Joint Pain: Causes, Treatments, and What Works Best

When your joint pain, discomfort or inflammation in the areas where two bones meet, often caused by wear, injury, or disease. Also known as arthralgia, it can turn simple movements into challenges—climbing stairs, opening a jar, or even getting out of bed. It’s not just aging. Joint pain shows up in people in their 30s, 40s, and even younger, often linked to something deeper than "just getting older."

One common cause is peripheral neuropathy, nerve damage that often causes burning or tingling, usually in the feet, but can also trigger joint discomfort as muscles weaken and movement changes. It’s not the joint itself breaking down—it’s the nerves sending wrong signals, making your knee or ankle feel like it’s on fire. Diabetes is the top culprit, but chemo, vitamin B12 deficiency, and even long-term alcohol use can do it too. Then there’s gout treatment, a targeted approach to lowering uric acid to stop painful crystal buildup in joints, especially the big toe. Gout doesn’t just hurt—it flares suddenly, often at night, and can leave joints swollen and red for days. And while arthritis gets all the attention, many people with joint pain actually have neuropathic pain, a type of nerve-related pain that doesn’t respond to typical NSAIDs and needs different meds like gabapentin or pregabalin.

What works? It depends on what’s driving the pain. If it’s inflammation from arthritis, NSAIDs might help—but not if your kidneys are weak or you’re on blood thinners. If it’s nerve-related, you need drugs that calm the nerves, not just reduce swelling. Physical therapy, weight management, and even simple foot care can make a bigger difference than you think. And if you’re taking something like febuxostat for gout or pregabalin for nerve pain, you need to know how it interacts with other meds—like grapefruit juice or antidepressants—because side effects can sneak up on you.

There’s no one-size-fits-all fix. What helps one person might do nothing—or even make things worse—for another. That’s why the best approach starts with understanding the root cause, not just masking the symptom. Below, you’ll find real, evidence-based guides on what actually works for joint pain, from the meds that target nerve damage to the lifestyle changes that reduce flare-ups. No fluff. No guesses. Just what the data says.