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

One of the most common types of arthritis that people suffer from is rheumatoid arthritis.¹ However, its symptoms are often misunderstood and ineffectively treated. Unlike osteoarthritis, this chronic inflammatory disorder is also an autoimmune disorder that commonly affects more than just your joints.²

What is Rheumatoid Arthritis?

This type of arthritis is most commonly triggered when the immune system malfunctions and most commonly affects the small joints of the wrist, hand and feet.^3,4 There are mild, moderate, and severe forms of this disease, but over the long-term, it can cause serious and irreversible joint damage.

Who Develops Rheumatoid Arthritis?

Over 1.3 million Americans suffer from rheumatoid arthritis, and women are most at risk.⁵ An estimated one to three percent of women will develop the condition during their lifetimes. It’s most common to develop the condition between the ages of 40 and 60; however, younger adults and even children can develop it earlier in life too.³ Genetics, hormones, and the environment may play a role in whether the condition develops, as well as the overall condition of a body’s immune system.

What Body Parts Does Rheumatoid Arthritis Affect?

Although rheumatoid arthritis can affect any joint in the body, it is most common in the hands and feet. Because rheumatoid arthritis is also an autoimmune disorder, it occurs when the immune system attacks bodily tissues.^3,4

This condition can also have a negative impact on the eyes, lungs, blood vessels, heart, and skin.⁶ There is no single test to diagnose rheumatoid arthritis, and it can be difficult to detect because symptoms take time to develop and often mimic other joint diseases.

What Does Rheumatoid Arthritis Feel Like?

One of the most noticeable symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis is morning stiffness, which is something that distinguishes this condition from osteoarthritis.³ The most common symptoms that a sufferer will feel are joint pain, swollen joints, limited range of motion, joint warmth, and limping.

Additionally, sufferers may also experience a lack of energy, low-grade fevers, and firm lumps that form around the hands and elbows. It is usually experienced in a symmetrical pattern across multiple joins, and it fluctuates in severity with periods of flares and remissions.

Treatments for Rheumatoid Arthritis

Early diagnosis and treatment can reduce the pain and suffering associated with rheumatoid arthritis by controlling pain and lessening damage to the joints.^3,4 It’s important to engage in low-impact aerobic exercises to keep your joints active while also reducing pressure on them. Good exercises for rheumatoid arthritis sufferers include walking and swimming.

Disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs) are commonly prescribed for patients who have been diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, along with anti-inflammatory drugs, drugs to reduce swelling, and painkillers.^3,7 However, medications, especially when taken in combination with several others, come with a heightened risk of side effects and unwanted interactions.

JointFlex offers an alternative solution to relieving the pain associated with rheumatoid arthritis with no known systemic side effects and no known drug interactions. By utilizing camphor as the active ingredient, this powerful cream provides fast-acting relief directly to the site of pain and gradually releases to allow for long-lasting relief.

In very serious cases, doctors may recommend surgery to help a joint work better and to reduce pain.^3,4  To prevent the rapid progression of this disease, start making lifestyle changes now, such as balancing your levels of exercise and rest, lowering your stress levels, eating a healthy diet, and keeping up with regular doctor check-ups.