Senior Fitness Essay

Arthritis Relief

According to the latest from WebMD there are a large number of individuals suffering from osteoarthritis (OA) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) that seek to relieve their symptoms by alternative means including supplements and natural cures touted as the 'latest' in treatment for arthritis sufferers (WebMD, 2011). Research provided by WebMD shows that not every treatment deserves the recognition it may receive as a cure or as a pain reliever for those sufferers. The website maintained by WebMD provides a comprehensive list of many of the so-called treatments and discusses each ones effectiveness or lack thereof.

Having read through the WebMD material, I made my way to the local nutritional store to interview the person there about the various natural supplements for joint arthritic pain. My objective was to discern how much knowledge the person had, and what he/she would recommend to an elderly individual suffering joint pain associated with arthritis.

I entered the store and made my way to the counter where two employees were conversing.Introducing myself I asked them about the latest treatment for joint pain. The first thing the lady said was that there were a number of external and internal treatments but that she would never recommend the external method. When pressed for her reasoning, she answered that the nightshade vegetable extracts (cayenne pepper) contained in most external rubs to create the heating effect were actually a source of further problems rather than the cure. She then showed me a product called 'Tiger's Balm', an example of the external treatments that are available that is supposed to help alleviate some of the pain.

However, when she checked the ingredients for cayenne pepper, it was not listed. She stuck to her guns however, telling me that most of the balms and ointments did contain nightshades.

She then led me to the internal joint pain remedies and showed me a wide….....