I'm going to echo the endorsement of glucosamine. I buy a store brand of 1500 mg of glucosamine and 1500 mg of chondrotin (or however it is spelled!). It works very well. I found a trial study on the effect of using glucosamine. Here's the website:
http://nccam.nih.gov/research/results/gait/qa.htm#c1 You can scroll down the page to see a summary of the results.
Also a hearty hear! hear! for arthritis gloves. I had to look hard for mine since my arthritis is in the second knuckles of my hand (the ones closest to the tip of the fingers) and most gloves only cover the first knuckles. The warmth and pressure from the gloves is wonderful.