This is one of the most common refrains from joint and muscle pain sufferers. We’ve all heard the advice and seen the advertisements on TV explaining that the best way to deal with many common ailments is to stay active. Problem is, for many of us, it does not matter how much ibuprofen, acetaminophen, naproxen or any other NSAID drug we take it just isn’t that easy.

Musculoskeletal pain, arthritis and degenerative diseases not only affect people physically but they also take a mental toll. Telling a sufferer to “just exercise” is similar to telling a smoker to “just quit” or an overweight person to “just stop eating” so much. Unfortunately, life ain’t that easy. Nonetheless this type of simplistic advice gets repeated constantly.

So what are joint and muscle pain folks to do? Keep getting depressed that they can’t follow the advice constantly being thrown at them, or is there a different way? Surely some of our JPT readers have been able to find alternative treatments or realistic lifestyle changes to help them. Please share. It must be understood that a one size fits all approach to helping joint/muscle pain patients will never exist, nonetheless, simply knowing that other treatment options are available will hopefully be helpful. Please tell us your story. Thanks.