Joint & muscle pain relief
Joint disorders and injuries are widespread, can cause considerable discomfort, and cost billions of dollars in lost days of work. Symptoms of these diseases and injuries include inflammation, lameness, loss of mobility, and pain. The causes of pain can include inflammation, injury, disease, muscle spasm and the onset of a neuropathic event or syndrome. Ineffectively treated pain can be devastating to the person experiencing it by limiting function, reducing mobility, complicating sleep, and dramatically interfering with the quality of life. Inflammatory pain can occur when tissue is damaged, as can result from surgery or due to an adverse physical, chemical or thermal event or to infection by a biologic agent. When a tissue is damaged, a host of endogenous pain inducing substances, for example bradykinin and histamine can be released from the injured tissue. The pain inducing substances can bind to receptors on the sensory nerve terminals and thereby initiate afferent pain signals. Joint pain and myofascial pain can be caused by arthritis, cartilage injury or disease, and other sources. Arthritis is a multifactorial degenerative joint disease, which progresses with age and results in joint stiffness, inflammation, and pain. A joint is formed where two bones meet. The healthy joint bones are lined with spongy cartilage which act as shock absorbers, and the synovial fluid, which is secreted by the synovial membrane lining the joint space, acts as a lubricant that prevents friction. There are two major types of arthritis, osteoarthritis, and rheumatoid arthritis. Osteoarthritis is a condition occurring due to the progressive degeneration and the wearing away of the cartilage (the cushion between the joints), especially at the large joints like the hips and knees. OA begins with the breakdown of cartilage resulting in pain, inflammation, and progressive stiffness in the joint. Joint strengthening through exercise, weight maintenance, and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) can alleviate symptoms. Osteoarthritis is often accompanied by osteoporosis, a condition where the bone calcium resorption occurs due to hormonal imbalance, making the bone more brittle, which may lead to frequent fractures. Rheumatoid arthritis is a prostaglandin-mediated joint disease that leads to irreversible crippling of small joints, especially the fingers and toes. This condition is difficult to handle and only prostaglandin synthetase inhibitors can give some relief to patients. There're a variety of treatments for relief of pain, including formulations administered orally, parenterally, and topically. A popular form of treatment for joint pain and myofascial pain is the topical application of pain relieving ointments which contain menthol. Formulations for topical application can either be water-based or substantially anhydrous. For many applications, anhydrous formulations are preferable because anhydrous formulations will not evaporate like those containing water or alcohol. Anhydrous formulations, therefore, are easier to use in massaging applications. The use of chondroitin and glucosamine in the repair of connective tissue is well known. Muscle injuries and pain, common among athletes and manual laborers, occur in the general population, due to accidents, over-exertion, and/or poor ergodynamic and working conditions. These types of injuries occur often in the neck, arms, hip, back, and shoulders. Chronic pain associated with conditions such as muscle spasms, tendonitis and sciatica is not only very painful to the individual, but is usually very difficult to treat. Chronic muscle pain, which may comprise pain associated with headaches, neck and lower back problems, fibromyalgia, temporomandibular disorders and myofascial pain syndromes, has been described as epidemic. One common type of chronic muscle pain, myofascial pain syndrome, is a neuromuscular dysfunction of skeletal muscle fibers manifested by neuromuscular abnormalities. Examples of such neuromuscular abnormalities include trigger point (TrP) and tender point (TeP) phenomena of various origins. Myofascial pain syndrome is a neuromuscular dysfunction of skeletal muscle fibers manifested by trigger point (TrP) phenomena of various origins and referred phenomena. Inadequate treatment of chronic pain can be debilitating to humans. Conditions involving muscle spasms may result from injury or trauma to the affected muscle or nerve that innervates that muscle. Some conditions involving muscle spasms include lower back and cervical spine syndromes and whiplash injuries. At present, a variety of medicinals are used in an attempt to relieve or correct these conditions associated with chronic pain. These medicinals include muscle relaxants such as methocarbamol, carisoprodol and mephenesin. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory agents such as ibuprofen, aspirin, and indomethacin are also used in conjunction with muscle relaxants for treating muscle spasms, tendonitis and sciatica. However, these medicinals provide, at most, partial relief and do not provide relief considered adequate by most people. Niacin, which is also known as Vitamin B3, is an important biochemical component that acts as a catalyst for cellular reactions and synthesis of important coenzymes such as nicotine adenosine dinucleotide and nicotine adenosine dinucleotide phosphate. These coenzymes play a key role in glycolysis, fatty acid synthesis and in deamination of amino acids.
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