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New Hope for Osteoarthritis Sufferers

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a painful and debilitating joint disease that affects 27 million Americans.

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), one in two Americans will get some form of OA in their lifetime. In addition, it's estimated that 1 out of every 2 will get symptomatic knee OA in their lifetime as well.(1)

What's more, it's estimated that your risk of getting knee OA increases to 57% if you have had a past knee injury. In addition, your risk goes up to 66% if you suffer from obesity.

Medically speaking, OA is a joint disease that mostly affects the cartilage, which is the soft tissue that surrounds the bones in your joints. When you have OA, the cartilage breaks down and wears away, allowing the bones to rub directly against each other.

It's this rubbing that causes you pain and causes the joint to swell, resulting in a loss of motion and mobility. Bone spurs may grow on the edges of the bones, and bits of bone or cartilage can break off and float around inside the joint space. As you might imagine, this can be quite painful.

The CDC goes on to report that many people fail to be proactive because they believe arthritis is something that happens as you age... and that you have to learn to live with the aches and pains.(2)

The good news is that unless you have a family history of arthritis, such as one or both of your parents having OA, you don't have to needlessly suffer. And perhaps most importantly, you can take steps to prevent OA from developing in the first place.

Could a Cure For Osteoarthritis Be On the Way?

A new study, reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggests that researchers may be closing in on a way to eliminate the pain associated with OA.

The study was conducted at Rush University Medical Center in collaboration with researchers at Northwestern University, both in Illinois. What makes this particular study so important is that researchers focused on the "pain pathway" rather than the "cartilage breakdown pathway". Using a surgical mouse model, the medical researchers were able to track the development of both pain behaviors and the molecular events taking place in the nerves. Then, they correlated the data over an extended period of time.

In the assessment of the data, they looked at changes in the nerve ganglia that carry pain signals to the brain. They were able to identify the mechanism that is central to the development of OA pain.

To confirm their findings, the researchers blocked the mechanism in the mice at nine weeks after surgery. They found that this reversed the decrease in the movement-provoked pain behavior observed in the mice that didn't have the mechanism blocked.(3)

The belief is that the research could have major implications for future treatment of OA, especially for those in whom the condition has become extremely debilitating. However, it's too early to tell if this research will lead to a permanent cure to OA.

With that said, and depending on the severity of your pain, an all-natural solution like Isoprex can provide immediate joint pain relief. It works safely and gently to stop dangerous pain-causing inflammation in its tracks... without any side-effects.

References

(1) http://www.cdc.gov/features/osteoarthritisplan/

(2) ibid.

(3) http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/12/121227173053.htm

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