Alternative Medicine Versus Conventional Therapy IN Management Of Rheumatoid Arthritis And Degenerative Rheumatic Diseases

Chronic arthritis and chronic joint pain are the leading cause of limitation in daily activities and disability among adults. Management of chronic rheumatic conditions usually consists of prescribed medications, physical therapy, and self-management strategies recommended by physicians such as exercise, weight control, use of heat or cold and intermittent rest.Chronically ill patients are living longer with chronic diseases that are more complex to treat. Many of them are returning to complementary medicine, as a part of their frustration with today’s health-care system and they thought that Alternative therapies may offer tools and remedies that, along with mainstream medicine, can influence their overall health.While the use of complementary and alternative medicine continues to increase among patients with persistent musculoskeletal pain, the clinical trials examining their efficacy, safety and mechanism of work are deficient . There for additional researches on efficacy and safety of CAM therapies used by arthritis patients are needed before definitive recommendations of their application.Thus our study aiming to :• Compare the efficacy of conventional medicine with some complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) modalities among patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), knee (OA) and chronic back pain.• Examine the short and long run efficacy of CAM and conventional medicine for managing clinical manifestation in patients with RA, knee OA and chronic back pain.