Natural Relief For Arthritis

Arthritis is an umbrella term used for many types of arthritic disease that represent a debilitating, degenerative condition of the joints causing symptoms such as joint pain, swelling, stiffness and loss of range of motion. The most common form of arthritis, Osteoarthritis (OA) can cause significant joint pain, loss of function and compensatory change in the body that can lead to more widespread issues. Current medical treatment is limited to pain medication, corticosteroid injections and NSAIDs like Voltaren or Nurofen, which all come with significant side-effects and a risk of complications.

 

So, what else do we have in our toolbox?

There are many claims out there about turmeric and curcumin, but do the benefits really match the hype? Curcumin is the main and most active ingredient in Curcuma longa L., commonly known as turmeric and has a long history of medicinal use. 

A 2022 review(1) in the efficacy and safety of Curcumin and Turmeric extract in the treatment of arthritis has reported favourable results, concluding that these “may improve symptoms and inflammation levels in people with arthritis.”

What I really loved reading was that Curcumin and Turmeric extract and NSAIDs have similar effects in improving joint pain, function, and stiffness, but with a lower incidence of adverse events. 

This means, we can get the same results, with less side effects using these natural products rather than using current OA drug treatments that have poor safety profiles. It’s not only safety that is a concern, NSAIDs commonly used for pain and inflammation can damage our gut, reduce our healing capacity and halt our inflammation resolution processes, causing more problems in an already painful and inflamed body. 

 

“OA patients in the curcumin group may be less likely to initiate pain medication and more likely to discontinue their existing pain medication because of its efficacy and better safety profile compared to the NSAIDs group.”

 

For those of you already using NSAIDs and reluctant to reduce them (only reduce or eliminate medications with your doctor’s approval first), it may be worth considering adding in curcumin, as the review found that when curcumin was used in combination with NSAIDs, it improved joint pain, function, and stiffness more than NSAIDs alone, without increasing the rate of adverse events.

 

How much is enough?

This will vary depending on everyone’s individual circumstances. The acceptable dose of curcumin to obtain the maximum efficacy is up to 8000mg per day. This has been found to be safe in trials. In clinic, I find many people gain great benefit at or above 2000mg/day. Curcumin can be taken in turmeric paste, in capsules, pills, liquid/juice or in cooking or tea. How you take it is up to you, however this could depending on how much you need on a daily basis to affect your symptoms.

 

Thanks to reviews and ongoing research, science is finally catching up on traditional medicine that has been used to help people with pain, inflammation and healing for centuries. Nature really has provided us with all we need, we just need to trust and use what we have been given.

 

For more information on how to reduce your inflammation naturally please see our article here. If you would like to learn how to make your own turmeric paste at home check out this video and PDF recipe card.

If you have new or ongoing inflammation, then get hold of our e-book "Reduce Inflammation Naturally". Enter your details below and we will send you a copy.