Hyaluronic Acid to lubricate Osteoarthritic Knees

I've blog'd about having my knees lubricated with Hyaluronic Acid and said that the results were less than stellar.

The August issue of the Johns Hopkins Medical Letter "Health After 50" is also somewhat dismissive of the effectiveness of Hyaluronic Acid for the treatment of osteoarthritis.

It quotes Dr. John Flynn, a Johns Hopkins Arthritis expert "Hyaluronic Acid is a synthetic lubricant. 'Oiling' the joints makes sense in theory, but Hyaluronic Acid is probably not any more effective than conventional therapies that have been proven definitely to help relieve the painful symptoms of osteoarthritis."

In 2003 the Journal of the American Medical Association reported that over a total of 2,584 treated knees, Hyaluronic Acid was only slightly better than a placebo. The Cochrane Database summary is that Hyaluronic Acid is about the same as taking asprin (or any other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory [NSAID]).

As for me, I'm running again - albeit slowly and not very far. I've designed my own recovery regime - no research to support it.

The plan to run again (such as it is):

1. Only run on a treadmill for 6 months
2. When I start running outside only once a week and on a track for the next 3 months
3. Two complete days between runs i.e. say I run on Tuesday then no running on Wednesday and Thursday
4. Indoor cycle (Spin) on one of the non-running days
5. Each week add 1/4 mile to distance run
6. Walk for 1/4 mile before running and walk for 3 minutes when I'm finished
7. Maximum run speed in first 6 months is 7.5mph.

Next week I'll run 2 miles each running day.

Not much and still a long way to 13 miles for a Half-Marathon.