Chances are you'll know somebody or have a member of your family with some form of arthritis.

Dr Len Rose is Director of the Melbourne Pain Management Clinic. He believes that talking about a cure for arthritis is like talking about a cure for the common cold.

"The fact is that there are multiple factors involved in arthritis, some are them are genetic, some of them are environmental, some of them relate to whether a person's been heavily occupied in sport or other occupations," says Dr Rose.

Alexander Keech is one of the five million Australians with the debilitating disease enduring the pain and swelling for years.

"This is the finger that hasn't worked for 35 years, 35 years and I haven't been able to bend it.
It's a big thing because not being able to use your index finger on your right hand it's a bit of a handicap for writing and everything else," explains Alex.

Dr. Rose says we're inching closer to a cure but until then there's a variety of treatments to choose from.

"The most common treatments are probably the anti-inflammatory group of drugs which has it's own problems. Then together with that you have physical therapies, you've got all of the sort of counselling therapies, so these days we talk about a holistic approach to pain and arthritis. You may even want to consider acupuncture or even hypnosis," says Dr Rose.

There's also this wonder cream from Oz Health which Dr. Rose says delivers stunning results to his patients.

"The cream appears to work really rapidly in some people as quickly as 5 minutes in some patients and I've given it to hundreds of patients if not thousands now over the past 10 years," says Dr Rose.

"Five days after using the cream I could bend me knuckle, went back to chemist they couldn't believe it," says Alex.

After 35 years Alex Keech believes it's changed his life.

"I can write letters, I can get in kitchen, peel the potatoes, get outside and work with hammer and its fantastic, much easier," says Alex

The key is in the ingredients. Glucosamine, chondroitin, peppermint oil and camphor. A scientific study has already proven the cream works.

"Glucosamine appears to be the best non pharmacological treatment we have at the moment and I still believe despite some controversy about glucosamine, it is still one of the safest options we have," says Dr Rose.

Dr. Rose's wife Selina uses the cream for the arthritis in her hands and feet. She says it has advantages over other treatments she's tried.

"Many of the medications I've had to use over the years have caused very bad side effects, then I have to take medication for those side effects, it's like a dog chasing its tail. I don't have that with the cream," says Selina.

In the meantime, Adelaide Agricultural Scientist Brian McLeod says arthritis and many other ailments, like alzheimers, are linked to high protein diets which can cause elevated levels of nitrogen or ammonia in the blood.

"So the side effects that are of course is the kidney and the liver are working overtime so you're gonna get a lot of other diseases or ailments as a result of stressing your organs," says Brian.

Like?

"Like ah kidney failure as you get older, liver failure, liver diseases and of course the big one is with too much nitrogen in your blood, or ammonia in your blood, you get a low immune system," says Brian.

Bryan says consumers are misinformed when it comes to balancing their diet.

"People say to me, well we eat a well-balanced diet, you know we eat lots of salads, well if your salad's made out of green leafy vegetables, then that's a disaster, but if it's made out of coarse type vegetables, then that's great but I mean the real way to lose weight is just to eat less but you still need a balance of protein to carbohydrates," says Brian.

He says the secret to a healthy, longer life, is balancing your diet with protein and carbohydrates and having regular blood tests which monitor minerals and vitamin levels.

"Food is to nourish our bodies and it's involved with our intelligence, it's involved with our brain functions, it's involved with our muscle functions, it's just involved with our whole bodily functions and they need more understanding," concludes Brian.

Oz Health arthritis pain relief cream is available from most pharmacies.