I feel the need to comment, and offer a perspective, as reading this thread took me back to where I was a few years ago, when I had a serious knee problem, possibly contributed to by years of running without (unbeknownst to me) adequately compensating my body for the intense exercise. I just believe that this is information that everyone at least should be able to consider. (A post that I wrote on the ‘Morton’s Neuroma’ thread on this forum has general principles that are pertinent here, so I am not repeating those comments here, since this post will already be so lengthy, for which I again apologize in advance. I feel a moral imperative to tell a story, and share information, that I feel some others might benefit from hearing; information that I am grateful was shared with me). I started jogging and running at age 40 because both my mother and grandmother had died relatively young from strokes, and I thought that my best hope was to immerse myself in health; however, I 'didn’t know that I was unaware' about how to best protect my health, and that is still true of many today; unless we happen to learn information, we are not aware that it exists. So, by the time I was in my late 40’s, I had to stop running, and I endured the trips to Dr. Eggers, my orthopedist in Louisville, to remove fluid from my knee; the aspiration needle looked bigger each time; I probably had a few cortisone shots, too; and nevertheless, was headed for knee surgery; I knew of no alternative. I learned about the Usana Health Sciences products, which we market on this forum, in January, 2003, when I was 52, and by June that year, my knee problem was quickly fading, and I gradually started jogging again. I never had to have that knee surgery; run today at age 60 with no pain, and take no injections, or pain or other medications. There is nothing special or unusual about me or my experience; many people have similar stories. Nor is any of the information in this message my own ‘opinion’ or theory; it is just knowledge I have learned, in the course of my work, from some of the finest scientists and physicians.
From my own experience, and what I have witnessed and learned over the past 8 years, I sincerely urge you to consider, and at least fully evaluate the information about all options, including their implications for your future, that you would be much better off trusting the emerging nutritional science, which is the new frontier in, and the future of, medicine, and help your body repair your knee or other joint problem, rather than skipping this more benign option, and relying solely on the various medical treatments, all of which have limited duration and effect, and all with their own consequences. The short answer is that the proper Usana products will absolutely, over time, help your knee/joint problems. There is a ‘Health Assessment’ on our website, at our ad above, that will provide information as to which products you need. (Usana is among the very few nutritional supplement brands that are listed in the P.D.R, i.e.,
Physicians' Desk Reference, because they are pharmaceutical-grade nutritional supplements, meaning that, even though they are supplements, not medication, they are manufactured at the same high quality standards regarding potency, uniformity and absorption that legally apply only to pharmaeutical drugs). Procosa is Usana’s glucosamine product; and it is not ‘your grandmother’s glucosamine’. It, along with the other products (Procosa is not formulated to be taken as a ‘stand-alone’ product) that you will be recommended, are absolutely what you need to use to improve or regain the health of your joints, rather than reconciling yourself to futile, from a long-term standpoint, efforts of trying to mask what will otherwise be almost inevitably worsening symptoms of unhealthy joints.
Medications certainly have their place, and are essential in some situations, so do not mistake me for someone who is opposed to all medical or medication interventions, as that is simply not at all the case. It’s just that when it comes to chronic degenerative conditions, such as joint degeneration, medications and medical interventions ‘treat’ (ie, mask the symptoms of) illness; rather than actually aiding the body in restoring healthy tissue. They are used in those settings because those are the only interventions that the modern medical industry has; there is a saying, ‘when all you have is a hammer, everything is a nail.’ (Why, or how, this came to be so is a discussion that is not essential to this message; but prior to the invention of modern medications/modalities, physicians routinely, and successfully, utilized nutritional and other natural therapies to help people sustain and improve their health; and we are now seeing the full circle of this as nutritional science advances in today’s world; and for example, today there are predictions that within 30 years chemotherapy will be a ‘dinosaur’, as a failed modality, for at least many cancers, and high-dose antioxidants will become the mainstream, more efficacious, treatment for cancer).
Most medications work by chemically altering some other natural bodily function; for example, cortisone shots, a corticosteroid, work, in part, by blocking the function of white blood cells in the injected tissue, which in turn blocks, temporarily, the production of inflammatory-triggering substances, but also, in so doing, impedes the body's own immune protection from infection in that area. Thus, the risk of infections (and other possible side effects) with cortisone shots. Another problem is that cortisone shots can be given only a few times in a given area, because of their deleterious effect on cartilage (yes, that means they can increase the very problem that lead to the pain in the first place) and tendons. Mother nature has a ‘pay-back’ for each unnatural thing we subject our body to. (Remember the line from the margarine commercial years ago ‘it’s not nice to fool Mother Nature’?) So, at best, cortisone injections are only a short-term masking of a chronic problem; which problem is the loss of cartilage tissue at the end of the bones, leading to pain as the bone ends begin to meet each other. It is like putting a band-aid over a bullet hole. (There is nothing wrong with that, and it is better than nothing, if all you
have is a bandaid; however, if given the alternative of having the bullet removed, in most cases the victim would opt for that as a more curative, health-restoring measure).
