5 Natural Ingredients To Help With Joint Pain
The Promise: A Stronger Heart, Sharper Brain, Pain-Free Joints and Youthful Energy — Does It Deliver?
Mike · updated 02 Dec 2024
Mike is is a lifelong nutrition enthusiast who recently retired from his career in pharmacology to write about natural health. When he isn't researching health products, Mike enjoys exploring local farmers markets and growing his own organic vegetables.
Your joints are one of the most important parts of your body. They connect two or more bones together at the same time.
Without your joints, your skeleton would not have the solid structure that it does. You also need your joints to support your daily movement.
Walking around and getting in a healthy amount of exercise would not be possible if you did not have joints.
But as we get older, our joints start to become sore and swell up. Some of us may end up injuring ourselves in a way which naturally leads to joint pain.
In either case, we experience a lot of pain and aches whenever we try to move. Joint pain greatly limits our ability to move and perform simple tasks such as picking.
If left untreated, it can get progressively worse and lower one’s quality of life.
The sad part is that joint pain is extremely common.
According to 2012 statistics taken from the United States Bone and Joint Initiative [1]:
These statistics continue to grow in number with each passing year.
One of the main causes of joint pain is inflammation, according to a literature review published in 2009 [2]:
“Pain in joints is a major clinical problem (Breivik et al. 2006). At younger age particularly inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis are causes of joint pain whereas elder people mainly sffer from pain due to osteoarthritis (OA)…These data and the observation of inflammatory cells in the sublining tissue (Scott 2006) may provide evidence that OA pain is evoked by recurring inflammatory episodes”
Inflammation takes place when your body’s immune system over-reacts to infections and injuries. If the response goes on for too long, it starts to gradually damage other organs and tissues.
It is a major component of diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis that can further contribute to joint pain.
If you’ve ever seen any redness around the joints and noticed they were much warmer than average, inflammation is likely playing a role in the joint pain you are experiencing.
Fortunately, there are natural supplements you can take over-the-counter that may help with mitigating the joint pain.
They will not make the pain completely disappear, but they can certainly help reduce the pain while your physician determines the root cause.
1. Turmeric
Turmeric is a popular cooking spice that is used in many dishes. In particular, this bright-yellow powder is very popular in Indian cuisine.
Surprisingly, it has been used for medicinal purposes for the past few centuries.
Why, you may ask?
Turmeric contains a biologically active compound known as curcumin, which has been shown in several studies to have powerful anti-inflammatory properties.
For instance, one 2017 review noted that curcumin has multiple mechanisms through which it simultaneously suppresses the formation of pro-inflammatory compounds such as NF-kB and promotes the formation of anti-inflammatory compounds [3].
The same review goes on to quote several clinical trials where 1000 mg of curcumin taken per day was effective in in reducing inflammation-related arthritis symptoms.
In doing so, patients were able to experience less pain in their joints while experiencing greater joint mobility.
A randomized open-label study conducted in 2019 confirmed that 500 mg of curcumin taken three times a day was both safe and effective in treating knee osteoarthritis (in which the cartilage surrounding the joints starts to break down) [4].
Curcumin was tested alongside diclofenac, a popular non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID).
It produced similar results to curcumin in terms of reducing joint pain and lack of joint mobility, but it had more side effects, such as stomach flatulence.
While this study was rather small in size and scope, it did demonstrate cur cumin’s potential for treating joint pain.
2. Ginger Extract
The ginger plant, whose scientific name is Zingiber official, has made waves in the medical community for its supposed health benefits.
Like turmeric, it is a dietary staple that been used in older fields of medicine to treat problems such as migraines, nausea, and the common cold. When bought as a supplement, it comes in the form of an extract.
Ginger extract was first examined as a viable treatment for joint pain in the knee back in 2001 for patients suffering from osteoarthritis [5].
Over a period of six weeks, patients received either a placebo or 755-1755 mg of ginger extract twice the day as a pill.
The patients who took ginger extract noticed significantly less knee pain when standing, and when walking a distance of 50 feet.
Another study conducted in 2012 attempted to compare the anti-inflammatory properties of ginger extract to bеtаmеthаsonе and ibuprofen in cell cultures [6].
The former is a corticоsteroid and the latter is a common pain medication that is more commonly known as Advil. All three medications were being examined for the treatment of osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis.
The results were interesting: While ibuprоfеn did not make a meaningful difference, the ginger extract was equally as effective as bеtаmеthаsonе in reducing the production of pro-inflammatory compounds such as TNF-alpha.
