This study, which is in the news today, brings something to mind that happened last year with my father’s knee pain.
The New England Journal of Medicine published a $12.5 million study saying that, for most people, glucosamine and chondroitin do not soothe knee pain much better than a placebo. I know quite a few people who take glucosamine for joint pain.
The supplements are promoted for anyone with joint pain, including people who suffer from the most common type of arthritis, osteoarthritis. According to the study, which followed 1,583 osteoarthritis (also known as degenerative arthritis or degenerative joint disease) patients, glucosamine and chondroitin are broken down during digestion and there’s no evidence that they are incorporated into the deteriorating cartilage that is characteristic of the disease. Before embarking on my personal story about joint pain in the knee and its treatment, you can read the entire (more…)