If you have osteoarthritis in the knee, you may be able to cut your risk of a knee replacement by half if you take ,say Belgian researchers from the University of Liege.
Glucosamine not only lowers the risk of knee replacement surgery, it also leads to less use of pain medication.
Their study followed up on 275 patients with osteoarthritis of the knee who either supplemented with glucosamine sulfate ora placebo for at least 12 months and up to three years in a previous study.Within five years, the researchers found twice as many total knee replacement surgeries had occurred in the placebo group compared to the group of patients who had taken glucosamine sulfate.
Furthermore, the researchers found that those who had taken glucosamine sulfate had less use of medications used to alleviate symptoms and less use of other health resources in general. The authors conclude, "Treatment of knee[osteoarthritis] with glucosamine sulphate for at least12 months and up to 3 years may prevent total joint replacement in an average follow-up of 5 years after drug discontinuation.
