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Joint pain

Unfortunately, as you age many people start to suffer from joint pain. Whether it's your hips or ankles, shoulders or back, joint pain becomes more acute in your mind.

Though part of the process of aging, there are actually ways for you to continue a happy lifestyle by ensuring you maximise joint pain relief and minimise any potential causes.

When you suffer from Rheumatism, the aching bones and aching muscles are all too familiar. Potentially set off by changes to normal routine, a strenuous workout, sudden crisis or doing some gardening - in fact anythgin that causes you to use your muscles more than usual. IN addition, some people find that damp and cold weather makes their Rheumatism that much worse.

What complementary treatments are there?

• Heat applied to the affected bones and muscles will relax them and ease tension. Heat lamps, heated pads and hot water bottles will all help and you may like to wear extra clothes to keep yourself warm.
• Warm baths will also help to relax muscles. Add a few drops of an aromatherapy oil such as lavender to help you unwind
• Massage will relieve muscle tension and can also be a very calming experience - but go slowly on any area that is particularly sore.
• Anti-Inflammatory creams can be gently massaged into sore areas
• A balanced diet should include plenty of water and supplements such as zinc to promote healing
• Plenty of sleep!

If you ever experience some muscle stiffness, swelling, tenderness and any restricted movement in your joints, you could find that you're suffering from arthritis. Osteoarthritis damages the surfaces of joints, causing surrounding bones to thicken.

In contrast, inflammatory arthritis can is caused when your immune system decides a particular joint is actually a foreign body, so therefore attacks it. Inflammatory arthritis can cause more severe pain than osteoarthritis.

As with many internal conditions, there is doubt about the exact causes of arthritis. Most scientists agree that there is likely to be genetic components involved. Sometimes osteoarthritis can be triggered by traumatic events and it is known that being overweight is another risk factor.

There are complete ranges of remedies worth trying and a wide range of medications available over the counter:

• Pain killers like paracetemol or aspirin
• Anti-inflammatories, such as Ibuprofen and creams like Ibugel.
• Stronger anti-inflammatories by prescription only like Diclofenac and Indomethacin
• Resting joints for a day or two
• Bandaging
• Massage
• Physiotherapy