@Joy Martin Ha! It DID cause the end of my membership in that other seniors forum, and could have been a devastating experience, as I believed most of the folks spoke well of me. Seeking a sense of fairness and compunction from the Admin is what "did me in". Many members here were there, saw and heard it.......'nuff said. Frank
@Gloria Mitchell @Joy Martin (sigh)......It has taken 55+ years of adulthood to teach me there are times I should, must, keep my mouth shut. Such as now! Frank
As a kid, entering my Grandparents' hen-house produced a flurry of activity, feathers flying everywhere, and a din almost deafening! Wonder what made me think of that, so long ago...........? Frank
Ahem...………. getting back to the title of this thread...…………...if I may...…………. I had knee pain a number of years ago. Doc made x-rays, showed my cartilage was mostly gone in one knee, partially gone in the other. I took glucosamine & chondroitin capsules for about ten years. Same doc made x-rays ; showed that I had no cartilage loss. I would advise anyone with cartilage loss to take them. The cartilage doesn't grow back overnight but mine did grow back.
I agree, @Shirley Martin , and I know that @Martin Alonzo has also talked a lot about the healing benefits of cartilage. He mentioned making a broth using chicken knuckles, or even chewing and eating the cartilage from chicken when we are having that for a meal. I usually do that, although I am not very consistent about making a broth from it. Another thing that I believe really helped me, is simply doing knee exercises. Due to several bad accidents that damaged my knee way beyond repair, I have trouble walking with it, and because of my heart, a knee replacement was not a possibility, even had I wanted one. But the sports med doctor said that knee exercises would help strengthen the knee, and he gave me a cortisone shot that he said would last several months. While the pain was minimized from the cortisone, I started doing water exercises specifically for the knee, and by the time the cortisone wore off, my knee was bending further and working better than it had been for years. Like you, it did not happen overnight, but persistence does pay off, and I can do more now than I could 5 years ago, even though I am older.
Some will say Cartilage does not grow back but since I've been taking Cosamin DS for close to a year now, every day, my knee feels more flexible. It's like there is more "cushion" there than before. A person who claims to be an ortho MD on another group, says NO it does not grow back but many of us question if he's really an MD. He argues everything that isn't Western med and surgery. He has been a real thorn in my side as I'm so holistic/alternative in my healing. A hip replacement in 2010 left me so damaged on the right side of my body which includes the knee and foot/ankle, since they are all connected. Leg from surgery ended up shorter and I didn't know that for a couple yrs probably....thought it was all part of the surgery...it was. Not a good part.
Surgeon will say cartridge will not grow because there in the business of surgery. Simply ask a doctor is cartilage alive or dead he will say alive if it is it must be taking in nourishment and getting rid of waist. Cartilage is in a bath of synovial fluid which supplies nourishment there is no reason it can not grow. Pure gelatin is very close to cartilage almost the same. A person can and visited me a few years back he was from Italy and told me he had to return to get knee replacement surgery I told him to eat lots of gelatin. A year later he came to visit me and gave me a big hug and said when he went back to Italy the doctor said his knees were good. That is when I found out this gentleman was a doctor.
Oh a lot of pain killer reduce the bodies ability to make cartilage which can make the problem worse. I personally use DMSO for pain they claim it is not for human use but if it is used on million dollar horses I think I can trust it. There is one draw back the area needs to be clean because DMSO is a carrier and will take with it anything into the body.
THis is true about more pain killers and the ability to make cartilage. One MD I hear a lot says this, and I am working to take less as I've been taking too much ibuprofen since the messy staph infection I went thru, long terrible time in my life. I'm finding now that I'm into my 4th month on a HGH Homeopathic gel my pain issues are a bit less, my daughter tells me it only gets better the longer one uses the HGH she got me on. She's on it in her 7th month now...she claims she's never felt better in her life now at 55, and she's been thru some traumas in her young life. I have been using DMSO for years but have never gotten to the ingestion of it. Some on a group that I'm a member do take it internally, very small dosing.
A friend also deals with both knees and OA and we exchange info all the time. She sent me this link today and I believe so much in it and do believe cartilage can re grow. https://www.livestrong.com/article/508699-what-foods-to-eat-to-build-the-cartilage-in-your-knees/ Since I keep constant with Cosamin DS, I have more cushioning in my damaged knee. So I know it's working. And again, the more surgeries the more cartilage is gone.
A friend who I taught a woman's self defense course to became a policeman and later had both knees replaced do to bone to bone arthritis. Now she has metal knees and does not take pain killers the cartilage is returning so far she had to have two more surgeries to clean out the cartilage. How sad I wish she would have kept in contact with me.