5 natural treatments for rheumatoid arthritis : Guide

Are you or a loved one affected by rheumatoid arthritis, and wondering if there are any truly effective natural treatments?

Which ones are most often recommended for this inflammatory disease? What can you expect from them? Are there any possible side effects? Is one more likely to be effective than others?

I answer these questions about natural treatments for rheumatoid arthritis with my physiotherapist’s hat on, and by researching the international medical literature (links at the end of the article).

Enjoy your reading!

Questions or comments? See you in comments 🙂.

♻️ Last update: July 2023.
👩‍⚖️ Declaration of financial interests: none directly related to the subject. My complete declaration of interest is in the legal notice section.
Written by Nelly Darbois, physiotherapist and scientific editor

Why this article on natural treatments for rheumatoid arthritis?

As a physiotherapist, I am regularly in contact with people suffering from rheumatoid arthritis. Whether it’s for polyarthritis-focused rehabilitation, or more often for another specific health problem that is added to the mix, and for which polyarthritis can also have an impact on physiotherapy management.

In addition to questions about their basic or occasional drug treatment, these people regularly ask my opinion on this or that “grandmother’s recipe”, “natural treatment” or even “miracle cure” they’ve heard about.

For :

• relieve their pain;
• to be able to rebouge better;
• or even cure.

I also know that dozens of people ask every day about the “best natural treatments for polyarthritis”. And that we see everything and its opposite in consumer health magazines and websites.

Finally, 30% to 60% of people with polyarthritis use alternative and complementary therapies (Fernández-Llanio 2016).

That’s why I’ve decided to write this article, in which I take the time to look back at the natural treatments that my rheumatoid arthritis patients and Internet users are most interested in.

How do I know which is the best natural treatment for polyarthritis?

Here are 3 different ways to find out about the relevance and effectiveness of natural treatments for rheumatoid arthritis.

1. Ask those close to you who suffer from rheumatic diseases (polyarthritis if possible)for their opinion and feedback on the question: what natural treatments have they used? For how long?
   • Advantage: you’ll have concrete examples of people you can trust.
   • Disadvantage: you’ll have access to a very small sample of people, not necessarily representative of all people with polyarthritis.
2. Seek the advice of a healthcare professional: general practitioner, rheumatologist, physiotherapist, etc., who can answer your questions in a personalized way, after carrying out an assessment.
   • Advantage: you’ll get advice tailored to your situation from someone who knows your health and lifestyle.
   • Disadvantage: we sometimes come across professionals with very definite opinions on the subject, such as “you can do what you like with that, but I don’t believe in any natural treatment”; or conversely, “my goodness, you can try anything, it won’t do you any harm”. It’s an individual risk/benefit assessment, which I think only you can really weigh up.
3. Consult articles or videos dedicated to the subject and based on professional experience, patient feedback and the recommendations and results of scientific publications on the subject

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By reading this documented article, backed up by my experience as a physiotherapist and my documentary research into natural treatments for polyarthritis, you are therefore opting for the third option 🙂.

The 5 most attractive natural treatments for polyarthritis

When I set about writing this article, I searched the internet for the most frequently typed keywords related to “rheumatoid arthritis” and “natural treatment”.

Unsurprisingly, the 5 main categories of natural treatment associated with polyarthritis for which people search most on the internet are the 5 treatment categories most often cited by my patients.

My patients also often ask my opinion on (para)medical devices such as Revitive Medic, TENS and others. But I’m not sure that everyone puts them in the “natural treatment” category.

So I’m going to take a look at these different natural treatments and give you my reasoned opinion on them.

Where available, I’ll be relying on data from clinical studies. Because yes, even “natural” treatments (such as those based on plants or dietary supplements) are subject to scientific evaluation!

Obviously, my aim is not to impose my opinion on the subject on you. It’s up to you to draw your own conclusions for yourself, depending on whether or not you agree 🙂.

1. Polyarthritis: treatment with plants

Plants are among the most widely studied natural treatments for polyarthritis.

And let’s not forget that some medicines are made from plants! They are made from leaves, flowers, roots, bark or seeds.

Plants can contain various chemical compounds with therapeutic properties. For example, quinine, used to treat malaria, is extracted from the bark of the cinchona tree.

