Unmet needs in Chronic Pain Management: The potential use of Curcumin

Abstract

The ultimate goal of treatment for osteoarthritis can be achieved by modifying disease progression and also symptom reduction. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and cyclooxygenase-2 inhibitors are inflammation and pain management medications that are widely used in osteoarthritis. However, this agent has been linked to have several side effects such as cardio- vascular, gastrointestinal, and kidney. These side effects represent the unmet needs in the safety of existing treatment of osteoarthritis. Such results can be caused by the overlapping functions of COX-1 and COX-2 in physiological and pathophysiological systems. The overlapping functions of COX-1 and COX-2 can be the source of these side effects. The extensive history of the use of curcuminoids and boswellia in pain relief coupled with recent findings shows that this phytochemical can play a direct role in several inflammatory processes and offers strong evidence that this product can slow down cartilage degradation and reduce pain in patients with knee osteoarthritis. Our study indicated that by reducing pain and improving function, while lowering the risk of side effects, curcuminoid formulations might become a useful addition to osteoarthritis patients for pharmacological therapeutic interventions. However, further research is needed with high-quality and large-scale RCT research probably to investigates the synergistic effects of these products with other osteoarthritis treatments.