There are some rucuring themes and questions asked by many of my patients. Here are summaries relating to problems of backs, joints, drugs, therapies etc
Br J Sports Med 2007; 41: 415-9
Glucosamine is one of the ingredients required to build cartilage, so it was mooted that ingestion would help rebuild cartilage in osteoarthritis.
Studies have lent some weight to this hypothesis.
This particular study tried to ascertain which patients with chronic knee pain in the community would benefit from glucosamine. It found that glucosamine at 1.5g/day reduced pain and improve mobility at 12 weeks by 77 per cent and 69 per cent respectively. Those more likely to be helped were those with a lower BMI, those with patello-femoral joint osteophytes and those who self-reported more uncertainty about performing tasks
Calcium supplements reduce fractures in older women
24 Aug 07
Calcium supplements, or calcium with vitamin D, can reduce fractures by up to 24%, according to a new analysis of 29 randomised trials.
The meta-analysis found a 12% risk reduction in all the trials that represented a total patient population of 63,897, but the reduction was significantly higher (p<0.0001) - 24% - in trials where patients complied with treatment. The number needed to treat where patients were compliant was 30 over 3.5 years to prevent a fracture. The NNT for all patients was 63 over 3.5 years.
The treatment effect was larger where the doses of calcium used were larger (>1200mg/day) rather than smaller (<1200mg/day) and were also higher when patients took more than, rather than less than 800 IU of vitamin D.
The Lancet 2007;370:657-66.