Herbs for Chronic Arthritic Pains
Chronic pain is one of the most difficult problems for those coping with arthritis. According to the CDC, arthritic pain is the nation’s leading cause of chronic disability, and nearly 19 million U.S. adults report that arthritic pain severely limits their daily activities.
While never pleasant, not all pain is bad. Short-term, acute pain serves as the body’s alarm system, warning us of danger (minor cuts, insect bites, etc.) while enabling us to learn from potentially damaging experiences. By contrast, the long-term pain associated with arthritis is a fixed, constant presence that is almost impossible to control.
Arthritic pain begins when specialized receptors (nociceptors) are activated following damage to joint tissues. This activation results in the release of pro-inflammatory prostaglandins and cytokines (chemical messengers) such as IL-1 and TNF-alpha. These chemicals stimulate the release of additional inflammatory enzymes that further damage cartilage while blocking the body’s efforts to initiate repairs. As inflammation worsens, joint tissues swell and begin to compress pain nerves, resulting in degenerative nerve damage that triggers the release of even more inflammatory cytokines directly into the nerve roots. Over time this process alters the very structure of pain cells, causing them to become sensitized to the constant stimulus.
This process results in a lowering of pain threshold that directly amplifies pain signals while increasing sensitivity to pressure and temperature. In other words, the pain persists even after the original painful stimulus is no longer present.
Inflammation-induced pain responds poorly to currently available analgesics, making new compounds capable of relieving chronic arthritic pain an important target of intensive drug development. One of the most important subjects of ongoing drug research involves a type of cell structure called a sodium channel. By controlling the flow of ions into and out of pain receptors (nociceptive neurons) sodium channels play a key role in the generation of pain signals. Blocking these sodium channels inhibits the transmission of pain signals from the nociceptive neurons, resulting in a localized anesthetic action and subsequent pain relief.
Several traditional Chinese herbs have been shown to demonstrate significant analgesic activity in animal studies by acting on nociceptive neurons and pain pathways to relieve pain and calm oversensitized nervous systems.
• Gastrodia root has been shown to exert novel pain relief and inflammatory-mediating activities, as well as in vivo and in vitro inhibitory activity on nitric oxide (NO) production.
• Activated Aconite exhibits especially potent analgesic properties, according to a recent study conducted by researchers with the Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Their research reveals that one of the active ingredients in aconite–Bulleyaconitine A, or BLA– strongly reduces sodium channel currents to block overactive pain signals for prolonged periods of time. In China, BLA has been approved for the treatment of chronic pain and rheumatoid arthritis.
• Scrophularia has demonstrated a powerful painkilling ability equal to that of cortisone and twice as effective as indomethacin, a popular NSAID used to treat arthritis. As with the other herbal ingredients, scrophularia exerts these significant analgesic effects with virtually no side effects.
• Notoperygium root is used in traditional medicine to relieve discomfort due to aching in the limbs and joints, especially in the upper part of the body. Recent studies reveal that Notoperygium works to support joint discomfort, in part, by inhibiting 5-Lipoxygenase (5-LOX) and COX, two key enzymes involved in the arachidonic acid pathway that constitutes one of the main mechanisms for the production of pain and inflammation.
• Eucommia bark is derived from the Eucommia, or hardy rubber tree. In traditional Chinese medicine, Eucommia bark is used to strengthen the bones and muscles and alleviate discomfort in the lower back and legs. Eucommia bark contains a substance, iridoid glycoside, that has a long history of use for inflammation.(5) One glycoside, aucubin, has been shown to be a specific inhibitor of NF-kappaB activation in mast cells, which might explain its beneficial effects.
• Chinese Ligusticum root contains alkaloids that have been shown in studies to inhibit TNF-alpha production and TNFalpha- mediated NF-kappaB activation.(7) One study conducted in Japan showed that active compounds found in Ligustici Sinensis have both anti-inflammatory and pain reducing effects, exerting its anti-inflammatory benefits in the early and the late stages of processes in the inflammatory pathology.