People with osteoarthritis:
- Chondroitin may improve pain slightly in the short-term (less than 6 months);
- Chondroitin improves knee pain by 20% in slightly more people;
- Chondroitin probably improves quality of life slightly as measured by Lequesne's index (combined measure of pain, function, and disability);
- Chondroitin has little or no difference in adverse and serious adverse events versus other agents; and
- Chondroitin slightly slows down the narrowing of joint space on X-rays of the affected joint.
What is osteoarthritis and what is chondroitin?
Osteoarthritis is a disease of the joints, such as the knee or hip. When the joint loses cartilage, the bone grows to try to repair the damage, but this bone growth may make the situation worse. This can make the joint painful and unstable, which can affect physical function or ability to use the joint.
Chondroitin is an over-the-counter nutritional supplement made primarily of chondroitin sulfate. It is said to work by stopping the degradation of cartilage and restoring lost cartilage. It also contains sulfur-containing amino acids, which are essential building blocks for cartilage molecules in the human body.