Fitness Must

If you’re living with chronic pain, you may have already tried the usual treatments. You may have cycled through the drugs, like NSAIDs and opioids. Maybe you’ve even tried surgery. But you’re still in pain. Could natural pain relief with pain supplements offer an alternative?

Experts say — depending on what’s causing your pain — supplements may help.

“I think supplements can be the cornerstone of good pain management,” says David C. Leopold, MD, director of Integrative Medical Education at the Scripps Center for Integrative Medicine in San Diego. “People are also looking to supplements more and more. They have less tolerance for the side effects of traditional pain medications. They want something different.”

Given the heavy toll that chronic pain can take on a person’s life, getting control of your pain is key. For a better understanding of which pain supplements might help with which conditions, WebMD turned to some integrative medicine experts. Whether you’re suffering from an achy knee or nerve pain, here’s what you need to know about natural pain relief.

Understanding Chronic Pain

What sets chronic pain apart from more acute pain is its relentlessness. Acute pain fades away as the body heals from an injury. Chronic pain doesn’t.

The causes of chronic pain vary — fibromyalgia, arthritis, nerve damage, and back injuries to name a few. But in a way, the core problem is the same: pain. It’s the pain that sends people to the doctor. It’s the pain that can devastate a person’s life. Pain was once thought of as the side effect of other conditions. Now, many experts see chronic pain as a condition in itself that needs its own treatment.

Still, for the average person, getting the right treatment isn’t easy.

“Unfortunately, the conventional medical treatment of chronic pain still isn’t very good,” says Leopold. Perhaps the treatment doesn’t work well and the pain is still interfering with your life. Or maybe the side effects are too severe. Opioid painkillers can cause sedation, constipation, and a risk of addiction. NSAID painkillers — from over-the-counter drugs like Advil to prescription medicines like Celebrex — pose a danger of bleeding, stomach problems, and cardiovascular risks.

Natural Pain Relief: Pain Supplements

Natural pain relief offers an alternative. But given that there are so many pain supplements lining the shelves of your drugstore, it’s hard to know where to start. Here’s a rundown of the chronic pain supplements that our experts thought were most important.

• Anti-inflammatory plants and herbs. For all sorts of painful conditions — including osteoarthritis and back pain — chronic inflammation is the real problem. NSAID medicines — such as aspirin, ibuprofen, and naproxen, and Celebrex — work so well because they block the enzymes that trigger both swelling and pain.

  But if you don’t like the idea of being on an NSAID forever, there’s good news. “There are natural alternatives to NSAIDs that have a similar mechanism,” says Leopold. They include turmeric, green tea, ginger, rosemary, cat’s claw, devil’s claw, and willow bark.

  Which pain supplement is best? Leopold and other experts single out turmeric. “It works really well,” says Tanya Edwards, MD, medical director of the Center for Integrative Medicine at the Cleveland Clinic. “I’ve had patients with arthritis who start using turmeric and are able to go off their NSAIDs entirely.” Look for turmeric in standardized capsules.

  Because they work in the same way as NSAIDs, these pain supplements do pose some of the same risks, such as bleeding. However, the side effects tend to be less severe. Leopold still suggests that people on blood-thinning drugs check with a doctor before using any of these pain supplements. 

• Fish oil. “Fish oil is the clean-up hitter of supplements,” says David P. Rakel, MD, founder and director of the University of Wisconsin’s Integrative Medicine Program in Madison. There’s strong evidence that it helps with many conditions, ranging from cardiovascular problems to depression to asthma.

  Fish oil can also ease the inflammation and pain caused by many chronic conditions. The dose used in the most convincing research is 2 to 4 grams of DHA + EPA daily. Although beneficial omega-3 fatty acids are available from other sources, experts say that fish oil has the best evidence.

  “I recommend omega-3s to everybody, including those with chronic pain,” says Leopold. He says that they help with headaches, back pain, some nerve pain, and autoimmune conditions like rheumatoid arthritis.

  “The pain relief you get from fish oil alone is not tremendous,” notes Rakel. “It’s probably less than you’d get from ibuprofen and other NSAIDs.” But given that some NSAIDs may actually increase the risk of cardiovascular problems, the fact this pain supplement protects against them is an added bonus, he says.