If you suffer with osteoarthritis in your hands, here’s some good news from FACTS (Finger osteoArthritis Chondroitin Treatment Study).  Researchers report that daily supplementation with chondroitin sulfate is both safe and effective in reducing hand pain and improving function in hand osteoarthritis.

In the six-month placebo-controlled, double-blind study, the 80 patients who took 800 mg daily of chondroitin had significantly greater reduction in hand pain compared with 82 patients who took placebo. There’s more good news: chondroitin also was significantly better at improving morning stiffness. Patients who took chondroitin did not, however, see a significant improvement in grip strength compared with placebo.

If you have hand osteoarthritis, you are among the 20 to 30 percent of the more than 27 million people in the United States with osteoarthritis who suffer with this form of the disease. After age 60, more than 50 percent of osteoarthritis patients have osteoarthritis of the hand.

Conventional treatments for hand osteoarthritis include oral and topical nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and acetaminophen. NSAIDs in particular are problematic: short-term use can cause gastrointestinal problems such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, constipation, and ulcers. Other side effects may include decreased appetite, rash, dizziness, headache, fluid retention, and drowsiness. Less common but serious side effects include kidney failure, liver failure, perforation of the stomach and intestines, increased risk of heart attack and stroke, and prolonged bleeding after surgery or an injury.

Chondroitin, on the other hand, is safe. According to the FACTS’ lead author, Cem Gabay, MD, professor of medicine at the University Hospitals of Geneva, Switzerland, their finding “confirms previous results showing a good safety profile of chondroitin sulfate.”

If chondroitin has a down side, it’s that you need patience, as it can take several months before you notice an improvement in your symptoms. In FACTS, improvement in hand pain and function began to appear after 3 months of treatment. Considering the overall benefits, however, and that you can take NSAIDs along with chondroitin until the effects of the latter kick in, chondroitin for hand osteoarthritis seems to be a win-win situation.

It is also important to mention that this study was conducted in Europe, where chondroitin is available as a prescription medication and is more tightly regulated, so there is more confidence that the supplement actually contains the stated amount of chondroitin. In the United States, chondroitin is a nonprescription supplement with less regulation. That’s why it is so important to make sure you get your chondroitin from a reliable source.

The next step for chondroitin research is to compare its use outside the regulated environment and to compare it with other therapies for hand osteoarthritis. Joanne M. Jordan, MD, MPH, chief of the Division of Rheumatology, Allergy, and Immunology and director of the Thurston Arthritis Research Center at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, noted that “comparison of chondroitin sulfate to known effective drugs for hand symptoms would be a logical next step.”

JoMo is a safe and reliable source of 1,200 mg of bovine-derived (not shark-derived) chondroitin, formulated for maximum joint support, cartilage protection, and inflammation management.

Reference

Gabay C et al. Symptomatic effect of chondroitin sulfate 4&6 in hand osteoarthritis the finger osteoarthritis chondroitin treatment study (FACTS). 2011; Arthritis & Rheumatism doi: 10.1002/art.30574