There are several treatments, which are used to treat arthritis.  They make use of natural methods as exercises, massages, or taking nutritional supplements etc, or artificial arthritis treatments for contemplating medications and surgery.

Medication and surgery can cause some side effects and complications in the patient.

The side effects of medications are as given below.
The anti-inflammatory drugs are used for arthritis treatments. The non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs as ibupropane, aspirin, etc, dilute the blood, therefore they are called blood thinners. They may give rise to the complications as blood pressure fluid retention etc. some of them also affect the stomach and cause bleeding ulcers, and changes in the functioning of the stomach.

The steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are used as arthritis treatments in severe cases as a relief from pain. However, as in the normal cases they are very harmful to the body and the different body systems. They have many more disadvantages than the advantages.

The COX-2 drugs, which work as inhibitors for the release of the enzymes that cause the inflammation, can cause the side effects as cardiovascular diseases. However, they have been banned and therefore not used. However, the patients themselves have to be aware and avoid them.

Another class of drugs used for the arthritis treatments are the narcotics. They too are used in the very severe cases. They relieve the patient from pain however; they have very serious effects on the body.

Apart from medications, surgery is another method, which is used in the very advanced stages. However, the surgery would be major one, as it would involve the replacement of the affected bone joint, etc. Moreover, in some cases the condition of the affected part is such that it is important to remove the whole part itself. For example if such a situation arises in a limb, then the necessity to remove the whole limb may arise.

Apart from these major arthritis treatments, the other simpler treatments as well have some side effects.

Use of the nutritional supplements for arthritis treatments, as vitamin D, phosphorous, etc, can give rise to other diseases. The exercises, which are done for getting relief from arthritis also, can have some serious effects as it can increase the damage to the affected joint. In addition, the acupuncture therapy if done by a non-professional or non-qualified person can cause problems as infection, or some other kind of damage to the tissues.