Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Corticosteroid use increases pain in long run




A recent article in the Wall Street Journal indicated that not only do corticosteroids only provide short term benefits but their use also causes greater pain in the long run.
Boswellia Herb
for Pain Relief
The body naturally produces various hormones known as corticosteroids in the adrenal cortex. These hormones include corticosterone, cortisone and aldosterone and are involved in the regulation of various bodily functions such as inflammation, immune response and stress response.

Synthetic pharmaceutical drugs have been developed to try and mimic the body's natural hormones. Dexamethasone, Fludrocortisone, Prednisone, Hydrocortisone and glucocorticoids. Cortisone injections are popular in the treatment of muscle and joint inflammatory reactions however they are also used to treat non-inflammatory tendon pain such as tennis elbow.

In a meta-analysis article in The Lancet - a premiere medical journal the effects of cortisone injections to placebo and other treatments were discussed. In 28 studies, when comparing synthetic corticosteroids to other treatments, it was found that corticosteroid benefits were only effective for a short period of time. In 3 studies while analysing corticosteroid use to no treatment for tennis elbow, it was found that corticosteroids offered pain relief for upto 8 weeks and caused increased pain after 6 months and 1 year. The cause is not certain but could be due to weakening of the internal structure of tendons.

Rumalaya Forte
Herbal Blend
for Pain Relief
Pain relief can often be easily obtained by natural herbs such as Boswellia. Herbal blends such as Rumalaya Forte which contain Boswellia, Guggull and other herbs help to relieve muscle and joint pain and have shown no side effects in long term use.

Read more on natural remedies for tendonitis

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