My husband has been giving our dog glucosamine for dogs because he has Wobblers Disease which affects large breed dogs, and eventually they are unable to get up (affects their joints and are unable to use their limbs). Therefore, being bedridden have to be put down. That was the path we were on. He could NOT get up finally. I was desperate. Those supplements did NOT work one single bit and he had taken them for about 2 months and still got worse.

I changed my dog to a "natural diet" which is raw meat, some bones (like chicken thigh/leg). He is a spring chicken now, and with miraculous almost over night results. He runs around like a happy old dog that he is at age 10.

I completely, agree, for us humans, the best thing for joint issues is bone broth. Homemade grass fed beef bones--cooked in a crock pot (browned in the oven first)-- makes beautiful gelatinous bone broth.

Nope, that's what homemade chicken/beef broth is for...the more jelly, the better.

well I've heard mixed things about glucosamine, but I'm only 31 and I've had pain, inflammation, and arthritis in my knees for years (got so bad I had to have multiple surgeries just to be able to walk when I was 23), so I throw everything at it just to be on the safe side. Eating basically a PaNu/Perfect Health type diet (not low carb--- eating low carb caused extreme inflammation in my knee oddly enough) and taking some supplements in addition like glucosamine & chondroitin, krill or fish oil, and turmeric seems to have decreased the symptoms significantly. I bet if I got consistent about doing strength training (like McGuff's BBS program) I would have even better results.

Yes, I take/took joint supplements. Probably too many, in fact. The evidence behind glucosamine is mixed, and you shouldn't rely on the most recent meta-analysis to "prove" that glucosamine doesn't work. There were some intricacies in that study weren't addressed in the results.

Here are some of the supplements I've tried. I'll be going through the evidence for a few of them when I get around to putting up my paleo/pain website.

Popular supplements: glucosamine, chondroitin, MSM, gelatin, D-ribose, turmeric/piperin

Paleo supplements: bone broth, tendon, emu oil, fish oil, krill oil

Less popular supplements: grape seed extract, NAC, protease enzymes (bromelain etc)

I take G/C/MSM, seemed to help with knees, might be placebo effect. Lost weight and knees are no longer a problem. Still take it. Most of the studies I saw concluded that this supplement provided no improvement for osteoarthritis. That's a different conclusion than "it has no benefit whatsoever". I don't have osteoarthritis as far as I know.

Take gelatin, too. Knox had a product in a can at Wegmans, with vitamins and other stuff. MDA linked a study from Ball State or some other B University that indicated gelatin supported joint health in young athletes (who presumably don't have osteoarthritis, either). Wegmans dropped the Knox product, so I just buy the Knox gelatin packets and brew up a soup with seaweed and coconut oil. Why? Not really sure. Bet bones are better.

Occasionally, I'll do bad things to a whole chicken, gnaw the articular heads off all the long bones, eat everything. Got this from Lindsey Vonn who was trying to recover from an ankle injury. The fear in my wife's eyes is palpable at the dinner table (I've taken to eating with my hands as well - I mean, I start out with proper utensils, but they invariably seem to get in the way of the eating). If I don't post for a while, safe to assume she's seen to it that I'm "taking a rest" at a nice facility somewhere.

Does any of this work? I have no idea. Not cost prohibitive, and apparently not harmful.

Good luck.

I started with SierraSil JF14 for a sore knee. It seemed to work a bit, but the "expreiment" was confounded because I also stopped lifting and sprinting for a long while.

I then tried curcumin (the active ingredient in turmeric) and it too worked a bit.

Recently (2 weeks ago) I started taking Recovery extra strength from Purica (it is glucosamine and MSM and some other goodies) with very good results. My knee(s) feel better than they have in a long while even with regular weight workouts. I am cautiously optimistic that this stuff really does help.

Some time ago I read about some clinical studies that showed that glucosamine does not work on human joints.

I do not know about combining glucosamine with MSM - it might make a difference.

BTW, glucosamine does work on dog joints; so it is added to a lot of dog food. I know some folks who saw a HUGH difference in their dog's mobility after using such dog food.

