Glucosamine Sulfate and Chondroitin Sulfate: The Promotion of Cartilage Regeneration

Six years ago, for my 25th birthday my wife sent me on a ski trip with friends. A trip which I took as an opportunity to research the process of injury and recovery. After overshooting the landing on a tabletop and fracturing my right scaphoid and dislocating my lunate, I was left with two large pins stabilizing my wrist for the following four months.

Joints do not like to be immobilized. The hyaline cartilage that prevents bone on bone contact in synovial joints lacks any direct blood supply. It depends on regular compression and decompression to act as a pressure pump that draws blood from the surrounding chondrocytes. Because of this, even in ideal situations where the scaphoid heals well and the articulation with the lunate is restored, severe cartilaginous degeneration and resulting arthritis is a likely long-term outcome from this sort of trauma.

With my hobbies, goals, and livelihood I am well aware that it is worth the minimal investment to get the right nutrition and supplementation to give me my best opportunity to have wrists that are both mobile and pain free.

Glucosamine Sulfate is marketed for its promotion of cartilage regeneration. Glucosamine is not necessarily a building block for cartilage in your synovial joints but it along with Chondroitin stimulate the synthesis of glycosaminoglycan, proteoglycan and hyaluronic acid, which are the “building blocks” of joint cartilage. Recent studies have shown that glucosamine sulfate 500 mg TID (3 times per day) and/or Chondroitin Sulfate 1200mg are effective treatments for joint degeneration and pain seen in osteoarthritis.(1) They have also been shown to be as effective and safer than Ibuprofen in the treatment of knee pain.(2)

I have supplemented Glucosamine Sulphate and fish oil for the past several years and they seem to have helped my recovery. I now experience nearly full ranges of motion and my wrist causes me only minimal discomfort and only when I push it into full weight bearing extension during presses and handstands. That being said, as with all things nutrition I recommend you try for yourself and see if it works for you. If you have a demanding physical lifestyle and pain that localizes to a particular joint try 8 weeks of glucosamine/chondroitin supplementation. There is an anti-inflammatory effect that is useful in the short-term, but do not judge this product’s effect until you give it at least 8 weeks. That’s how long it will take to have an effect on cartilage regeneration.

Toxicity and Contraindications:
Glucosamine is derived from shellfish sources so beware if you have a known allergic reaction to shrimp, crab or lobster.
Dosage and Administration:
Glucosamine Sulfate: 1500 mg divided into 3 seperate 500mg doses (1500mg TID)
Chondroitin Sulfate: 1200 mg
Can be taken with or without food.

Additional Information:
Stay away from HCl. The cheaper products on the market are typically bound to HCl instead of Sulfate (Glucaosamine HCl/ Chondroitin HCl) It is cheaper to produce this way and the product MAY be just as effective but the above research and major studies that validate the use of Glucosamine /Chondroitin were done with Sulfate bound supplements.

Should I take Glucosamine alone or compounded with Chondroitin?
Some studies show that these two products have a cumulative effect. I have seen studies that show Glucosamine to be just as effective on its own. The important thing to remember when selecting the supplement is dosage; many compounded products will water down the amounts of each supplement to get more names on the label. If you find something that has both and they are both bound to sulfate, and the dosages add up, go for it. Otherwise keep it simple and stick with Glucosamine Sulfate alone.

(1)– Alex Vasquez, N.D., D.O.,D.C. Integrative Rheumatology Pg. 449
(2)– Muller-Fassbender H. Bach GL, HasseW, Osteoarthritis Cartliage. 1994 March;2 (1) 61-9