While the occasional joint pain for most is simply an annoyance for many it's chronically debilitating and interferes in their everyday life. Most joint pains can be easily remedied, or go away in a matter of days, but if they don't and the pain is more severe then it's necessary to opt for other means of treatment.

Conventional joint pain treatment aims to reduce inflammation, increase mobility and therefore improve quality of life. While most of the conventional treatments are safe, if used according to the instructions, there is no doubt that there are potential side effects. The leaflets that come with the drug will clearly label all these.

Drug treatments offer relief from the symptoms, not a cure.Non Steroidal Anti-inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs) often give fast effective relief of pain and associated symptoms. The generic names include aspirin, ibuprofen, naproxen and indomethacin. COX 2 inhibitors are relatively new anti-inflammatory drugs, so named because they block the production of prostaglandins enzymes of the cyclooxygenase 2 variety that are responsible for pain and swelling. Steroids are used as a last resort and or for very short periods as necessary. They provide rapid pain relief by reducing the swelling and inflammation around the joints.

Increasingly dietary supplements are being used to assist with pain management for specific joint pain problems. For example, supplements such as glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate are understood to help rebuild worn out connective tissue.

Exercise often helps joint pain. Simple walking and stretching exercises often assist with joint mobility, so long as it's done under professional supervision.

Some severe cases of joint pain result in a person needing to undergo surgery so that joints are fused together or replaced.

Many people are concerned about using conventional medical treatments. Factually, they all have potential side effects, however small that may be. People are more inquisitive than ever before and the advent of the internet has enabled people to learn about alternatives to conventional treatment.

While caution needs to be exercised about alternative treatments, it is clear that there is a trend toward this. Indeed the increase by Americans choosing to use alternative medicines is substantial over the last few years. For example, the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), published at the end of 2008 reported that 4 out of 10 people had used some form of alternative or complementary medicine. This was a 35 percent increase on the survey previously conducted in 2002. Interestingly, the majority of users were adult females.

Alternative medicines such as herbal treatments and homeopathy present very few risks, if any. They are often far less expensive that conventional drugs and most importantly have no bad side effects. The increase in the number of Americans and also in other countries worldwide using alternative forms of medicine to help with their ailments does suggest, although not scientifically, that perhaps there are other methods to help reduce or relief pain.

Anyone that has continuous or recurring pain will ultimately try to find a method of getting relief, so maybe trying alternative medicine is the answer for some people.