3. Piperine
If you have ever used black pepper to spice up the taste of a meal, you have ingested the active compound known as piperine.
You would have a lot of difficulty ingesting piperine in therapeutic amounts through black pepper alone, which is why it is commonly sold as a stand-alone supplement.
Piperine itself has been shown to have anti-arthritis effects in rat arthritis models.
Within just 4 days of ingesting 20-100 mg/kg of piperine orally for 8 days, the rats expressed reducing inflammation around the joints surrounding their ankles [7].
However, this is not the most well-known property of piperine.
According to Healthline.com, piperine can significantly aid in increasing the bioavailability of curcumin. This means that curcumin is better absorbed and can be effectively transferred into the bloodstream for the body to use at later time.
Additionally, there is a lower degree of curcumin breakdown by the liver [8].
Here is what they had to say about the combination:
- 20 mg of piperine significantly increased the absorption of 2 grams of curcumin
- Absorption of curcumin is enhanced by up to 2,000% when combined with piperine
While one can take piperine on its own, it is highly recommended to combine it with curcumin for best results.
In other words, piperine best works as an aid for bodily absorption of other nutrients.
4. Omega-3 Fatty Acids
Omega-3 fatty acids are otherwise known as “essential” fats, which means you must take them from outside sources as your body cannot produce them.
Foods such as fish and nuts have a respectable amount of these fatty acids.
Your body needs them in order to provide cells with functional and structural support.
Two of the most common omega-3 fatty acids are eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), which can also be obtained through concentrated fish oil supplements.
A recently published review examined the health benefits of omega-3 fatty acids in competitive athletes, where joint wear and tear is a common outcome of intense activity.
This naturally leads to joint pain for many of these athletes [9].
Overall, fish oil (as much as 3 grams a day) was found to greatly reduce joint stiffness and pain within osteoarthritis patients.
And in mice with arthritis, the severity and frequency of arthritis was reduced by a sizeable amount. In particular, the frequency of arthritis went down from 93% to 69%.
This has been confirmed by earlier research, such as a meta-analysis published in 2012 where omega-3 fatty acids were evaluated as a treatment route for rheumatoid arthritis [10].
Ten randomized controlled trials examining the use of omega-3 fatty acids (2.7 grams a day or more) in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.
What they found was on overall reduction in morning joint stiffness, poor physical function and the frequency of swollen joints.
However, the most interesting finding was a reduction in the consumption of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.
5. Vitamin D
Vitamin D is a fat-souble hormone that is naturally produced by our bodies and allows for our bones to stay strong.
While it is commonly available as an over-the-counter supplement like the other items featured in this report, your body produces it upon exposure to sunlight.
While Vitamin D does not have any direction connection to joint pain and conditions related to joint pain, there is some emerging research which is starting to notice a connection between low Vitamin D levels and joint pain.
A 2017 study examining 100 patients being diagnosed for knee osteoarthritis was performed to see if Vitamin D deficiency was linked to the progression of of the disease and the patients’ ability to functionally move their knees [11].
Here is what they concluded:
“Our study therefore suggests that vitamin D deficiency exacerbates pain, dysfunction and a poorer quality of life in patients with knee osteoarthritis. Further longer-term studies are needed to investigate the effects of vitamin D deficiency on OA-related symptoms.”
On top of this finding, a compilation of research from MedicalNewsToday suggests that low blood levels of Vitamin D were more likely to be observed in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.
As rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic inflammatory disease states that can affect joints, it is implied that Vitamin D is inflammatory in nature [12].
The studies showed that patients with less vitamin D were at greater risk for contracting inflammatory diseases and experiencing a greater degree of joint pain.
However, as noted by MedicalNewsToday, more evidence is required to establish a stronger link between conditions associated with chronic pain and low levels of Vitamin D.
Conclusions
There are many natural supplements which may help with the reduction of joint pain, each of them lowering the level of inflammation around the joint.
However, they should be taken with certain precautions. You will want to speak to a licensed health professional before you use these supplements. Some of them may work against medications you are already taking, and in certain cases they can be harmful for your body.
Make sure to follow your doctor’s instructions, and follow the dosage recommendations listed on the bottle unless otherwise instructed.
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REFERENCES
https://www.boneandjointburden.org/2014-report/ib2/chronic-joint-pain
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19363606/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5664031/
https://trialsjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13063-019-3327-2
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11710709/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3546442/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2688199/
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/turmeric-and-black-pepper
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6357022/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22835600/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28372319/
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/321923#vitamin-d-and-joint-pain
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