Disclaimer

The Fullscript Integrative Medical Advisory team has developed or collected these protocols from practitioners and supplier partners to help health care practitioners make decisions when building treatment plans. By adding this protocol to your Fullscript template library, you understand and accept that the recommendations in the protocol are for initial guidance and may not be appropriate for every patient.

Joint Pain

Glucosamine

1.5 to 2 g, per day, minimum 12 weeks1

• Individual RDBPC studies consistently demonstrate reduction in pain and global symptoms of OA2

• However, reviews and meta-analyses do not confirm this finding3

• Combination with chondroitin may increase overall effectiveness4

Glucosamine in the Fullscript catalog.

S-Adenosyl Methionine (SAMe)

1200 mg, one to two times per day, minimum 30 days1

• Demonstrated effectiveness at reducing symptoms of osteoarthritis6

• However, reviews and meta-analyses do not confirm this finding3

• Multiple RDBPC studies demonstrated comparable pain reduction to OTC pharmaceuticals like naproxen and nabutone5,7

S-Adenosyl Methionine in the Fullscript catalog.

Turmeric (Curcuma longa)

500 mg MERIVA, two to four times per day, minimum 30 days8

• In small clinical trials (< 100 subjects), demonstrated effect in pain reduction, comparable to ibuprofen.9

• One recent review confirmed that both whole turmeric extract and curcumin demonstrated short-term reduction in pain10

Curcumin (MERIVA) in the Fullscript catalog.

Additional promising interventions with preliminary evidence demonstrating a reduction in OA symptoms include:

• Green-lipped mussel extract

• Indian Frankincense (Boswellia serrata)

• L-carnitine 

• Natural Eggshell Membrane

• Pycnogenol

• Type II Collagen

References 

1

B

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12374520

2

A

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12860572

3

A

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20847017

4

A

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10732937

5

B

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3318442

6

B

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15102339

7

B

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20110025

8

B

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21194249

9

B

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19678780

10

C

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3596124/