Short story: Hurt knee. Wife is pushing Glucosamine on me. The bottle has the “These statements have not been evaluated…” message, which to me is an instant Bullshit trigger.
Does the stuff actually work or have any value at all? Anybody take it? Does it help you?
Post your thoughts here, please!
Don’t bother with advice to see a doctor, can’t , won’t. But I did send an email to one. 
I take it, because I do squats, and my knees “click” when I get really low. I don’t know if it has made a difference, but my squat depth is better than it was and my knees don’t click any more than they used to.
So, I’d say: Probably BS, but possibly marginally effective.
I have a gym friend who swears by hyaluronic acid. I haven’t tried that.
Can we add “chondroitin” to OP’s question? I always see glucosamine and chondroitin together. The very word “chondroitin” sounds nerdy to me.
My orthopedist recommended it many years ago. I tried it and didn’t notice a difference, so I stopped.
We’re giving it to the dog, too. Doesn’t seem to be helping him, either. At least he hasn’t mentioned it.
Same. Two bad knees and two bad ankles, and it doesn’t seem to make any difference.
What I recall an ortho doc telling me (~15 years ago): glucosamine works for some people and not others. If it works for you, great, if you try it for a few weeks and nothing happens, you’re one of the people it doesn’t work for.
As for chondroitin, he said don’t bother. Apparently the molecule is pretty big and therefore absorption through the stomach lining is poor.
This is rather old, but I know Harriet Hall (the “Skepdoc”) and she is a source I rely on. For those who don’t want to read the articles:
My mom and several of her kin take it for arthritis, and they say it works for them. More than that, I dunno.
My wife has bad knees (and bad ankles, and a bad hip). She’s taken glucosamine religiously for over a decade, and she swears by it. She might be one of those for whom it actually works, as per Tierce’s post, or it might be a placebo effect, but she’s convinced it’s made a difference for her.
Well, there’s enough positive and quasi-positive responses here to suggest that it may be worth a try at the very least. I think I’ll just do that then, for maybe a month or two and see what happens. If it works, I for one could sure use it.
I have half a bottle around here somewhere, that my woo-ful cousin gave me a year or so ago. He’s so into a lot of woo type stuff, though, I always let his advice go in one ear and out the other.
nm
Dr. Hall’s rather blah assessment seems on target based on clinical trials and my own (and dog’s) lack of benefit.
I also don’t see any harm in a limited trial (it’s fairly expensive, so if there’s no effect after a few weeks, I’d give up on it).
To be clear, I know of no identified genetic or clinical characteristics which would make the stuff work for some but not others. Placebo effect seems the most likely explanation. And the usual timeline for “effective” placebos is they stop working after awhile and the user goes on to different placebos which may or may not appear to work.
My mom swears by it, but it could be placebo effect. I tried it and it did nothing for me.
It works for me, and it’s no placebo effect. I was a catcher for 20 years (still am, actually) and my left knee used to audibly crackle when I stood up. It used to ache after two hours in a car or a plane. No more. My Stanford MD recommended it to me.
Completely anecdotal, of course, but it worked well for my old labrador. We had a pot of powder from which we’d add a scoop to her food. All would be fine. If she couldn’t jump into the back of the car, we’d realise the powder was finished and we’d forgotten to get a new pot. The difference was that clear: if the pot had been finished a few days, she couldn’t jump into the car. She’d just stand there miserably staring at you, the poor thing. And it’s not like she could know why her joints weren’t working.
With the glucosamine, she jumped into the back of the car until she was 15 years old and we only had to lift her right at the very end.
My mom used it for her osteoarthritic knees. She swore it helped, and always nagged me to start. Of course, it didn’t prevent the inevitable knee replacements. So take that as you will.
But to take another tack: not about the supplements or your knees, but your marriage. Do you really believe your wife will stop nagging you because you found a bunch of anonymous internet strangers to tell you that you don’t need it?
If you’re planning to say “no”, that may be just the first step in your journey.
I’m not saying appeasement is the best answer; it’s a question of balancing costs and benefits. Say “no” and expect to have to keep saying “no” until she gives up? What if she doesn’t? (My wife doesn’t.) Say “yes” and you’re not being nagged about the matter any more. If the supplement isn’t objectively harmful, it’s at worst effects-neutral and a slight cost of living increase (the price of buying the supplements).
IMHO, Something to consider.
Too late to edit, but this bit of my last post is probably beyond the parameters of the original question, so feel free to disregard if you wish. I mean, these are clearly matters you need to consider, but they’re not what you asked about.
I just fell prey to the habit of asking about the entire issue rather than the question that was asked. I never color inside the lines.
And it appeared to work not at all for my older Labrador (for whom an NSAID provided substantial relief).
Maybe your Lab was more prone to placebo effecct. :dubious:
From a systematic review published last month:
“CONCLUSIONS:
The overall analysis including all trials showed that supplements provided moderate and clinically meaningful treatment effects on pain and function in patients with hand, hip or knee osteoarthritis at short term, although the quality of evidence was very low. Some supplements with a limited number of studies and participants suggested large treatment effects, while widely used supplements such as glucosamine and chondroitin were either ineffective or showed small and arguably clinically unimportant treatment effects. Supplements had no clinically important effects on pain and function at medium-term and long-term follow-ups.”
Further note: claims have been/are being made that particular formulations of glucosamine/chondroitin are markedly superior in bioavailability/effectiveness. Evidence for these claims is hardly overwhelming.
I was diagnosed with arthritis in my left thumb (CMC joint space and trapezium joint space) about 6 months ago. It began hurting like hell out of the blue, leading to a doctor visit and xray.
My doctor suggested NSAIDs, which I did not take due to the amount of alcohol I consume. A few friends suggested Glucosamine/Chondroitan, which I researched and did not pursue due to what I read.
But, had I begun Glucosamine/Chondroitan I would today be singing its praises because the thumb stopped hurting out of the blue. Sometimes pain waxes/wanes/whatever, leading people to think that therapy has been responsible for improvement.
TLDR: **Correlation does not imply causation. **