Jeanne Videau has suffered from arthritis pain in her knees for 10 years and like so many others, she turns to over-the-counter pain relievers.

“I take pain pills and a lot of times I don't take them because they make you drowsy and sometimes it's not worth it unless it's time to go to sleep or rest but a lot of time I just deal with the pain," says Jeanne. 

Now Jeanne is trying to get rid of her pain while at the same time helping doctors learn if a new gel being tested works.

"The drug is very interesting,” he said. “It is actually a cream that they apply directly to the knee and it penetrates into the joint and very little if any gets into the blood stream which means that very few side effects occur as a result of the anti-inflammatory medication being delivered," said Dr. Michael Biunno, Medical Director of Louisiana Research Associates.

The group is one of the test sites for a first of its kind anti-inflammatory medicine that you rub on. It's the same anti-inflammatory medicine that is in a pill that people take now for arthritis pain, but it's now being tested only on one joint in gel form in hopes of getting FDA approval.

"It's just the knee at this point, says Dr. Biunno. "They are studying knees. It could either be one knee or both knees. We usually choose the most painful knee as the study knee."

Doctors say you can still be in the study if you are taking pain medication. They will take x-rays of your knees as part of the 8-week clinical trial. Some people will get the real medication and others will get a placebo so doctors can compare results.

You will be also asked to call a hotline and record how much relief your are getting. Jeanne hopes doctors and science will gain valuable information from her participation.

"It is a lot of comfort in knowing that what you're doing could help someone else," says Jeanne.