Does Glucosamine Improve Low Back Pain?

Low back pain is prevalent and disabling. Fortunately the vast majority of low back pain episodes are self-limited; however, some patients develop chronic pain and disability, and this population is notoriously difficult to treat. Glucosamine is an intriguing potential therapy for chronic low back pain because it has shown efficacy for knee osteoarthritis (OA) in some — but not all — studies and because degenerative pathoanatomic findings are ubiquitous in patients with chronic low back pain. To test glucosamine's efficacy for low back pain, the authors conducted a high-quality, randomized, placebo-controlled trial. Participants were 250 patients with low back pain lasting at least 6 months and evidence of degenerative change on magnetic re…