Glucosamine is out. Way out. Weight loss and low-impact exercise are in.

That’s the latest news from the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons on how to best treat osteoarthritis off the knee. I know, it’s not much for people with deteriorating joints, but at the moment it’s all they’ve got.

The AAOS reviewed all of the available research on the cornucopia of treatments of OA for the knee, and found that most of them really aren’t worth the journal paper they’re printed on  — nor the millions of dollars that went into developing some of them.

Hyaluronic acid? (Think of it as a lube job for the knees.) Inconclusive. The surgeons can’t say whether it will help or be useless.

Arthroscopic surgery to clean out the floating junk and smooth out the rough spots? Out.

Knee braces? Out.

So what’s left? Over-the-counter pain killers, weight loss, thigh and leg strengthening, and moderate (low impact) exercise. And let us not forget the ice.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 17th, 2008 at 5:58 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.