Arthritis is a classic symptom describing diagnosis, “arth” meaning joint, “itis” meaning inflammation. You know you are in pain, the question is why? Common causes of joint pain are from muscle/tendon/bone dysfunctions due to physical injury, and inflammatory compounds (toxins) being deposited in the tissue because of inadequate liver and/or kidney function not removing the toxins from the blood. Additionally, any intestinal inflammation will also add to this deposition and overall body inflammation. For example, Tom, Mary, and Karen all have significant knee pain, Tom’s is caused by muscle tension, Mary’s is from kidney dysfunction, while Karen’s is due primarily to intestinal inflammation. Appropriate body work, such as massage, chiropractic, physical therapy, and acupuncture may be needed to return the proper communication and co-ordination of nerves, muscles and facia so your body can turn off the inflammatory/healing, processes. Taking a steroid (which suppress the inflammatory process) may relief the pain short term, but it will come back because the cause was not corrected. Determine why your tissues are inflamed so you can take the corrective actions to resolve the pain. Drugs such as Ibuprofen, Tylenol, etc., and opioids can offer temporary pain relief, but they cause other damage to your body the longer you take them (for example one dose of acetaminophen depletes glutathione and has significant kidney toxicity). Inflammation is how your body repairs. It can’t finish the repair process if inflammation is continually stimulated because the toxins are not being removed or you are not properly supporting the injured tissues. Our bodies are constantly remodeling, this remodeling can create more injured tissue if the cause of inflammation is not addressed, like a tree that grows grotesquely around a fence post or other obstruction. Remodeling tissues to proper function and no pain takes time because your body is growing new tissue, give your body the opportunity to show you what it can do. Start now to become pain free.