People suffering from arthritis may now have more reasons to jump, dance, and rock n'roll after the researchers confirmed the efficacy of alternative medicine as a means to get arthritis pain relief and treatment for other ailments related to arthritis.

The good news is expected to cause jubilation among people who have long suffered from the crippling pain that comes with arthritis. According to the Arthritis Foundation, nearly one in five Americans (46 million) suffers from one of the more than 100 various joint diseases and an additional 23 million have chronic pain in their joints that are yet to be formally diagnosed. Forty percent of arthritis patients in the United States admitted that the have turned to some form of alternative medicine.

According to reports, a German team of researchers was able to show evidence that acupuncture used in conjunction with conventional medicines can boost the quality of life of patients suffering from osteoarthritis. Another team of American researchers also found that the ingestion of a special turmeric extract could help prevent or curb both acute and chronic rheumatoid arthritis.

Acupuncture is known to stimulate special points on the body by inserting fine needles. This method originated in the Far East and had been in used for over 2,000 years. Acupuncture is also gaining popularity in the West as an alternative form of medicine and therapeutic practice.

Certain plants and herbs have also gained popularity for their medicinal properties. Turmeric, an ingredient used to make curry, has long been used as an alternative to powerful anti-inflammatory drugs in both the Chinese and Indian systems of medicine. Turmeric comes from the root of the Curcuma longa plant with a tough brown skin and a deep orange flesh.

Dr. Janet L. Funk, the lead author of the study on the medicinal properties of turmeric, and an assistant professor of physiological sciences at the University of Arizona in Tucson had built her study on earlier research conducted with rats. The studies showed that joint inflammation in the rats were reduced after having been injected with turmeric. In her current work, she broke down the specific contents of commonly sold turmeric dietary supplements and isolated a turmeric extract that was free of essential oils and structurally similar to that found in commercial varieties. The extract was based largely on curcuminoids, a compound they believed to be effective in reducing arthritic inflammation. Funk's group administered the extract to female rats both before and after the onset of rheumatoid arthritis. They then tracked changes in the rodents' bone density and integrity. The experiment showed that turmeric extract appeared to block inflammatory pathways associated with rheumatoid arthritis in rats at a particularly early point in the development of the disease. The extract had a beneficial impact if given three days after arthritis set in, but not if given eight days after disease onset.

Further investigations in the laboratory revealed that turmeric stops a particular protein from launching an inflammatory "chain reaction" linked to swelling and pain. The expression of hundreds of genes normally involved in instigating bone destruction and swelling was also altered by the turmeric.

But these findings are still preliminary and the turmeric extract needs to be tested in people.

If other studies yield the same results and observations, patients will be taking a purified turmeric extract. However, a conclusive proof is still needed regarding the safety and efficacy of turmeric extract to humans.

In another study by Dr. Claudia M. Witt of Charite University Medical Center in Berlin, researchers spent three years tracking the treatment results of 3,500 male and female osteoarthritis patients suffering from either hip or knee pain. All the participants were permitted to continue whatever conventional western medical treatments they had been undergoing prior to the onset of the treatment trials for 6 months. Furthermore, over 3,200 of the patients also received up to 15 sessions of needle-stimulation or acupuncture during the first three months of the study except for the remaining 310 patients, who received such treatment only in the final three months of the study period. The experiment showed that patients with chronic osteoarthritis pain who underwent a combination of routine medical care plus acupuncture demonstrated significant quality of life improvements as well as increased mobility and pain reduction above and beyond that experienced by patients who did not receive acupuncture. Osteoarthritis is caused by a progressive degeneration of bone cartilage and is the most common type of arthritis in the United States. Rheumatoid arthritis is an immunological disorder characterized by a painful inflammation of the lining of the joints.

Improvement in osteoarthritis held steady three months after cessation of the sessions for those who began their acupuncture treatments immediately. While those who had begun acupuncture three months into the study period, comparable improvements occurred by the time they ended their sessions at the six-month mark. The study, one of the largest of its kind, demonstrated that acupuncture appeared to be a viable therapeutic option for people suffering from osteoarthritis and possibly a safe medical intervention with minor side effects only observed in just over 5 percent of patients.

There are some people who are not amenable to western medication due to some contra-indications or possible side effects. Others consider it to be artificial and would prefer healing process that make use of natural products and stimulates the body's own healing processes. But surely, those who opt to have acupuncture treatment should only go to trained practitioners to ensure the highest level of safety and efficacy in the use of this ancient healing method.