Osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis of the ankle are degenerative diseases that typically get worse as you age. Arthritis occurs when the tissue and bone around the ankle get injured and inflamed. The injury and inflammation often cause the cartilage between the bones in the ankle to deteriorate. This can become a painful condition that can hamper your ability to walk on an ankle. There are a number of natural herbal supplements that you can take to help treat the inflammation and ease the pain and discomfort you feel. Here are three of them.

Chili Peppers

Chili peppers contain an ingredient called capsaicin. Capsaicin is the ingredient that makes chili peppers feel like they are burning your mouth and tongue when you eat them. Capsaicin can be extracted and put into a topical cream, gel, or patch that is applied to your ankle as a heat treatment. A study in Germany showed that capsaicin reduced the neuropathic pain in the majority of those studied. Neuropathic pain is caused by inflammation and injury to the body like in the case of arthritis. An 8% capsaicin pain patch treatment was given to half the participants in the study (the other half received a placebo cream). The participants who received the 8% capsaicin patch reported a decrease in the amount of pain they feel on a scale of 1-5 by an average of 48.4%.

Avocado Soybean Unsaponfiables

Avocado soybean unsaponfiables (ASU) is an oily mixture made of avocado and soybean oil. The oil can be turned into a gel capsule that sufferers of osteoarthritis can take to ease their pain. ASU has been shown to reduce the amount of chemicals in the body that can cause the tissues around the ankle to become inflamed, and it has also been shown to help to protect the synovial cells in the ankle from getting destroyed. The reduced inflammation and the protection of synovial cells can slow down the deterioration of the joints in the ankles and helps limit the amount of the pain a sufferer feels.

Cat's Claw

Cat's claw is an anti-inflammatory herb that some people with rheumatoid arthritis find useful to control their pain. Cat's claw has been shown to reduce the amount of necrosis (tissue death) in joints while stimulating the immune system to further decrease damaging inflammation in the tissue around the ankles and other joints. The herb is extracted from a woody vine that grows in the rain forests of Central and South America. The extract can be made into a pill, tea, and liquid form. A study in 2002 showed that participants who received the extract saw a decrease in the amount of pain they feel by 53.2%.

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