I hope this may be informative, maybe even helpful. I've never been one to take much notice of complementary health products, but, then, until now, I 've never had any reason to do so.

My daily wakening but short-lived lower back stiffness took a big leap about three months ago, resulting in unbearable searing pain across my back and down my legs. It left me immoblie when it struck, leading me to believe I had developed sciatica. Fortunately, the UK National Health Service meant that an MRI scan was available within a few days, and this determined that I actually had developed arthritis in the lower lumbar area of my spine. Not curable, but the pain it caused could be managed.

Knowledge was one thing, treatment was another, and all my GP could offer was extra strong cocodamol. Ibuprofen wasn't an option because of its adverse effect on the kidneys. The cocodamol prescribed left me drowsy and constipated, so not really even a short term solution. Time for research into my condition.  

A lot of misleading claims about the effectiveness of various essntially massaging aids and of various medicinal supplements, but, thankfully, one anti-inflammatory supplement called curcumin did appear to have beneficial effects - a claim backed up by a number of testing programmes and by many user reviews. So I started taking it in capsule form, one a day, each containing 500 mg of curcumin and 2 mg of piperine (black pepper that significantly improves absorption). 

Results so far have been good. I still take painkillers but nothing more than paracetamol, the curcumin is taking care of the majority of the pain. That's one side of it, the pain control. I also wanted to see if I could find something that would prevent or at least slow down the growth of the arthritis. More research, and I'm about to complement my curcumin with someting called boswellia. Again research and testing suggest that the combination of these two supplements aids the management of joint pain and also assists joint suppleness. 

As I have had and want to continue to have a fairly active life - dancing various genres and predominantly modern jive being the main components - I'm pleased to say that so far my remedies are working well. I still think I can do better, though, so I will continue to explore.