It is Not Always so Cut and Dried With Osteoarthritis
Osteoarthritis for most people pain relief can be treated with exercise, diet, salves, acetaminophen or even low-dose aspirin or ibuprofen. For a few with osteoarthritis the milder methods of pain relief will just not work. They may need a stronger of different type of medications available under a doctors supervision.
What Can You Do When Your Arthritic Knee Begins to Hurt?
The first thing you should do is just stop doing what you are doing and get your weight off the hurting knee.
The second step is to apply ice to relieve the pain. Some people will not respond to the ice treatments. So if ice is not doing the job use hot packs and heating pads. Add a nice hot bath can help relieve the pain quickly if the ice does not work for you. Some people respond to alternating between the ice and heat treatments. With a little experimentation you can find which works best for you.
Third if you are still in pain and it still hurts, the next option would be to try a rub-on product. There are many different kinds of pain relieving ointments on the market with some working better than others. Try one that is called Zostrix to relieve your pain.
Forth if you find you are still in pain it may time to consider medication. The idea here is to experiment with what has the least chance of causing side effects first. So begin with acetaminophen (Tylenol) first because it has the least chance of causing side effects. It works well on a lot of people and if it works for you it is a lot safer to take that a lot of the other options.
Fifth it’s the next day and you find that you are still having pain. Now is the time to try the aspirin or ibuprofen (Advil or Aleve). These medications have a lot of side effects so begin slowly at first. If you are able to take this type of medication they are best for different types of inflammation and can provide the relief you need.
Sixth still no relief in sight? It is time to visit your doctor and fill him in on all you have done to get relief with no success. What your doctor will do to start with is prescribing a non-steroidal anti- inflammatory drug (NSAID) or maybe advise you to just taking higher doses of ibuprofen. You must remember because of all the potential side effects, do not just use NSAIDs in a casual manner. It also makes no difference if they are over the counter or of the prescription variety they can be very unsafe if not used correctly.
Seventh once you are better and out of pain your final step is to get started on a low impact exercise program. You need one that includes regular stretching and muscle-strengthening exercises into your lifestyle. You will quickly find that it will feel better and have a lot less re-occurrences of pain.