In addition, stretching exercises are helpful. Your doctor, or your physical therapist, can help plan an exercise program that will give you the most benefit. In certain patients with arthritis, surgery may be necessary. Surgeons can perform operations to remove inflamed joint tissue, realign the joint, or replace very damaged joints with artificial devices. These devices are not without disadvantages, but in appropriate cases can provide not only pain relief but also improvement in motion for the involved joint.
Many people look for other ways of treating their arthritis, such as special diets or supplements.
Although these methods are not necessarily harmful, there is also no real proof that they help. Because the pain of arthritis may come and go, a person taking an alternative treatment may mistakenly think that the remedy worked. It's also true that pain is a very subjective experience, and people with pain sometimes feel better simply because of their strong faith in a particular treatment. This is why researchers rely on clinical trials involving hundreds or thousands of people, in which patients and doctors are not told what medications are being tested until the end of the trial, before they claim that a new method for relieving pain works. If your doctor agrees that an alternative treatment helps you to cope without doing you any harm, it can be incorporated into your treatment plan.