Wear (arthritis) of the hip: fish oil or glucosamine?

Question:
My husband has been coping with problems for 4 years. Now, finally x-rays have been made and it turns out that he has a mild form of wear (osteoarthritis) in both hips, left a bit more than the right. Earlier he was told that it absolutely wasn’t wear at all! If we only knew this sooner. He’s only 57 and we still love to go out with our backpacks and tent.

Lately I hear a lot about glucosamine, but I also hear that fish oil may help with these issues. Which one do you recommend to try? According to our physician nothing works, but we’d like to stay active for some time and preferably with less symptoms.

Answer:
There’s definitely something you can do about osteoarthritis. Fish oil in high doses has a positive effect on the joints, but with osteoarthritis its effect is not strong enough. You can better opt for glucosamine, that has very satisfying results with two out of three people with osteoarthritis. Existing wear not recover through, but further wear will significantly be inhibited, the agility improves and the pain often decreases.

Usually, a period of three months (one jar), is sufficient enough to determine whether or not it works; it takes several weeks – sometimes – a even a few months before you’ll notice improvements. For a stronger effect, glucosamine can be supplemented with the chondroitin product.

In the event glucosamine (and chondroitin) is insufficient, then there’s another alternative called Arthro-5 which is stronger. But this is a more expensive product and it requires a higher dosage of 6 capsules a day (that have to be taken all at once).