Cause for Osteoarthritis Pain Discovered

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Reason for osteoarthritic pain discovered! Pic Courtesy: arthritishubs.com

One of the most debilitating outcomes of osteoarthritis is the pain, which the patient has to endure in his/her everyday life. This is the reason why pain-management is a very essential part of osteoarthritic treatment.

The knees, hands, hips are some of the areas which are most prone to osteoarthritis.

With the recent research conducted by scientists at Rush University Medical Center and Northwestern University, researchers seem to have come closer to understanding the reason behind osteoarthritis pain.

As per the scientists, specific molecules have been identified, which are the cause of this osteoarthritic pain. The devil molecules are monocyte chemoattractant protein (MCP)-1 and its receptor, chemokine receptor 2 (CCR2).

Hopefully this understanding will be able to offer better pain management and treatment solutions in future to patients who come under the spell of this hampering disease.

Emaxhealth reports the views of Dr. Anne-Marie Malfait, the study’s lead author and associate professor of biochemistry and of internal medicine at Rush. She says,

The study provided a longitudinal ‘read-out’ of the development of OA [osteoarthritis] pain and pain-related behaviors. Previous research has indicated that MCP-1/CCR2 are important players in the development of pain after injury to nerves. Increased expression of both MCP-1 and its receptor CCR2 may mediate increased pain signaling, but that blocking the CCR2 receptor helped stop pain behavior in the mice. This discovery is an important contribution to the field of osteoarthritis research.

With this crucial research still ongoing, currently patients with osteoarthritis would continue to choose from the available pain relief options, which include oral medications like anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as ibuprofen and naproxen, cortisone injections, application of topical medicines, and last but not the least having a diet rich of anti-inflammatory foods, such as onions, garlic, leeks, celery, lemon and mustard.