Help Prevent & Treat Joint Pain
Using A Leading Dietary Supplement Product
That Really Works

Michael Garko, Ph.D.
Host – Let’s Talk Nutrition

Introduction

As the population in the United States continues to age, arthritis will affect an estimated 67 million adults by 2030 (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2006).  Presently, arthritis is among the most prevalent chronic health issues facing Americans. It is the leading cause of disability and most common cause of joint pain in the United States.

One in five American adults (21.6% or 45 million people) suffers from doctor-diagnosed arthritis, with 8.3% (17.4 million) reported to have arthritis-attributable activity limitations (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2006). Osteoarthritis is the most common type of arthritis and most common joint disorder in the United States and the world for that matter. It afflicts about 21 million American and is characterized by chronic pain, stiffness and swelling. Osteoarthritis develops from the wear and tear and breakdown of cartilage typically in a slightly moveable joint (e.g., spine and vertebrae) or synovial-type joints (e.g., pivot, hinge, ellipsoidal, ball-and-socket, saddle or gliding joint) found for example in the hips, knees, hands and feet. 

These facts and statistics on arthritis help to underscore and provide a glimpse into the number of people in the United States suffering from joint pain. However, the prevalence of arthritis does not sketch the complete picture on joint pain.  One source identified 221 causes of joint pain, including various forms of arthritis of which there are over 100 (Wrong Diagnosis, 2007). Other causes of joint pain include such factors as (1) poor diet and nutrition, (2) bacterial and viral infections, (3) injuries or trauma to joints, (4) sprains caused by the stretching or tearing of ligaments, (5) strains to muscles and tendons caused by habitual, unusual or protracted movements, forcefulness or awkward positions, (6) autoimmune diseases, (7) prolonged abnormal posture, (8) wear and tear stemming from aging and repetitive movements, (9) tendonitis, and (10) bursitis.

Notwithstanding the numerous causes of joint pain, the bottom statistical line is that approximately 70 million people suffer annually from joint pain (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2002), with much of that pain caused by acute and chronic inflammation.

The September issue of Healthful Hints features FlexNow Joint Formula, a dietary supplement designed to help prevent and treat joint pain due to inflammation. As they pertain to joint pain, inflammation and Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs) will also be addressed briefly to provide context for the use of FlexNow.

Inflammation & Chronic Joint Pain

Although there are more than 200 medical conditions causing joint pain (see Wrong Diagnosis, 2007), more often than not the underlying disease mechanism of action for joint pain is inflammation. Inflammation is the immune system’s response to injury or infection. Phylogenetically and ontogenetically speaking, inflammation is the oldest defense mechanisms of the human body (Stvrtinova, et al, 1995). It evolved to protect and heal us from injury and infection (usually caused by bacteria or viruses).

Pain, redness, heat, swelling and loss of function are the five classic signs of acute inflammation and are symptoms reflecting the healing process. Chronic inflammation is a pathological condition in which the switch of the immune system malfunctions, and remains in the on-position creating a process whereby the immune system in an unrelenting fashion attacks the body, referred to as an auto-immune response. Typically, chronic inflammation does not manifest itself with all of the classic signs of acute inflammation but is more stealth like in how it works.

Chronic inflammation is characterized by (1) an infiltration of mononuclear immune cells such as monocytes, macrophages, lymphocytes and plasma cells, (2) destruction of tissue and (3) repeated attempts by the immune system to heal (Wikipedia, 2007). Paradoxically, the healing attempts become destructive in nature with the persistent and long-term release of now biologically unfriendly pro-inflammatory hormones.  In terms of joints, the perpetual attack results in persistent pain and the ultimate destruction of cartilage caused by chronically inflamed tissue.

NSAIDs

Millions of people turn to over-the-counter (OTC) and prescription anti-inflammatory drugs to relieve the discomfort and symptoms associated with either acute or chronic joint pain. The preferred drugs of choice are NSAIDs. Over-the-counter and prescription NSAIDs include salicylates such as aspirin and other types of NSAIDs such as ibuprofen (e.g., Advil, Motrin) naproxen (e.g., Aleve) and COX-2 inhibitors such as Celebrex, Vioxx  (taken off the market) and Bextra (taken off the market).

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warned in 2005 that many NSAIDs increase the risk for adverse cardiovascular events (e.g., heart attack & stroke) and gastrointestinal events (e.g., gastrointestinal bleeding). Relative to its public health warning, the FDA published the following to consumers and healthcare professionals:

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued supplemental request letters to sponsors of all non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID) requesting that they make labeling changes to their products. These letters include recommended proposed labeling for both the prescription and over-the-counter (OTC) NSAIDs and a medication guide for the entire class of prescription products. All sponsors of marketed prescription Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs), including Celebrex (celecoxib), a COX-2 selective NSAID, have been asked to revise the labeling (package insert) for their products to include a boxed warning, highlighting the potential for increased risk of cardiovascular (CV) events and the well described, serious, potential life-threatening gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding associated with their use. The Celebrex labeling will, in addition to the general labeling that will apply to all NSAIDs, also contain safety data from long-term treatment trials with celecoxib.

