There is often a misunderstanding of exactly what role glucosamine plays in rehabilitating cartilage within joints.
Glucosamine Sulfate & Glucosamine Hydrochloride
What is glucosamine doing to help your condition? Glucosamine is synthesizing the production of and new cartilage and at the same time, fighting the "bad" enzymes. In effect, you are addressing your joint problems at the cellular level which slows the progression of the disease and assists your body in the healing process. As well, if you are going to control pain during the healing process it is essential that the purity of the product(s) you are using should be very high. You should be using pharmaceutical quality glucosamine. The latest research suggests that glucosamine is up to twice as effective in liquid form so I would highly recommend liquid glucosamine over capsules, pills, and glucosamine creams.
The Human Body
The reason your joints develop osteoarthritis is that it has stopped producing the elements necessary to maintain them. What is happening is really a two-fold problem. First, your body is not maintaining healthy joints and secondly, "cartilage-chewing" enzymes are working to destroy the cartilage that is still present. Here's how we challenge the problem and begin restoring healthy joints.
The Benefits of Taking Glucosamine
There is no single prescription drug that can achieve the wide ranging impact that high-quality glucosamine can. As some clinical researchers have described it, it is simply "remarkable." glucosamine...
- Assists in rebuilding the cartilage;
- Blocks the "bad" enzymes that destroy cartilage;
- Activates the lipids, fibrin, thrombi and blood vessels in the surrounding joint areas; and,
- Accelerates the production of hyaluronan which acts as a lubricant in the joint fluids (area between the synovial membrane and cartilage).
And most importantly....
Of course, the most important role (and one that should be of interest to you) is pain management. Since pain control is paramount in your mind you should be most interested in this aspect of glucosamine as a tool in fighting it.
Since the medical community has never been able to come up with a prescription medication that will address all of these issues, most physicians are skeptical. That skepticism is fueled by a lack of knowledge about the benefits of glucosamine, a factor that you must consider when discussing the use of it with some doctors.
As the clinical evidence continues to mount, it is inevitable that those same skeptics are going to have to accept the reality that pain-free, healthy joints can be a reality by using the right glucosamine/chondroitin product. It would not be surprising to see the day when physicians will open up and encourage their patients to use this approach instead of recommending more radical treatments such as surgery. For my recommendation on glucosamine arthritis treatments, please read A Guide to Glucosamine Products.
More information on glucosamine and cartilage rehabilitation can be found in our Arthritis Resource Center and in our Glucosamine Resource Center.
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