Overview

A joint is a connection between the ends of two or more of your bones. Joint pain may indicate a variety of health issues. Your joints may occasionally feel stiff, achy, or sore and can affect your ability to perform mundane tasks. Severe aching joints might lower your quality of life. Treatment of joint pain should focus not only on alleviating the pain but also on returning to regular activities and living life to its fullest. Joint pain can go anywhere from minor to severe.¹

Depending on your illness, treatments range from home remedies to surgical procedures. This article will discuss treatment options and help you choose a better treatment option based on pain levels. 

Self-care strategies

1. Lifestyle Modifications

Joint pain, like many chronic illnesses, requires several lifestyle adjustments. Some of them are listed below:

1. Healthy Diet:

Adhering to a specific diet can help reduce pain and maintain joint health. Certain fruits, vegetables, and whole grains have anti-inflammatory properties. Seafood that is high in fat, such as salmon and tuna, may also help to lessen joint swelling. It has been shown that the spice turmeric can help with the symptoms of arthritis.²

Eating well to keep a low body weight is usually a good choice because it can minimize stress on various joints and reduce pain symptoms.

2. Regular Exercise:

Exercise helps to keep joints healthy. An ideal exercise regimen can assist in retaining normal joint function. Exercise routine should focus on maintaining flexibility, strengthening surrounding joint muscles, and burning calories. To find out which exercises are appropriate for a given case of joint pain, consult a physician or physical therapist before starting. Exercise tolerance improves by making these kinds of slow and careful lifestyle changes.²

3. Meditation and Yoga:

Patients with joint pain can benefit from mindful meditation. Their stress, anxiety, and hopelessness in response to pain gradually lessen as patients engage in mindful meditation. 

Yoga, which is linked to mindfulness meditation, might be an effective therapy for arthritis. Yoga brings together physical stretching, and balancing movements, and helps a lot of people as it promotes their emotional and physical control. It is important to understand that yoga may not give significant results right away.²

Home remedies

1. Warm and Cold Compress

Some common home-care remedies that control inflammation are protection, rest, ice, compress and elevation.

In case of any injury (sports or trauma), cold compresses for the first 48 hours at least thrice a day. Applying ice reduces swelling and pain.

For chronic injuries that seem to have recurred or any kind of muscle pain, you can try applying warm sesame or mustard oil with turmeric onto the joint. Drinking turmeric mixed with warm milk, helps in reducing joint pain as well as speed up the healing process.³

2. Over-the-Counter Pain Relief

Acute discomfort can be relieved with over-the-counter pain relievers such as ibuprofen or acetaminophen. Their success is determined by factors such as the type and severity of the pain, as well as the medication's dosage. Painkillers that do not require a prescription have been approved for the treatment of mild to moderate pain. They should not be used for more than a few days in a row, and the recommended daily dose must not be exceeded.⁴

Painkillers may cause problems and, in exceptional cases, show adverse effects, so it is better to use them safely to avoid any side effects. People with certain medical conditions or those who take painkillers regularly should be more cautious about this. Details about a medication's areas of use, recommended dosages, and length of use are given in the package insert. For safe use, you may speak to your doctor or pharmacist.⁴

3. Dietary Supplements

Glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate are produced by the body naturally. They are important for the cartilage present in your joints. Both of these ingredients are available over-the-counter as supplements. These can aid with pain management, however, they don't appear to stop arthritis from becoming worse or aid in the growth of new cartilage in the joint.⁹

Medical treatments

1. Prescription Medications
   • Stronger NSAIDs: If needed, doctors might prescribe stronger NSAIDs. Although they come with risks, prescription-strength NSAIDs are more powerful than OTC medications in treating pain and inflammation. Some prescription-strength NSAIDs are listed below: 
     • Celecoxib 
     • Indomethacin
     • Diclofenac 
     • Ketorolac
     • Fenoprofen⁵

Some NSAIDs can be applied directly to the troubled joints as creams, or topical NSAIDs. When taking NSAIDs, always discuss the benefits and potential risks with your doctor.

2. DMARDs

DMARDs are generally used to treat rheumatoid arthritis. It lowers your immune system's response to harm to healthy tissues. It targets a particular path of your immune system response and works on individual immune system proteins. 

