Health Benefits Center

My Amazing Arthritis Pain Relief

healthylivinghomeremedies.com Arthritis treatments a 'waste of money' Not according to people who have found an alternative. TWO popular treatments for joint pain used by millions of people globally are a waste of money, says a study published in the British Medical Journal. The supplements, glucosamine and chondroitin, can be taken either on their own or in combination to reduce pain caused by osteoarthritis in hips and knees. But a major review found that compared to placebos, they did not reduce joint pain or impact the narrowing of joint space — a symptom of osteoarthritis. The findings were the same when the two products were taken together. The researchers, led by Professor Peter Jueni at the University of Bern in Switzerland, said that after reviewing 10 studies involving more than 3800 people, they decided the supplements were ineffective. They said while the products were not dangerous for patients who keep taking them if they perceive benefits, ''health authorities and health insurers should not cover the costs for these preparations, and new prescriptions to patients who have not received treatment should be discouraged''. The researchers said that in the last decade, GPs and rheumatologists had increasingly prescribed the supplements to patients and that many individuals purchased them over the counter. In 2008 global sales of glucosamine reached almost $US2 billion ($A2.1 billion), which represents an increase of about 60 per cent since 2003. Glucosamine is ...