Pain is not a symptom, it’s a cause.
Wow. This blows my mind. Scientists have recently found that pain signals that originate in arthritic joints actually cause the arthritis to expand. The pain signals cause disease along both ends of the nerve (spine and joint).
Pain is more than a symptom of osteoarthritis, it is an inherent and damaging part of the disease itself, according to a study published today in journal Arthritis and Rheumatism. More specifically, the study revealed that pain signals originating in arthritic joints, and the biochemical processing of those signals as they reach the spinal cord, worsen and expand arthritis. In addition, researchers found that nerve pathways carrying pain signals transfer inflammation from arthritic joints to the spine and back again, causing disease at both ends.
One of the great things of this find is that there are drugs out there that interfere with these inflammatory receptors. These new drugs could potentially help treat Alzheimer’s, dementia, multiple sclerosis, and osteoarthritis. This is great news. As someone who deals with chronic pain, I’m hoping that this leads to many new ways to possibly treat it.