Joint pains are a common problem, especially because it causes everyday life to suffer. Even though arthritis is the most common reason for the joint pains, there may be various other reasons like athletic injuries or stress. But arthritis remains the biggest cause of joint pains with nearly 40 million Americans suffering from the same. While all of the cases may not need an extensive treatment with the help of a specialist, the majority of them do require special attention.

Targeted cryotherapy is one way of reducing inflammation to relieve the patient of the joint pains. It makes the use of a cooling technology and is targeted only at the joint area, not at the whole body. Moreover, the duration of targeted cryotherapy is mere of a couple of minutes. Usually, the results start showing instantly and the patient feels relief just after the therapy is done. 3 or 4 visits are generally required to complete the treatment. But it is effective, as well as safe. In case of injuries, where the effects are acute, usually over the counter medicines are recommended. In case of severe effects, prescription drugs such as a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) are prescribed. Cox-2 inhibitors (celcoxib) and opioid drug are prescribed in severe cases. When the pain is too severe, anti-depressants are also used. But it is always recommended that these be taken in extreme cases and not taken too often are the side effects are even more severe, including gastrointestinal bleeding, indigestion, and loss of bone mineral density. Some of them may even lead to addiction.

The common drugs available to get relief of joint pains to include NSAID, Duloxetine (Cymbalta), Diacerein and Capsaicin. When the drugs cease to cause relief and even very mundane body movements become a struggle, that is when a patient is recommended to go for surgery. Usually, a lot of them are controversial and believed to have only a short-term effect.