Glucosamine?
WebbyShoo
Posts: 115 Member
I hadn't seen this in any recent posts on the board, but I was wondering if anyone had their own personal exp with this supplement and their running, if it's worth the investment etc, any links to scientific backing? I'm not noticing joint pain now, normal soreness from runs more or less but as I build up my base and start running more I was wondering if it is something worth looking into as a preventative method?
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I took it for about 3 years, then stopped and noticed no difference.0
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I took it for about 3 years, then stopped and noticed no difference.
Pretty much the same here, I figured it couldn't hurt to try it & when I stopped the only difference was that I had a few more dollars to spend on other stuff.
A lot of the knee pain reported by runners actually relates to hip & glute issues. Check out some of the ideas on Runners World....
http://www.runnersworld.com/workouts/glute-strength0 -
I'm using it now (ointment form). Hard to tell if its helping .. doesn't seem to be that much difference. I have heard its meant to help prevent injuries (maybe I waited too long to start!)0
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same here. I took it then went off with no difference. I read that combined running and strenth training will actually improve joints.I took it for about 3 years, then stopped and noticed no difference.
Pretty much the same here, I figured it couldn't hurt to try it & when I stopped the only difference was that I had a few more dollars to spend on other stuff.
A lot of the knee pain reported by runners actually relates to hip & glute issues. Check out some of the ideas on Runners World....
http://www.runnersworld.com/workouts/glute-strength0 -
A good friend of mine was one of the researchers in a pretty extensive clinical trial that focused on knee osteoarthritis. The results showed that a placebo pretty much had the same effect.
http://nccam.nih.gov/research/results/gait
She told me that there have been good clinical results for horses and dogs, though!
That said, the brain is a pretty powerful machine. A lot of people believe it works and they feel better. More power to 'em.0 -
I think it is awesome, but the only wait I take it is by eating soft shell crabs. Mmm...0
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I think it is awesome, but the only wait I take it is by eating soft shell crabs. Mmm...
My kind of supplement! :drinker:0 -
I am 52 and have arthritis. I take Ligavar. I stopped for 2 weeks once and noticed alot more soreness in my knees and hips. Started back up and within about 3 days i was good again. I think they have links to clinical studies on their product site0
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Interesting, thanks for the replies. To note, Since my form has improved in the past year I can train more, with less overall soreness and form is still a work in progress of course but so far no injuries/issues, I will hold off on supplements and save the money for more shoes.... Hehe.0
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I took it for about 3 years, then stopped and noticed no difference.
I am currently taking Glucosamine/Chondroitin but am not convinced it is helping me either. The research on its effectiveness seems inconclusive. I may follow your lead and stop taking it as well.0 -
A good friend of mine was one of the researchers in a pretty extensive clinical trial that focused on knee osteoarthritis. The results showed that a placebo pretty much had the same effect.
http://nccam.nih.gov/research/results/gait
She told me that there have been good clinical results for horses and dogs, though!
That said, the brain is a pretty powerful machine. A lot of people believe it works and they feel better. More power to 'em.
That could be "the" study on glucosamine that I read a few years back. There hasn't been a lot of research done on it but the trial that I read about showed the same outcome. What's key, however, is that the trial was for arthritis not "runners knee".
I had "runners knee" for a long time (1977 through 2005) and I found that glucosamine helped. I had stabbing pain in my right knee (a few times a week it would feel like a hot poker going through my knee) and my left knee ached. When I moved to Southern California, I ran into a doctor who suggested I try it (many people here are supplement crazy) and…it worked! Interestingly enough, unknown to me, my father (age 93) has been taking it for years to relieve hip pain.
in contrast, the folks over at http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org are pretty harsh about glucoasmine - IIRC, their basic argument is that the amount of glucosamine that's delivered to the body is too low to be of any value.
I stopped taking glucosamine in October 2011. By that time, I had lost a significant amount of weight and, by October, had been running for 5 months. In that short period of time, I had managed to strengthen the muscles in my hips and legs and my pain disappeared. I have had no recurrence of knee pain since then.
Does glucosamine "work" for runners knee? I believe it helped me but I don't know for a fact. Armed with the knowledge that I have now (personal experience but, more important, self-education) I believe that muscle strengthening is a much better way to deal with "runners knee" than taking a pill.0 -
Hi guys, I am a medical journalist and I wrote quite a bit about glucosamine a few years back. That said, I am not up-to-date, if something has changed.
My understanding is pretty much what everyone has said. Seven to 10 years ago, a few trials appeared that seemed to suggest that glucosamine and chondroitin together were helpful for people with osteoarthritis. Veterinarians had been using it for animals for some time. (Veterinary medicine has a lower standards of proof.)
What really got people excited was that it appeared to do something more than just alleviate pain and slow progression. These trials said it seemed to reverse the damage, at least somewhat.
Hearing that it might reverse damage, people got excited that maybe it could help people with normal knees, preventing them from developing problems down the road.
Since then, the enthusiasm for it has waned considerably. Not all the trials have had positive results, and many of the trials that had positive results, showed improvement that was so minimal it might be meaningless to an individual.
People began looking at the studies overall and found that it was the industry-sponsored studies that tended to report the best results.
My understanding is that most serious researchers and orthopedists are not very interested in it anymore.
I do not think there has ever been a trial of glucosamine in people who do not already have arthritis of some sort, to see if it might help them.
The other thing is: Glucosamine is a big pill, and, as I recall, you have to take at least three of them a day. It is hard to remember to take a pill everyday, if it isn't doing much for you, and it is extremely hard if it is unpleasant. Plus, the benefits do not show up for 6 months at least, and, even if you got some benefit, it is not know whether it would last if you stopped.0 -
Hi guys, I am a medical journalist and I wrote quite a bit about glucosamine a few years back. That said, I am not up-to-date, if something has changed.
My understanding is pretty much what everyone has said. Seven to 10 years ago, a few trials appeared that seemed to suggest that glucosamine and chondroitin together were helpful for people with osteoarthritis. Veterinarians had been using it for animals for some time. (Veterinary medicine has a lower standards of proof.)
What really got people excited was that it appeared to do something more than just alleviate pain and slow progression. These trials said it seemed to reverse the damage, at least somewhat.
Hearing that it might reverse damage, people got excited that maybe it could help people with normal knees, preventing them from developing problems down the road.
Since then, the enthusiasm for it has waned considerably. Not all the trials have had positive results, and many of the trials that had positive results, showed improvement that was so minimal it might be meaningless to an individual.
People began looking at the studies overall and found that it was the industry-sponsored studies that tended to report the best results.
My understanding is that most serious researchers and orthopedists are not very interested in it anymore.
I do not think there has ever been a trial of glucosamine in people who do not already have arthritis of some sort, to see if it might help them.
The other thing is: Glucosamine is a big pill, and, as I recall, you have to take at least three of them a day. It is hard to remember to take a pill everyday, if it isn't doing much for you, and it is extremely hard if it is unpleasant. Plus, the benefits do not show up for 6 months at least, and, even if you got some benefit, it is not know whether it would last if you stopped.
Thank you so much for this reply. Great stuff.0
This discussion has been closed.