If certain plants taken in sufficient quantity and concentration can have a therapeutic and positive effect… they can also have a negative / undesirable effect, or an interaction with other substances we take, whether we call them ‘plants, phytotherapy or medicine!

Hence the interest in studying their positive and secondary effects.

There’s something to bear in mind when it comes to plants: if you discover a plant that seems to have effective properties for relieving pain or even preventing wear and tear on joints, chances are you’ll turn it into a medicine, just as you did for malaria! By turning it into a drug, we can better control the precise quantity of active substance, and better assess its positive and negative effects.

Here are the names of the plants most often used to relieve the symptoms of polyarthritis:

• turmeric
• German chamomile
• ginger
• ashwagandha
• boswellie
• gum shaft
• devil’s claw (or harpagophytum)
• yarrow
• willow
• nettle
• cinnamon
• birch
• etc. etc. You’ll almost always find a new plant name suggested as effective against polyarthritis when you do your research!

Problem: most people who say that these plants are good for polyarthritis or rheumatism in general don’t say anything at all about the quantity of plant consumed (and in what form) it is reasonable to expect an effect, and the precise nature of the effect!

The Cochrane Collaboration is an international association of research teams. It seeks to rigorously assess the efficacy of treatments that are popular with patients, by evaluating the quality of the evidence on which they are based: is it reasonable to expect an effect?

And it did so in 2011, for certain plants used to treat rheumatoid arthritis.

Here are his conclusions:

Several herbal treatments are not sufficiently supported by individual or non-comparable studies in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. There is moderate evidence that oils containing gamma-linolenic acid (evening primrose, borage or blackcurrant seed oil) offer some relief from the symptoms of polyarthritis, while the evidence for Phytodolor® is less convincing.
Products based on Tripterygium wilfordii may reduce some RA symptoms, but oral use may entail a number of side effects.
Many trials of herbal therapies are hampered by flaws in research design and inadequate reporting.

Cochrane 2011

Here are the quantities of oil needed to have an effect:

• Tripterygium wilfordii (also known as Lei gong teng or divine thunder vine): 180 mg – 350 mg daily (possible side effects: painful menstruation in women, reduced fertility in men, insufficient excretion of urine and increased rate of infections).
• no information on quantities of other substances

Why in oil form and not by “naturally” consuming the plant? Because oils make it possible to control the precise quantity (and probably also to increase the quantity of active substance ingested for a smaller quantity of plant consumed). As a result, we know better what positive and negative effects to expect.

My conclusion: consuming herbs in the form of herbal teas or in the diet, without knowing precisely how much is being consumed, is not something I would recommend to hope to relieve symptoms of polyarthritis. Where there’s a potential positive effect, there’s also a potential negative effect, even if the thing consumed is in its natural state.

2. Food supplement for rheumatoid arthritis

The advantage of dietary supplements is that we normally know the quantity of active substance in them. So it’s potentially easier to test their efficacy and safety (are they dangerous?).

Here again, you’ll find a long list of dietary supplements suggested for polyarthritis and inflammatory diseases. Some are plant-based.

Several nutrients and food components interact with the immune system and could therefore theoretically affect disease activity in RA. Provided, once again, that they are consumed in sufficient quantities…

Here are the names of the food supplements most frequently used in cases of polyarthritis:

• glucosamine
• chondroitin
• calcium,
• vitamin D
• iron
• omega-3 (fish oil)
• Avocado and soy unsaponifiables
• methylsulfonylmethane (MSM)
• SAM-e (S-adenosyl-L-methionine)
• probiotics
• etc. etc. You’ll almost always find a new name for a dietary supplement suggested as effective against polyarthritis when you do your research!

Like any substance, if a dietary supplement can have a positive effect on symptoms or disease in polyarthritis, it can also :

• cause side effects;

• interact inappropriately with other treatments.

Unfortunately, you can’t have one without the other.

Two recent publications have looked specifically at the question of available evidence on dietary supplements and rheumatoid arthritis. Here are their conclusions.

Evidence was considered moderate to support that Mediterranean diet, ginger powder, cinnamon, saffron, quercetin, ubiquinone and probiotics containing L. casei reduce DAS28 score in RA. The evidence was considered moderate to support that cranberry juice, folic acid and alpha-lipoic acid do not reduce the DAS28 score in RA.
Most results have never been confirmed by subsequent trials, which limits the strength of the evidence. Consequently, there is a strong need to confirm previous positive results in order to conclude whether diet or dietary supplements can be used as adjuvant therapies to reduce disease activity in RA.

