Taking Glucosamine

[n_n]

It's supposed to be good for joints. I thought it must help with pianists' hands, so i've been taking it for a while ... Not that i had any hand problems... i just wanted to protect them... but i can't really feel any effect because there were no problem to start with... and the supplement isn't cheap... wondering if anyone knows if it's really beneficial to take?

[thalbergmad]

You are not going to feel any benefit if you have not got a problem to start with.

That said, i started using this product years ago after a knee operation. My dear old mum suggested it, as it had helped her mobility. I can see no problem why it should not be taken as a preventative measure, but i am not a doctor.

I think the science behind it is solid and it has definately helped my family out.

Best to get it with Condroitin.

Thal

[rachfan]

I take the MSM crystals version of glucosamine and have done so for several years after some osteoarthritis gave me a pinched nerve in a neck vertebra, which cleared up.  As I get older I also believe it has helped with my knees.  My hands are in good shape, except tenosynovitis (trigger finger) in the fifth finger of my right hand (yeah, the most important finger for playing piano!).   I suspect I developed that from voicing the tops of chords and octaves with that finger for many years.  But that is a tendon, NOT a joint problem.  So the MSM cannot help with that one.  (I've had the cortisone shot twice in that finger, but the relief has been only temporary with that approach.  Surgery is the real cure, but I keep putting it off.)  Otherwise, I would have to believe that with osteoarthritis present in my body, but not in my hands, that the glucosamine is likely working as prevention.  It's not doing any harm.