My knees crackle like I am deboning a chicken. I wonder if more fast will help? A year of glucosamine did nothing.

was reading the other day that there's a component in egg membranes that is useful for large joint protection. we started making a calcium citrate with eggshells and left the membranes on for that reason.

I took glucosamine/chondroitin/msm for years. Sometimes it seemed to help and sometimes it didn't. I could never be sure, and my pain only got worse over the years. At times I was unable to walk or get out of bed.

Now, aside from a healthy diet (keeping my weight down helps a lot), I only use one treatment for joint pain: exercise. High-rep, full-range bodyweight exercise. Pushups, pullups, situps, bridges and squats, mostly. It won't bulk me up or win me any medals, but it keeps me moving and smiling, and that's good enough for me.

I do.

I was diagnosed with early-onset degenerative arthritis at age 25. When I stay away from wheat/sugar/grains/ or some combination I have MUCH better mobility and knee function (not sure exactly what it is, more testing needed but less of some or all of that = happier joints)

According to an article by Art Ayers(1), Glucosamine is an anti-inflammatory agent that works in the gut, and reduces the effect of some inflammation-causing agents..... If I do happen to eat some wheat/sugar/other crap, I take some glucosamine in an attempt to combat systematic inflammation. If I'm "good" I don't. But that's just my take on it.

Also, there is definitely some link between gluten and arthritis, as this study shows. For some reason the study was "Standard diet" vs "vegan gluten free diet", which seams pretty short sited, and brings questions about their scientific validity since apparently the patients were not vegan beforehand. So all we can really say is that if you are not vegan, and you go on a gluten-free vegan diet, there is a good chance it will help arthritis. Why they didn't just eliminate the gluten? Got me.

Yes I do take Glucosamine & Chondroitin supplements. Glucosamine & Chondroitin are the two main components that make up the cartilage found within joints. I am a runner & I take Glucosamine & Chondroitin supplements for my knee joint pain & it has improved my knee joint pain considerably.

Of the group of compounds MSM, glucosamine, and chondroitin, MSM is the only one found in research studies to have a benefit. Glucosamine and chondroitin are good to have around with it though (sort of how the b vitamins work together), so I take a supplement that contains all three, with an emphasis on the MSM, since it appears to be the major player. My husband and dog notice and improvement when they take it. I don't (but I also eat more bone broth than they do).

Glucosamine/MSM are only two components on the spectrum of beneficial joint nutrients you can find in a good bone broth. You're better off making a high quality bone broth yourself from grassfed/pastured/organic bones and consuming the full spectrum of goodness rather than one or two components for which you're paying an insane markup.

Plus you get plenty of glycine (gelatin compound) which is very good for gut health.

A crockpot/slowcooker, water, vinegar, salt, and bones are all you need. You can get a decent slow cooker for the cost of two bottles of those pills, and the bones for cheap from a butcher, or even a bird you've roasted and deboned, such your Thanksgiving turkey.

Plus some of the pills have nasty and unnecessary additives such as propylene glycol (aka engine coolant), I know because I saw this in the ones I got many years ago, but hadn't looked too closely at the label until after consuming some.

I eat the cartilage off the joints of the meat I buy. It tastes pretty good. No brainer, I think - major source of glucosamine. Sometimes I'll break open the bones and dig out the marrow. I have a slow cooker and am looking forward to making bone broths. I avoid legumes (including peas)/grains/seeds/tubers/tomatoes as well to avoid joint pain as they all tend to have lectins that are specific to GlcNAc.

When it comes to choosing joint supplements there are many options. Use caution when choosing both the supplement and brand. Recent studies have shown that some brands come far short of the label claims. In one study of eleven chondroitin products, tests showed four of the products contained less than half the stated amount of chondroitin. How do you choose a product? The Arthritis Foundation says to pick the most reputabile brand--don't try to save with a cheaper imitation.

Combinations of glucosamine and chondroitin, and all three glucosamine,chondroitin & MSM aforementioned supplements, are readily available. These combinations are usually cheaper than the individual medications and certainly easier to take.Use caution when taking these joint pain relief medications.