This brings up the next subject, which is the Synvisc, Supartz, and Orthovisc, and similar, products. These are viscous/liquid products injected to try to compensate for the lack of sufficient synovial (joint) fluid which occurs when there is an unnatural amount of ‘empty’ space, due to the receding of the cartilage mass, which space in normal knee joints is filled in by synovial fluid, acting like a shock absorber or buffer. Unless the ‘empty’ extra space caused by the missing cartilage is filled in, the joint space between the opposing bones of the joint is decreased, and the opposing ends of bone eventually begin affecting or rubbing against each other, and also unnaturally ‘tugging’ on other structures because of this unnatural positioning, causing pain and inflammation/swelling. The problem is that these injected ‘filler’ fluids are absorbed over time by the body, and can’t be replaced by the body (since they are not natural materials that have been produced by the body), and so they have to be reinjected, usually every few months. More importantly, since the injections do nothing to address the continuing process of degeneration of the cartilage on the ends of the opposing bones, the ‘empty’ space enlarges, the need for more and more injected artificial fluid gradually increases in order to try to maintain the joint space to separate the two bones, and so on; eventually the process cannot keep up, and a knee replacement, the only final medical intervention, becomes inevitable. In this, the ends of the natural bones are replaced with artificial materials, so that the pain is relieved or improved.
A knee replacement surgery is not permanent; lasting 10-20 years depending on various factors; and has its own risks and side effects, morbidity in recovery and rehabilitation from the surgery, and varying degrees of success in relieving pain, since there are still other tissues and structures that have not been replaced that may still be stressed and tugged on. If you live long enough (and don’t we all hope to?), you will very possibly eventually need at least one additional replacement of the replaced joint in order to avoid becoming disabled again by knee pain; and you may need it at a point in life when you will be older and possibly/probably less able to tolerate the surgery and its risks and sequelae.
The other problem is that all of these treatment approaches only affect the symptomatic joint (and, even for that joint, the effect is only symptomatic, and mostly temporary, at best). Like a set of tires purchased together, all of our joints are the same age. If one tire were to blow out from age, thinning, and wear (as opposed to puncturing a new tire with a nail), we would recognize that our other tires are likely nearing the end of their useful lifespan, also, and so would probably also replace them, or at least drive with them more cautiously, and monitor them more closely. So, while injecting, either with cortisone or liquid cushioning agents, or even replacing, one joint may provide some temporary relief in that joint, these modalities in no way stop or attenuate the ongoing underlying degenerative systemic process (ie, loss of cartilage) that lead to that joint getting into bad shape in the first place; nor does it in any way address similar problems that are likely on the horizon in other joints. This is why someone with a knee or hip replacement often ends up with another sooner or later. The relief of the pain in the affected joint can lead to complacency about the need to care for other presently asymptomatic joints, such as by losing weight, better nourishment, etc.
Wondrously, the body, as designed, is a ‘healing machine’. Its ability, when properly nourished, to repair and restore itself, and keep itself healthy, is what would seem like a ‘miracle’ to a degree not, in ordinary experience as we have come to accept it, observed in its full potential. Joints (and cartilage within them) were designed to last a lifetime, as were all of our tissues. As cartilage is worn down from use, our body is supposed to replace it; the same with synovial fluid; so that our joints are always protected. Our bodies were not meant to ‘wear out’ over the course of our lives; but rather to be fully functional, with a quick decline near the end. The health problems we commonly see today are not inevitable consequences of aging; they are effects of aging without properly providing what our cells need; as well as other lifestyle choices, such as exercise, maintaining a healthy weight, rest, etc.
Glucosamine rebuilds synovial tissue in the joints; the research on this is irrefutable. The right amount and quality of glucosamine is key. Just as with car engines, car tires, golf clubs, jewels and all other things of value, quality varies greatly, and quality is what counts. With nutritionals, quality is primarily based on the actual contents (not just label claims) of the product plus the degree of absorption of the product, all of which is determined by the quality of the science and manufacturing. Curcumin, a natural anti-inflammatory compound from turmeric, also supports healthy joint function. For those interested in the current research, the MerivaŽ propriety curcumin compound with which Usana’s Procosa product was just upgraded recently has been shown in research to be 30 times more bioavailable (ie, absorbable into the blood stream) than other forms of curcumin. (MerivaŽ can be researched at
www.pubmed.org or
www.pubmed.com – the database of the NIH, and elsewhere online). This upgraded Procosa is a much more advanced form of Procosa than was available to me in 2003, when my result was a life-changing revelation to me. The difference with nutrients, as compared to a local injection into a joint, is that the body uses nutrients system-wide; so nutrients indiscriminately benefit all of the tissues that depend on them, so that, for example, all joints are benefited by glucosamine and curcumin; not just the specific joint that is the most damaged, and which is source of present symptoms.
Just as getting water to boil varies with the amount and initial temperature of the water, type of metal of the pan, whether the pan is covered, and how much flame is being used, the amount of nutrients/nutritional products, such as Procosa, that a given person needs to take might well be more than the ‘standard’ (which is a 'maintenance-level') dose stated on the label, at least for a while, depending on the initial degree of his/her pain and other symptoms, which indicates the present degree of inflammation and tissue damage; it is response-mediated dosaging, and as symptoms become less, tapering down to the maintenance dosage, and possibly even less, can be done.