthritis.org/living-with-arthritis/pain-management/chronic-pain/sleep-factors.php.
11. Hazes, J. M., Dijkmans, B. A., Vandenbroucke, J. P., De Vries, R. R. & Cats, A. (1990 December). Lifestyle and the risk of rheumatoid arthritis: cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption. Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, 49, 980-982. Retrieved November 2, 2018 from National Center for Biotechnology https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1004291/.