Joint Pain Cream: Does it Work?

To further understand and increase awareness of Juvenile Arthritis, it is important to identify the different treatment options available. One of the most popular options for pain and inflammation is joint pain cream, but does it work?

July is Juvenile Arthritis Month, and we want to make you aware of how arthritis affects over 300,000 children and teens in America. One of the main symptoms reported by juveniles is joint pain. Compare this number to the number of adults with arthritis, 54.4 million, according to reports. This number is expected to rise to over 67 million by the year 2030.

It is statistics like this that make arthritis the most common cause of disability in America. And these don’t include the unreported cases.

Researchers are working hard to understand arthritis and find solutions that provide relief to those suffering. Until there is a cure, it’s essential to learn how to help someone suffering from joint pain. Establishing a clear explanation of joint pain is an excellent first step.

Joint Pain Explained

Joints refer to a place in the body where bones meet. There are three types of joints:

1. One type is fibrous and is not able to move.
2. Another type is cartilaginous. This means cartilage joins the two bones, making them move, but on a partial basis.
3. The third type is synovial, which are free-moving joints.

All three types of joints can experience joint pain. Many people describe joint pain as feeling tender, sore, stiff, or like it is burning. Others say the area is inflamed.

Several things can cause joint pain, from an injury or infection to specific diseases. The most common cause, however, is arthritis, an inflammatory disorder. A consistent complaint of arthritis is joint pain.

Below are some quick facts about joint pain to further explain how it impacts the body and quality of life.

Quick Facts About Joint Pain

Tendons, ligaments, and muscles surround joints. Injury to any of these can cause joint pain. Also, certain disorders create joint pain, including fibromyalgia, polymyalgia rheumatic, bursitis, and tendonitis. This means that not all joint pain is related to arthritis.

Other facts include the following:

• There are 360 joints in the human body
• Exercise can help joint pain
• Applying both heat and ice can ease joint pain. Ice reduces inflammation; heat relaxes muscles.
• You cannot get arthritis from popping your knuckles or other joints
• There is no cure, but there are many treatment options

You may be wondering when it is a good time to visit your doctor for treatment recommendations. Don’t put it off thinking you should be tough enough to cope or that home remedies work best.

Pay attention to your joint pain and seek help if you see redness in the joint area, feel intense pain, develop a deformity in the joint, and if the joint becomes red and swells suddenly. Also, if you can no longer move the joint, make an appointment with your doctor.

Your doctor will likely share a variety of treatment options.

Treatment Options

Doctors often recommend using hot and cold packs to relieve joint pain symptoms. Your doctor may recommend over-the-counter nonsteroidal anti-inflammatories for mild symptoms and prescription pain medications for severe symptoms, depending on your pain levels.

Steroid injections may be an option if medications and other treatments have not worked. There may be a time when your arthritis is so bad your doctor may need to look inside the joint to determine the cause of the pain. They do this with an arthroscopic procedure. If you still have pain, joint replacement may be an option.

Joint pain cream is often enough to ease the pain. It works quickly, and because they are topical pain relief, the medicine goes straight to the joint with pain. Benefits of using joint pain cream includes:

• Getting a higher concentration of the medicine to the area of pain than pills deliver.
• Creams don’t pass through the digestive system, eliminating medicine breakdown and stomach irritations.
• You don’t have to worry about liver toxicity as you do with oral medications.

Choosing a Joint Pain Cream

There are many effective joint pain creams on the market. The problem with mass-manufactured joint pain creams is that they are created for the masses, not for your specific needs. Choosing the correct joint pain cream means making a lot of decisions, like:

• Do you need a prescription cream or over-the-counter cream?
• Do you need counterirritants that distract from the pain, salicylates that provide anti-inflammatory effects, capsaicin that block pain signals, or lidocaine that works as an anesthetic?
• Which active and non-active ingredients may produce side effects or interactions with other medicines?
• Do you prefer a gel or cream?
• Do you prefer to rub it on with your fingers, use a patch, or with a rollerball?
• Should you get a cream with added ingredients like CBD or essential oils?
• Do you want scented or odorless joint pain cream?
• Which consistency do you prefer?

It’s no wonder people get frustrated when shopping for the right joint pain cream. There are too many factors to consider. Unless you have a good understanding of creams, you may end up buying the wrong product.

There is a way to avoid making mistakes when purchasing joint pain creams; talk to your pharmacist about compounding. Compounded pain management creams are topical agents created by your pharmacist, right there in your local pharmacy.

Benefits of Compounded Cream

Compounding by your pharmacist is when they take basic ingredients and creates a product from scratch. The ingredients used in the recipe are based on your unique needs and preferences. When done, you receive a joint pain cream made only for you.

Your pharmacist will consider your allergies, application preferences, smell preferences and add ingredients that may enhance the effects of the cream. Consult with your pharmacist to learn more about compounded topical creams and whether they are the best choice to treat your pain.

Whether you have a juvenile with joint pain or are an adult suffering, you deserve the relief compounded creams can offer. Make your list of preferences and needs and take them to your pharmacist today.

If you go in July, you can help your pharmacy team spread awareness about juvenile arthritis.

CONTACT OUR PHARMACISTS        SEE OUR COMPOUNDED PRODUCTS