Glucosamine does not reduce pain-related disability in chronic low back pain, according to a JAMA study.
Investigators studied 250 patients who had low back pain for at least 6 months, along with imaging-based evidence of degenerative lumbar osteoarthritis. Subjects were randomized to treatment with either glucosamine (1500 mg) or placebo daily for 6 months and then were followed for an additional 6 months after treatment ended.
The main outcome measure — patients’ scores on pain-related disability — dropped in both groups after treatment, but there was no significant difference between the groups.
An editorialist comments that “the most likely explanation for the outcome is simply that glucosamine probably offers little benefit for chronic [low back pain] with osteoarthritis beyond whatever placebo effect it may provide.”
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