Nelson 2020

And a more recent one:

Exposures that have been evaluated by multiple, well-conducted studies (omega-3 for rheumatoid arthritis) have been classified as moderate evidence of weak effects on disease progression.

(…) There is no high-level proof.

Gwinnutt 2022

What do I personally get out of all this?

To make good decisions based on science, it’s important to consider all the studies. Including those that are skeptical and don’t find convincing results for a certain intervention. This enables us to assess the evidence more objectively and minimize potential influences linked to financial interests or research bias.

Studies that find positive results are more likely to be published than those that find nothing of interest. It’s a well-known fact: publication bias.

So, by giving more credence to skeptical studies, we avoid relying solely on studies that might be biased.

My conclusion: in view of the poor quality of the evidence available, and the conflicting results in publications of even higher quality, dietary supplements do not seem to me to be a good natural treatment option for rheumatoid arthritis at the moment.

For those of you who would still like to give it a try, in my opinion you would need at least :

• Priority testing of the supplements most likely to be effective in the studies cited here;
• check that there are no negative drug interactions with other treatments you are already taking (for example, by asking your rheumatologist for advice);
• know exactly how much you’re taking ;
• evaluate before and after treatment pain (by quantifying it) or another symptom on which you hope to have an effect.

3. Homeopathy for polyarthritis

You’ll always find healthcare professionals extolling the virtues of homeopathy. You’ll find many recommendations for granules to take against polyarthritis: Belladonna 5 CH, Apis Mellifica 5 CH or 7 CH, Natrum muriaticum 9 or 12 CH, Rhus toxicodendron 7 CH, Bryonia 7CH, Bryonia alba 7 CH, rhus toxicodendron 7 CH, ferrum phosphoricum 7 CH, etc. (Just about every site quotes a different homeopathic remedy.)

Here’s my position on the subject, in general, and then more specifically in relation to polyarthritis.

Homeopathy is implausible.“Plausible” means that something appears to be reasonable or credible, in accordance with established knowledge and principles. When an idea or hypothesis is implausible, it means that it is not consistent with what we already know and can be considered unlikely or probable.

Why is homeopathy implausible? Because the fundamental principles of homeopathy, such as extreme dilution of active substances and the principle of similitude (treating like with like), run counter to the established knowledge and laws of chemistry, pharmacology and biology. The extreme dilutions used in homeopathy often mean that no active molecules remain in the finished products. This contradicts well-established scientific principles.

A few studies have been carried out to assess the effect of homeopathy on rheumatoid arthritis sufferers. Most were carried out in the mid-20th century.

Studies showing positive results for homeopathy have methodological flaws, poor sampling, selection bias or design problems that make them unreliable.

What’s more, studies with positive results are more likely to be published than those with negative or non-significant results, distorting the overall perception of the evidence. This is known as publication bias.

So how do you explain the fact that some people feel a real improvement thanks to homeopathy (a feeling that cannot be denied, of course)? Here’s an explanation from a research team studying alternative and complementary medicine:

Homeopathic intervention in patients with chronic, active but relatively stable rheumatoid arthritis has significant clinical benefits that are attributable primarily to the homeopathic consultation process. The homeopathic remedies themselves do not appear to provide any specific benefits.
Although no significant differences between the groups were observed for any of the primary outcomes, statistically significant and clinically relevant improvements were observed in patients who received consultations for some equally valid and relevant secondary outcomes.

Brien 2011

My conclusion: I do not recommend homeopathy for rheumatoid arthritis. On the other hand, the plausibility of adverse effects is also very low.

4. Anti-inflammatory diets for polyarthritis

I’ve already devoted an entire article to the link between anti-inflammatory food, diet, youth and rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

Here are the 3 key points of this article:

1. In any case, the evidence is of low quality, as it is difficult to assess the efficacy of a diet independently of the other things people do. The diet for which the data are most favorable is the Mediterranean diet. If there is an effect, it’s small, of the order of a 10% reduction in pain.
2. There is really no good evidence in favor of the gluten-free diet in RA (without associated celiac disease). Just like the Seignalet diet or intermittent fasting.
3. All diets have the potential to cause weight gain or loss. In some cases, this can be considered a side effect. This is something to bear in mind when trying to assess the benefit-risk balance for yourself.