Manufacturers of non-prescription (over-the-counter) NSAIDs are being asked to revise their labeling to provide more specific information about the potential CV and GI risks of their individual products and remind patients of the limited dose and duration of treatment of these products in accordance with the package instructions (U.S. Food and Drug Administration, p.1, 2005).

Prior to the FDA’s public health warning, the following was published in the July, 1998, issue of The American Journal of Medicine regarding NSAIDs:

Conservative calculations estimate that approximately 107,000 patients are hospitalized annually for Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID)-related gastrointestinal (GI) complications and at least 16,500 NSAID-related deaths occur each year among arthritis patients alone. The figures of all NSAID users would be overwhelming, yet the scope of this problem is generally under-appreciated (Gurkirpal, p. 318, 1998).

A year later in the June, 1999, issue of the New England Journal of Medicine a remarkably similar commentary was made:

It has been estimated conservatively that 16,500 NSAID-related deaths occur among patients with rheumatoid arthritis or osteoarthritis every year in the United States. This figure is similar to the number of deaths from the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome and considerably greater than the number of deaths from multiple myeloma, asthma, cervical cancer, or Hodgkin’s disease. If deaths from gastrointestinal toxic effects from NSAIDs were tabulated separately in the National Vital Statistics reports, these effects would constitute the 15th most common cause of death in the United States. Yet these toxic effects remain mainly a ‘silent epidemic,’ with many physicians and most patients unaware of the magnitude of the problem. Furthermore, the mortality statistics do not include deaths ascribed to the use of over-the-counter NSAIDS (Wolfe et al., pp. 1888-1889, 1999).

Needless to say, health consumers need to exercise considerable caution when taking either OTC or prescription NSAIDs, especially when taken on a long-term basis. Fortunately, there are more natural, healthier and safer alternatives than the long-term use of NSAIDs to help ameliorate joint pain caused by inflammation.

FlexNow Joint Formula

FlexNow is designed to reduce inflammation, thereby, promoting joint health and allowing for more freedom of joint movement. The makers of FlexNow believe so strongly in their product that if complete relief is not achieved in 30 days, they send a complete refund to the user of the product.

FlexNow contains only one ingredient, SheaFlex75, which is a complex of shea nut triterpenes. Interestingly, triterpenes, as a group of active natural compounds found in a variety of botanicals/plants, provides the plants with antibacterial, antifungal and antiviral protection. As it turns out, triterpenes are distinctively important to humans because of their ability to reduce inflammation.

The triterpenes in FlexNow are found in the pit of the fruit grown on the Shea tree, indigenous throughout the semiarid region of West Africa with the largest concentrations of the tree in Burkina Faso, Ghana and Ivory Coast. The pit is commonly referred to as the Shea nut even though it is really not a nut.

The Shea nut has been used for more than 2,000 years to make Shea oil and shea butter, the primary source of food oil for cooking and eating in a large portion of Africa. Shea oil and shea butter found their way in the Western diet in 1913. Currently, they are consumed in America and Europe and used to make chocolate and cosmetic products because of their soothing and healing effects on the skin.

It is important to remember that the primary medicinal property of FlexNow is its ability to reduce inflammation. This is especially important when it comes to pain relief and repair of a joint. By reducing the inflammation, this allows other compounds such as Glucosamine, Chondroitin and Methylsulfonylmethane (MSM) to perform their repair-function. Just as it does not make much sense to attempt to repair a burning house while the fire is still in progress, so too does it not make much sense to repair a joint while the fires of inflammation are engulfing the joint. The smarter strategy is to first reduce the inflammation so as to allow for a more effective and quicker repair of the joint.

Conclusion

If you suffer from acute or chronic joint pain and are seeking an alternative to using NSAIDs, then you might want to consider trying FlexNow, a natural and safe supplement product derived from the Shea nut. While triterpenes found in the Shea nut protect the Shea tree and its fruit from bacteria, viruses and fungi, they also serve humans by reducing inflammation associated with joint pain. Inhabitants of West Africa have known about the medicinal properties of the Shea nut and have used it as food source in the form of shea oil and shea butter for over 2,000 years. Shea nut based products have been used in Europe and the United States for decades. Now the healing properties of the Shea nut are made available to health consumers in FlexNow Joint Formula. Since the product has a money back guarantee (including paid postage), health consumers suffering from joint pain due to inflammation have nothing to lose but the pain when trying FlexNow.