PATIENT INFORMATION

Articular cartilage and cartilage repair procedures.

Articular cartilage has been known to be a potential problem for quite a while! In Roman times after gladiators had ‘dissected’ each other fighting, their physician, Galen, witnessed human tendons, cartilage and ligaments and made the observation that “athletes … get arthritis”. 250 years ago a famous anatomist noted that “ulcerated cartilage is a troublesome thing and once destroyed, is not repaired” (Hunter 1743). Thousands of people each year experience symptoms related to chondral (joint cartilage) and osteochondral (joint cartilage and bone) defects.

We are in the 21st century now so why does articular cartilage damage continue to be such a ‘troublesome thing’? Well to give you a better insight into why that is the case it is useful for you to know a bit more about the structure of articular cartilage, the role that it performs and how it gets damaged. >> more on articular cartilage.

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DO GLUCOSAMINE AND CHONDROITIN SULPHATE WORK?

Glucosamine and chondroitin sulphate are widely taken, alone or in combination, for knee pain attributed to osteoarthritis. They are expensive and joint health is MEGA business. Since 2000 forty-eight percent of new joint health supplements in the US contained glucosamine and twenty-four percent chondroitin (Mintel Global New Products Database). This makes glucosamine the biggest selling US dietary supplement. No one can question that glucosamine and chondroitin sulphate supplements are big business - but do they work? >> more on glucosamine and chondroitin sulphate

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