My conclusion: there’s no point in turning to anti-inflammatory or gluten-free diets. Why not try a diet closer to the Mediterranean diet, even if it’s very difficult to assess the effect analytically, and if there is an effect, it’s likely to be very small.

5. Cannabidiol for rheumatoid arthritis

I’ve also devoted an entire article to the benefits and limitations of CBD in rheumatoid arthritis.

This is what I usually say to patients who ask for my opinion on CBD:

• compared to other substances (homeopathy, Bach flowers, etc.), it is more reasonable to think that CBD may have a small effect on pain;
• there are few studies on the subject;
• the rare studies show no superior effect to a placebo;
• On the other hand, we know that there are few serious side effects associated with CBD consumption.

What’s the best natural treatment for polyarthritis?

When we think of “natural treatment”, we mostly think of things that :

• are easy to find;
• without a prescription;
• require little effort: simply swallow something.

This is also the case with the 5 natural treatments for polyarthritis I’ve described. But there are many other natural treatments in the sense of being drug-free.

Here’s an overview:

Which of the 5 natural treatments for polyarthritis is the most widely accepted?

Physical activity.

Physical activity and exercise in polyarthritis are effective non-pharmacological interventions for certain outcomes, such as hand function, muscle strength and fatigue, without worsening pain, disease activity and radiological damage.

Küçükdeveci 2023

Based on our study, we found that increasing physical activity and aerobic exercise increased overall well-being and decreased inflammatory load, which would ultimately have a positive impact on cognitive function (in people with polyarthritis).

Akram 2021

Similarities were found between the obstacles specific to polyarthritis and the benefits of physical activity and exercise. For example, pain and fatigue are frequently mentioned as obstacles, but pain and fatigue reduction are perceived as benefits of physical activity and exercise. Even if exercise does not influence the existence of obstacles, physically active patients seem better able to overcome them.

Jet J C S Veldhuijzen van Zanten 2015

What type of physical activity specifically? At what frequency and intensity?

For rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients to derive maximum benefit, different exercise methods need to be selected according to symptoms. For RA patients, any exercise is preferable to no exercise, but the intensity, frequency and duration of exercise for best results are not determined.

Hu 2021

When studies look at the effect of physical activity on polyarthritis and its side effects, they report no significant side effects (Ye 2022).

In the absence of specific physical activity recommendations for people with polyarthritis, the general recommendations apply:

• physical activity of moderate to intense intensity. In other words, an activity that requires you to be slightly out of breath or even very out of breath;
• for at least 150 minutes a week
• Ideally, this should be spread over several days of the week.

If you can’t get into the habit of physical activity on your own, there are plenty of professionals to help you: physiotherapists, adapted physical activity teachers, sports trainers, group sports courses run by associations, stays in rehabilitation centers, day hospitals, smartphone applications, and so on.

Conclusion on natural treatments for rheumatoid arthritis

This is what I say today to my patients seeking natural solutions for polyarthritis:

1. the natural treatment most likely to improve your symptoms and well-being is exercise. Take the time, at least 3 times a week, to make a physical effort for a few tens of minutes that leaves you a little out of breath. I adapt the suggested activity to suit my patients. Do it gradually, so as not to increase the pain.
2. you shouldn’t expect a phenomenal improvement. But symptoms can also go away on their own, or never get worse, whatever you do! And you can enjoy the other physical and mental health benefits of exercise.

In general, my patients very often ask my advice on ointments to apply, herbs or food supplements available in pharmacies, homeopathy, acupuncture and so on. Depending on how they formulate their question, I give them more or less detailed answers.

I tell them that I completely understand why they want to turn to this type of solution, because it’s very easy to implement. But to date, we can’t expect it to be effective on polyarthritis. And if there is an effect on pain or other symptoms, it will be weak, and probably more related to the placebo effect.

Of course, the final decision rests with the person who is bothered by his or her arthritis (you!), based on the information that most appeals to you!

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More questions? Any comments? See you in comments!