<p>I’m curious–is anyone out there with experience, or medical information, willing to share about these things? My brother (snowboarder/marathoner who was diagnosed with arthritic knees 5 years ago and is still running/snowboarding avidly with no knee pain) and a friend both swear by them. My physician says there’s no proof they do anything. I recently had some fairly noticeable knee pain and thought “Oh no, this is the beginning of the end (of running)”. I started taking the tablets about 10 days ago, and wore a knee support on one run. Now the knee pain is completely gone. Maybe it was just a sprain though, and not arthritis as I feared (I’ve been running for about 30 years). Would appreciate knowing if other people swear by this stuff too, or don’t think it does anything, or if there are any cautions or anything.</p>
<p>My H is a rheumatologist who says the same as your MD…no proof that it helps. He tells his patients to go ahead and take it if they want and yeah! if they feel better. His mother has been on it for years and swears by it! Now that my knees are beginning to give me trouble, we shall see whether he endorses it for me.</p>
<p>My hubby is a scientist. He always swears by research and hates taking any kind of medications. His mom convinced him to try glucosomine for his arthritic knees. He resisted for a long time but loves playing soccer and was thinking he was going to have to give it up. He checked with our family physician who agreed there was no evidence to support it but also said that he wouldn’t hurt anything to try it. He has been on it for 2-3 years now and thinks it has made a huge difference. He used to wear 2 knee braces when he played soccer and still had pain at the end of the games. Now he wears one, rarely has pain, and sometimes for gets to wear the one, with no ill effects. It is probably the first time I have ever heard him say “Forget the research…!” :)</p>
<p>my dog takes glucosamine and it has helped her a lot
I also take it- as it is a food supplement the quality is variable- I have found good results from Schiff.
I have mild arthritis and I work out quite a bit-however I dont run- I don’t even use the treadmill- I don’t do anything that puts a lot of stress on my knees( after much trial & error)- I use the rowing machine and the bicycle and I x-country ski & swim- no going over jumps ;)</p>
<p>from Google scholar ( JAMA has also published research of evidence that it helps)
However- there are indications that it may contribute to increased insulin resistance- so if you are diabetic or prediabetic you should consult your dr
<a href=“http://www.healingdaily.com/conditions/glucosamine.htm[/url]”>http://www.healingdaily.com/conditions/glucosamine.htm</a></p>
<p>( I would also look into orthotics & make sure that you do weight training as well to build the muscles that support the knee as much as you can if you want to continue running)</p>
<p>I take it, too. Normally my nursing training wins out & I would only accept clinically proven remedies. But so many dancers I know had raved about the miracle cure that I tried it (after reading that it would at least do no harm.) It works. I don’t know how or why, but it does.</p>
<p>My coworker’s wife is a pharmacist, and several years ago she had a severe injury to her finger bones that the doctor said might never heal properly. She took it and the injury did heal properly, and she feels that it helped her. She is also normally skeptical of such types of treatments. More recently, our boss broke his collarbone and we suggested to him to take it too, as there was some chance of it not healing properly and, in that case, needing surgery. His doctor told him he does not know if it helps, but it couldn’t hurt, so he is taking it too.</p>
<p>patient - thanks for posting the question I’ve been wondering about for some time. My knees are feeling the effects of years of running around on hard surface tennis courts. I may have to give this a try!!</p>
<p>also please consider the insoles in your shoes
if your feet are misaligned no amount of supplement will help your knees
My daughter who is on the track team and was having knee injury- had these recommended by her doctor and they help her a lot
<a href=“http://www.superfeet.com/[/url]”>http://www.superfeet.com/</a></p>
<p>These are extended chain sugar molecules. They do not cause the regrowth of cartilage but in half or more of the patients who take it there is considerable lesening of pain. Is this placebo or a chemical effect that is not understood? I have had one diabetic patient who had to stop it because of an effect upon her blood sugar.</p>
<p>My husband took it for some back and joint pains in his knees. He coupled that routine with some good stretching and new exercises, and hasn’t had a pain recurrance (knock wood). </p>
<p>Maybe it is the placebo effect…wouldn’t surprise me, but I am just glad he feels better!</p>
