Alternative Remedies for Knee Osteoarthritis? Quite Possibly!

Reading about alternative remedies that claim to treat arthritis, I was naturally interested in if they actually worked. The major ones in the articles I read were boswellia, chondroitin sulfate, glucosamine, and MSM. I was able to find articles on each the specifically studied how effective it was in treating symptoms of  knee osteoarthritis.

Boswellia Serrata is the resinous gum (guggulu) of the boswellia tree. In a double-blind, placebo-controlled study (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0944711304701890), Boswellia demonstrated beneficial effects on knee osteoarthritis. 30 patients were given either 333 mg Boswellia capsules or placebo 3 times a day (~1000mg daily) for 8 weeks. Those that received BSE (Boswellia Serrata) in the first intervention crossed over to receive the placebo in the second intervention and vice-versa. Before and after each intervention patients were asked to grade the pain intensity, loss of function, and swelling. Patients in the Boswellia group experienced a significant decrease in pain and swelling and increase in range of motion compared to the placebo.

A similar study was done on knee osteoarthritis but instead measured the efficacy of methylsulfonylmethane (MSM). http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1063458405002852. A similar randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trail was conducted but with 50 men and women. Patients were given 3 g of MSM or placebo twice a day for 12 weeks.

Results conclude that MSM improved symptoms of pain and physical function during the short intervention without major adverse events but long-term improvements cannot be concluded. Researchers suggest that MSM be used for short term intervention when NSAIDs and COX-2 drugs are ineffective.

Finally I chose to research chondroitin sulfate and glucosamine in a combined study on knee osteoarthritis (http://www.nejm.org/doi/pdf/10.1056/NEJMoa052771). Once again, a double-blind placebo study was conducted but with over 1500 patients. Patients received 1500  mg  of  glucosamine  daily,  1200  mg  of  chondroitin  sulfate  daily,  both glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate, or placebo for 24 weeks. Overall, glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate were not significantly effective compared to the placebo group in reducing knee pain. But the study does point out that in moderate-to-severe knee pain patients, both chondroitin sulfate and glucosamine revealed more effective results.

Based on these 3 studies, MSM and Boswellia Serrata seem to be effective in treating knee osteoarthritis BUT due to their small group size and short experimental period, this may only be effective for short term intervention. In comparison to the glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate study, it had a much larger group size and testing period but was not significant in treating symptoms of OA. It would be interesting to retest MSM and Boswellia Serrata with a larger group size and experimental period to see if it shows the same results. In addition, it would be interesting to test on other parts of the body or other forms of arthritis such as RA.