Does Glucosamine/Chondroitin sulfate actually work?

[OakLeaf]

Off the top of my head, I think the only studies that have been done on whether it rebuilds cartilage have concluded that it does rebuild knee cartilage. Studies on other joints have been equivocal or have concluded that it's ineffective.

ETA: here's a summary of one... http://cme.medscape.com/viewarticle/471971
here's another... http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11214126

Joint space and the condition of cartilage correlate poorly with pain, so it's no surprise that results have been mixed on whether glucosamine relieves pain. (The most recent article was in the NYT this week, but it focused on back pain, which has very little relation to cartilage in any case.) But I think that anything that protects your joints is good, whether or not it helps with pain.

I've tried other things (MSM, SAM-e) that have not worked for me, so I doubt it's a placebo effect. (FWIW, SAM-e also drove my blood pressure sky high, but my blood pressure is pretty sensitive to all kinds of things.)


Also, my dog had excellent results in her mobility and manifestations of pain from Adequan (which is an injectable similar to glucosamine), but little if any effect from oral glucosamine. I don't know why there's no injectable for humans, but I doubt the dog was getting a placebo effect (especially considering the shots were IM and not very comfortable for her).