<p>WARNING: My doctor recommended this to me without ever asking if I was allergic to shellfish. Luckily, I read the label on the bottle before buying it. One of these supplements (can’t remember which) is made from shellfish, which can be a life-threatening allergy for some people. My sister-in-law who is a neurologist recommended this to a patient and was thrilled with the results. When I mentioned that I couldn’t take it because of my allergy, she literally turned pale. She, too, had no idea, and hadn’t considered that before casually recommending it to her patient.</p>
<p>My daughter was complaining of knee pain last year and her doctor suggested she increase her quadriceps workout when she went to the gym. She concentrated on strengthening those muscles which really helped support her knees and the pain stopped altogether. </p>
<p>I have used glucosamine in the past when I experienced knee pain from playing lots of tennis. I took glucosamine and ibuprofen and got quite a bit of relief. My understanding was that the glucosamine potentiated the ibuprofen, as the glucosamine acts to repair bone and cartilage damage while the ibuprofen supplies the pain relief.</p>
<p>emeraldkity4,</p>
<p>My dog also takes daily glucosamine for bad elbows and it has worked wonders!</p>
<p>They told us the operation was $4,000 per elbow with a 50/50 success rate.</p>
<p>Needless to say, the glucosamine is much cheaper.</p>
<p>You can add my name to the list of people who have given glucosamine to their aging dog with wonderful results. I haven’t tried it myself, but I might be checking in with you again at the end of this year’s ski season.</p>
<p>I took this combo for awhile. Sometimes it takes as long as three months before you begin to see results. My joints felt great and I didn’t miss Vioxx anymore.</p>
<p>However, I developed severe nosebleeds and learned that g/c can thin the blood and that is probably why I was getting such terrible nosebleeds. So, I had to stop using it. Once I stopped, the nosebleeds stopped. </p>
<p>Now, I am just in pain most of the time . . .</p>
<p>My brother is an orthopedic surgeon. He is in same camp as above Drs. He says no scientific evidence, but it probably won’t hurt you. Possibly placebo effect? I too have dogs on it, but I don’t know that I can tell any difference–they are very arthritic, perhaps if started it earlier?</p>
<p>well it can hurt you if you shouldn’t take it
shellfish allergies and predeposition to diabetes are contraindication
There also has been scientific evidence saying that for those who can take it- it could be helpful</p>
<p>It is conflicting- but it appears that if you take enough of a quality product the odds are good that you will see relief
that is if you beleive studies cited in teh Journal of American Medicine 
<a href=“http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/283/11/1469[/url]”>http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/283/11/1469</a></p>
<p>Ditto a few of the posters above - I started my 11 year old dog on it last year. She had been taking an arthritis medicine with no results. She was “bunny hopping” and could hardly go up the stairs and could not jump up on the couch. After about a month I saw such dramatic results! She now jumps up on the furniture and runs like a puppy. I started taking it too for my knees and am feeling no more pain at jazzercise. Maybe it’s placebo effect in humans - but it seems to work for almost everyone I know.</p>
<p>Another disbeliever turned believer. Husband has very bad knees. He originally heard about it from his orthopedic surgeon who recommended it as long as he took one of the “quality” products (read more expensive). His second opinion orthopedic surgeon said doesn’t do any good and just a waste of money but it won’t hurt and it’s your money to waste. He has used it for three years with two bouts of being off it. He swears by it. His step-dad could barely make it up the steps to his trailer and now he takes it and is currently helping his trailer park build a storage/community kitchen building with no soreness. </p>
<p>At vets suggestion, we put my 13 year old dog on it. Poor baby had great difficulty getting around and now he’s chasing our other dog all around and back to jumping up on our bed (I could do without that part). One thing I know, our dog doesn’t really understand concept of placebo and it seems to work for him.</p>
<p>KenJ’sMom, you might consider omega 3 fatty acids (fish oil). I have a severely arthritic hip joint – the only arthritic joint in my body – and I will probably have joint replacement surgery this coming year. I really should have had it this summer, but I keep hoping for a cure! I find that I can control the pain and have increased mobility with ibuprofen and a lot of fish oil. I take about 4 grams a day, of a high quality product I order over the internet. I stopped taking it for a while over the summer, and really felt tremendous pain. When I resumed taking the fish oil, I felt better in about 2 days. I can PM the link for the product I use if you are interested.</p>
<p>By the way, I think I’ll try the glucosamine again, based on all of these good reports. I used it for a while when I was first diagnosed with the problem with my hip, but didn’t notice a difference. But I’ll try anything that will help until I schedule surgery.</p>