• Reduce pain and inflammation
• Decrease joint damage and bone erosion
• Slow the speed of spreading the disease
• preserve joint function⁶

3. Corticosteroids

Prednisone, hydrocortisone, and cortisone are examples of corticosteroid medications. They are helpful in the treatment of several diseases, including joint pain. Corticosteroids, when taken at certain dosages, help in decreasing the level of inflammation. There are many potential adverse effects of corticosteroids. However, they may also lessen the discomfort, pain, and inflammation associated with some types of diseases and conditions.⁷

4. Opioids

Due to its ability to relax the human body and reduce pain, opioids can be used as medications. Typically, it is used to relieve moderate to severe pain. Since opioids can be very addictive, overdoses can turn fatal.

The use of prescription opioids, even when done as directed by a physician, can result in substance abuse which in extreme circumstances can develop into addiction. Severe cravings, sleep issues, diarrhoea, vomiting, and soreness in the muscles and bones are some of the symptoms of opioid withdrawal.⁸

Some common prescription opioids are listed below:

• Hydrocodone 
• Oxymorphone
• Morphine
• Codeine
• Fentanyl⁸

Physical therapy

Physical therapy involves exercises, guided movements, manual therapy, massage, and treatments using physical stimuli like heat, cold, electrotherapy, or ultrasound therapy

Depending on the problem, physical therapy focuses on-

• Promoting or rebuilding the body's function or the capacity to move properly. 
• Increasing metabolism and blood circulation. 
• Improving coordination and balance.
• Strengthening of the weakened muscles¹⁰

Invasive procedures

1. Injections
   • Corticosteroids: They can be injected into a joint to decrease swelling and pain. Treatment can last several months. More than two or three shots per year could be risky These shots are often administered at your provider's office.⁹
   • Hyaluronic acid: Your knee fluid naturally contains hyaluronic acid. Your joint's hyaluronic acid thins and loses its effectiveness if you have arthritis. It helps joint lubrication and can be used for osteoarthritis pain. This is sometimes referred to as viscosupplementation or artificial joint fluid.⁹
   • Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injections: The findings indicate that these injections are safe and may benefit those with early arthritis. In this blood is extracted from your veins and prepared before being injected back into your joint. It may help relieve pain and inflammation.⁹

2. Surgeries

If the pain is long-lasting and doesn’t reduce with drugs, physical therapy or injections, surgeries are an option as well.

Available surgical options include: 

• Arthroscopy: In an arthroscopy, a surgeon will make two or three little cuts in the tissue covering your joint. Using an arthroscope, they enter your joint to replace damaged cartilage or remove small pieces of chipped bone which relieves the pain.¹
• Joint fusion: Joint fusion is a surgery in which a surgeon joins the ends of your bones after removing the joint in question. Your surgeon may use plates, screws, pins, or rods to keep your bones in place while they heal. Joint fusions are usually done on the hands, ankles, and spine.¹
• Osteotomy: Osteotomy relieves pressure on the affected area of your joint by realigning or reshaping the longer bones of the arm or leg. This can assist in reducing pain and regaining joint mobility.¹
• Joint replacement: A joint replacement means removing a damaged joint and replacing it with a brand-new, artificial part. If other treatments do not help reduce pain, your doctor might suggest joint replacement surgery. Replacement can ease pain, improve movement, and make you feel better. Joints that can be replaced are knees, ankles, fingers, shoulders, and elbows. In the majority of cases, joint replacement is successful.¹¹

Frequently asked questions (FAQs)

What can you do naturally for joint pain?

Some common home-care remedies that control inflammation and help to break the inflammatory cycle are protection, rest, ice, compress and elevation.  Exercise and yoga also help to keep joints healthy. 

What diseases start with joint pain?

Some common diseases that start with joint pain are osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, tendinitis, bursitis, gout, etc. 

Can joint pain be cured?

Depending on the severity of the pain, multiple treatment options are available. For minor pain, home remedies such as warm and cold treatment, exercise, OTC medications, and dietary supplements can be helpful. For severe pain, stronger NSAIDs, corticosteroids, DMARDs, or injections can be effective. If the pain is chronic, surgery is also an option.

What does a joint replacement do?

A joint replacement means removing a damaged joint and replacing it with a brand-new, artificial part. Replacing a joint can ease pain, improve movement, and make you feel better. 

Summary

Many different underlying causes can cause joint pain. In treating joint pains, the aim is not to alleviate the pain but also to return to your normal life and reap all that life has got. There are several types of treatments for joint pain such as over-the-counter or prescription drugs that relieve inflammation and reduce pain, physical therapy to regain motion range and increase the strength of supportive muscles around your joints, and dietary and changes in lifestyle including weight control and non-impact activities. You can gain short-term relief from heat or ice packs. Severe cases of chronic pain may require one to undergo surgery. Talk to the doctor about each treatment so that you learn about its advantages and disadvantages before deciding on it.