Sometimes arthritis occurs in the wrist, elbows, shoulders, and jaw but you generally don't find it there. Arthritic joints appear to be larger, are stiff and painful, and usually feel worse the more they are used as the day progresses. The first step when looking for solutions to an arthritis pain problem is to understand how arthritis works.

Cartilage is one of the few tissues that does not have its own blood supply. Collagen is the essential protein in cartilage; it forms a mesh to give support and flexibility to the joint. The ability to make repairs to cartilage becomes limited as cartilage cells age.

An inflammatory response causes cytokines, to gather in injured areas and cause inflammation and damage to body tissue and cells; it's known to play a role in rheumatoid arthritis and other muscle and joint problems associated with autoimmune diseases. Injuries sometimes can be the start in the arthritic disease process; osteoarthritis can develop years later even after a single traumatic injury to a joint or near a joint.

Genetic factors are thought to be involved in about 50% of osteoarthritis cases in the hands and hips and a somewhat lower percentage of cases in the knee.

Make smoothies with fruit only using a base of two bananas, adding a cup of frozen or fresh blueberries and mango chunks or substitute any other fruit and add an energy boost of two tablespoons of coconut oil; add one or two leaves of kale for another highly nutritional boost -- no one will ever know. Some people swear by morning drinks of raw apple cider vinegar and honey for arthritis pain relief. If you really want to get rid of your arthritis pain forever it may take a radical change in your diet and an ongoing commitment.

If you're not already doing so, make a big effort to watch your diet. One natural treatment method involves avoiding all inflammatory foods. Nutrition experts say it takes a combination of supplements, that no one supplement can relieve arthritis pain, build cartilage, etc.

Gluten may be a culprit in arthritic diseases including fibromyalgia; avoid wheat, barley, rye, spelt, triticale, kamut and oats (although not a gluten grain it gets contaminated at the wheat mills). Try massaging your fingers or other affected joints with coconut oil twice a day.

Some people swear by glucosamine and/or chondroitin and others say it didn't help at all. A study in Great Britain touted the beneficial effects of cod liver oil on osteoarthritis; relieving pain and stiffness, and reversing the destruction of joint cartilage within 24 hours.

Exercise is good for joints affected by osteoarthritis. If you have pain and swelling in your fingers, try squeezing Thera-putty made for this purpose or exercising with two Chinese Taiji chime balls. For arthritic fingers, a good exercise is to put your finger tips together and press hard and release, then repeat several times. At bedtime you can try putting on a pair of stretch gloves to help reduce the pain and swelling in your fingers for those of you with arthritic hands.

Stretching and warming up the joints should always be the first step in your exercise routine to make your joints more flexible. Even if you don't think you can exercise, you can do some movements. A good exercise routine is the key to beating arthritis and arthritis pain.

Once you become more informed about arthritis you'll be able to plan an arthritis treatment program, natural or conventional or a combination of both. Let your doctor and pharmacist know about any other drugs, herbs or other supplements you're taking, to ward off any adverse drug reactions that might occur from the combining of different drugs or supplements.

At the very least, understand what the side effects and adverse reactions are for any drug you take.

Arthritis pain relief is the ultimate goal - understanding arthritis is a start on the right direction. Once you understand the facts about arthritis, possible causes and treatment approaches you can take, you'll be on your way to recovery and pain will disappear. Changing your diet to predominately fruits and raw veggies, like I did, can turn your arthritis pain around almost overnight. As time goes by you can add a few foods back but be careful about eating anything cooked, canned or processed.