Compelling study on Chondroitin for hand arthritis

A study done on chondroitin sulfate, appearing in the November issue of Evidence Based Medicine, found that patients who completed the trial had improvement in their assessment of global hand pain and the improvement was significantly more pronounced versus the placebo group. The benefit became evident only after 3 months of treatment. No serious adverse reactions occurred in any study patients.

Chondroitin provided a benefit on symptoms and function of a similar magnitude than what has been previously reported for non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) in the same type of patients. Chondroitin sulfate was associated with minimal side effects, hence generating a risk/benefit ratio which will most likely be better than the one derived from NSAID studies.

Chondroitin sulfate was previously reported to reduce structural progression of knee osteoarthritis.The results from the present study that suggests chondroitin can also be effective on osteoarthritis at other sites, is another piece of evidence for the consideration of chondroitin as a first-line treatment of osteoarthritis.

Bonnie: Exciting stuff. Just make sure that the glucosamine/chondroitin combination you purchase are the right sources.