5 medications and supplements for quickly relieving joint pain

Joint pain doesn't necessarily have to be debilitating. Follow this helpful advice to ease your discomfort.

Easy on your gastrointestinal system, acetaminophen tablets are safe and effective for ongoing pain, according to a government review of hundreds of pain-relief studies.

• Your safe dose? Up to 4,000 milligrams per day — taken according to package directions. (One caution: Don't take acetaminophen with combination cold and flu remedies that contain it. An overdose could cause liver damage.)

In one study, people who gradually switched from daily non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) to acetaminophen over three months said they didn't feel any increase in pain during the transition.

Omega-3 fatty acids — the "good fats" found in fish such as salmon and in fish-oil capsules — helped people with arthritis ease pain and stiffness in more than 15 well-designed research studies.

• Volunteers were also able to cut back on prescription and over-the-counter painkillers.
• Fish oil may help with back pain, too. However, in some studies, the dosage was as high as 5,000 milligrams of omega-3s.
• That's a lot of daily pills, so talk to your doctor first, and never take fish-oil capsules without a medical consultation if you're taking blood thinners.

The same compound that lends hot peppers their fiery heat can help manage pain.

• Store-bought creams irritate nerve endings so much that your brain forgets about the joint pain.
• Some researchers think capsaicin also uses up a chemical inside nerve cells called substance P, which helps deliver pain signals to the brain.
• Use it for a week or two to get the most benefits.

Capsules packed with glucosamine (a sugar extracted from shellfish) and chondroitin sulfate (a carbohydrate extracted from animal cartilage) cut joint pain by 20 percent or more in a landmark study of 1,583 women and men with arthritis.

• Nearly 80 percent of those with moderate to severe arthritis got some relief.
• Experts aren't sure how the two supplements work, but they know that both substances are found naturally in human cartilage.

Keep these tips in mind to quickly relieve joint pain and remember to contact your doctor for more information.