Joint Pain Relief: Best Treatments & Remedies Explained
Joint pain is a common condition that can significantly affect your quality of life by limiting movement, causing discomfort, and interfering with daily activities. Millions of people worldwide suffer from joint pain, a common discomfort that frequently disrupts daily activities such as walking, exercise, and more.
Therefore, finding efficient pain relief is essential for preserving joint mobility, regardless of the cause, whether it is due to ageing or arthritis. Continue reading to discover the causes of your joint pain and explore ways to alleviate it through home remedies, medications, and treatment options.
What Could be the Reason for Your Joint Pain?
People with Joint pain or other chronic medical disorders are more likely to have joint discomfort. Some of the main reasons could be:
- Past joint injuries may result in joint pain.
- Using too much muscle can stiffen your joints
- Depression, anxiety, or stress are major factors for joint-related issues.
- Older age can also contribute to tight and aching joints.
What are the Pain Relief Methods for Joint Pain?
Although there is no cure for osteoarthritis or joint pain, there are therapies that can help alleviate the pain and discomfort while improving mobility. A few of the methods that can help relieve osteoarthritis or joint pain and symptoms include:
1. Medications
- Acetaminophen: It has been demonstrated that acetaminophen, found in Tylenol and other brands, helps with joint pain in patients with mild to moderate pain.
- Nonsteroidal Anti-inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs): When taken as directed by the doctor, common pain relievers like naproxen sodium (Aleve) and ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin IB, and others) usually reduce joint pain.
- Duloxetine: Duloxetine is approved to treat chronic joint pain, even though it is usually used as an antidepressant.
2. Therapy
- Physical Therapy: Individuals can learn exercises from a physical therapist to improve joint flexibility and strengthen their muscles. Walking or swimming are examples of regular, low-intensity, self-directed exercise that can be beneficial.
- Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS): This relieves pain by means of a low-voltage electrical current. For some patients with osteoarthritis or joint pain in their knees and hips, it offers temporary relief.
3. Surgical and Other Procedures
- Cortisone Injections: For a few weeks, joint pain may be relieved by corticosteroid injections. Since cortisone can exacerbate joint degeneration over time, individuals are usually only allowed to receive three or four injections every year.
- Realigning Bones: An osteotomy may be beneficial if one side of your knee has sustained greater damage from osteoarthritis than the other. A knee osteotomy involves a surgeon making an incision across the bone above or below the knee and either adding or removing a wedge of bone.
As a result, your body weight is shifted away from the damaged area of your knee.
- Joint Replacement: The damaged joint surfaces are removed during joint replacement surgery, and metal and plastic components are used in their place.
If conservative treatments are not effective, you may want to consider the procedures mentioned above.
Whether it's due to ageing, arthritis, injury, or other factors, effective pain relief is essential for maintaining joint function and overall well-being. From medications and physical therapy to advanced procedures such as injections or joint replacement surgery, individuals have a range of options to manage symptoms and regain mobility in their joints.
Although there is no specific best way to relieve joint pain, with the right combination of treatments and lifestyle adjustments, many people can achieve significant relief and continue to lead an active life.