Chronic pain and stiffness can make living with osteoarthritis a challenge. You may find relief by combining traditional treatments with complementary remedies.

Osteoarthritis (OA) causes pain and stiffness. If prescription medications don’t provide enough relief, consider adding an alternative remedy to your treatment plan.

“Nothing in alternative, or conventional medicine for that matter, will cure osteoarthritis. But several alternative/complementary modalities are worth trying as part of an overall management strategy that includes gentle exercise, weight loss, and medication, if you need it,” says Brent A. Bauer, M.D., director of complementary and integrative medicine for the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., and medical editor of the Mayo Clinic Book of Alternative Medicine.

However, if you’re looking for a quick fix, you may be disappointed.

“Alternative treatments tend to help over time, in contrast to the more immediate relief provided by pain relievers or anti-inflammatories,” he says. “Even so, they have the advantage of producing less dangerous side effects than prescription medications and lower risks than surgery.”

Remedies worth trying include:

• Chondroitin and glucosamine. Chondroitin is a dietary supplement made from shark cartilage and sea cucumbers. Glucosamine is derived from oyster and crab shells. The two supplements are most often taken together to stop or possibly reverse the degenerative process of osteoarthritis.

  “A recent National Institutes of Health study found people with severe arthritis who took these supplements had significant benefits in terms of pain, joint function, and mobility,” says Bauer. “For many patients, these supplements are as good as anything I could prescribe, with lower side effects.”

• SAM-e. This dietary supplement is a synthetic version of a compound that occurs naturally in human tissue. Some people with OA find it relieves pain as effectively as aspirin, Advil, or Motrin IB, but with fewer side effects.

  A double-blind U.S. study of people with knee OA found SAM-e was slower to take effect but was just as effective as the prescription medication Celebrex in reducing pain and improving joint function.

• Acupuncture. “We’ve had great results with acupuncture at Mayo, especially with knee pain, and several studies have been overwhelmingly positive,” says Bauer.

  This treatment, which entails inserting thin needles at strategic places in the body, should be tried for at least six treatments to see if it helps. If it does, you may have less pain with one or two treatments a week.

  “Be sure to get references from a doctor or other patients because this treatment is practitioner-dependent, meaning its success depends on who’s administering it and how much experience they have,” he adds.

• Devil’s Claw. This traditional herb from South Africa may reduce OA pain and inflammation. One study of 227 people published in Phytomedicine found 50 to 70 percent of those with OA of the knee or hip who took devil’s claw extract for eight weeks reported improvement in pain, mobility, and flexibility.
• Mind/body remedies. Hypnosis, yoga, guided imagery, deep-breathing, and relaxation exercises can help people cope with chronic pain.

Dietary supplements aren’t without risk, and you should always talk with your doctor before trying them.

“There’s still a lot of research to be done regarding complementary treatments, but they’re certainly worth trying,” says Bauer. “If you’re in pain, you may well find relief, and that’s worth investigating.”

Barbara Floria spoke with Brent A. Bauer, M.D., director of complementary and integrative medicine for the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., and medical editor of the Mayo Clinic Book of Alternative Medicine, Time Inc., 2007, $24.95.

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