Health Matters: Facts you should know about joint pain

(NC)—Relief, and how to get it, is the first thing people want to know if they have joint pain.

Joint pain can occur all over the body, so it's important to pinpoint the symptoms and causes of the discomfort, so you can treat the ailment appropriately. Symptoms include stiffness, swelling, and/or warmth around the joints. Common causes include injury, bursitis, rheumatoid arthritis, and osteoarthritis. If injury is not the underlying cause, the pain may stem from inflammation and this may attack more than one joint. If you experience such pain and it remains persistent, be sure to discuss those symptoms with your doctor.

For example, osteoarthritis pain is associated with the progression of bone spurs and the reduction of cartilage located at the joint. Cartilage starts to break down generally in the joints located in the neck, knees, lower back, hips, and fingers. As the cartilage disappears, the bones start to rub against one another, which is why intense pain and limited mobility develops. Other causes of joint pain include fractures, strains, sprains and tendonitis.

Relief
Be sure to follow the prescribed remedy from your doctor and consider some measures of your own. For example, when joint pain is caused by a non-arthritis element, it is important to get rest, as well as participate in light exercise when possible.

Warm baths, stretching exercises, and massage are soothing, say therapists, and a daily diet that includes omega-3 fatty acids (found in fish) is also beneficial. Research shows that vitamin D may help protect your joints with an anti-inflammatory effect – and natural health products like Cell-fx are a soluble source of chondroitin sulphate, a critical building block of cartilage.

Professional athletes are known to use this daily supplement to help reduce bone and joint pain.

Source: www.newscanada.com