Clinically fundamental: As a short-term intervention, oral and intramuscular glucosamine is associated with pain relief and symptomatic in patients with arthritis. Glucosamine appears to be similar in efficacy to NSAIDs, but long-term interventions are needed to establish the efficacy and adverse effects.
Joint Support Formula - Glucosamine Chondroitin, Turmeric, MSM & Boswellia - Complete Joint Relief Supplement for Men & Women (60 Veggie Capsules)
Glucosamine is a treatment that does not require a prescription and is available to relieve pain and symptoms related to arthritis.
Systematic review
Moore RA. Glucosamine and arthritis. Bandolier 46; 1998
Outcome variables: pain, swelling, days elapsed until improvement, response to treatment
The inclusion criteria were controlled and randomized clinical trials of oral or intramuscular glucosamine as a treatment for arthritis; comparisons with placebo or active treatment. We summarized the findings of the original articles, and where possible, we calculated the relative benefits and numbers needed to treat with 95% confidence intervals using the response rates for the active and placebo groups on variables related to pain.
Findings
All included studies evaluated oral and / or intramuscular glucosamine in patients with arthritis for up to eight weeks. Six studies were double blind, and two were not masked. The studies included patients with osteoarthritis or gonarthrosis. Oral doses of glucosamine were 1.5 g / day, and intramuscular doses of 400 mg twice to three times a week.
Dichotomous data were obtained to calculate the relative benefits and numbers needed to treat. The types of variables that could be obtained varied between the studies, and included pain assessment, symptomatic relief, response to treatment. These variables were taken between 3 and 8 weeks
.
Placebo-controlled trials
Five trials demonstrated significant beneficial effects of glucosamine versus placebo. Three of them presented a significant relative benefit, and a global number needed to treat 5.0 (3.5 to 8.9) for short-term pain reduction benefits compared to placebo.
Controlled trials with active treatment
Three studies compared glucosamine with NSAIDs. Two trials compared 1.2 g / day of ibuprofen with oral glucosamine in 239 patients, and found no significant differences. The third study compared intramuscular glucosamine with intramuscular phenylbutazone, but did not show significant results.
Adverse effects
Few adverse effects or dropouts from these studies were found. They tended to occur less frequently in patients with glucosamine than in those in the NSAID group. A large non-masked study with 1208 patients taking oral glucosamine at a dose of 1.5 g / day for 13 to 99 days presented 28 patients who discontinued treatment due to adverse effects. The adverse effects that were found in more than 1% of the patients were epigastric pain / discomfort, heartburn, diarrhea, and nausea.