[Warning] Pain Reliever is Ruining Your Joints!

Dear Living Well Daily Reader,

If you suffer from chronic knee pain, you probably do what lots of folks do.

Like clockwork, you go every 3 month to get a corticosteroid injection in hopes of just a little relief.

But the truth is, corticosteroids shots could be doing more harm than good when it comes to your joints.

In fact, they could be destroying your cartilage and putting you on the fast track to a total knee replacement.

Yep, that’s right.

Your go-to knee pain fix could be causing you all sorts of problems.

Past research shows that corticosteroids come with all kinds of health-damaging side effects like high blood sugar, thinning bones and weight gain.

However, this most recent study focuses on how these drugs affect the cartilage in your knee joints.

Cartilage is the sponge-like substance that helps shield your joints from impact. Low cartilage density can cause friction between bones, which can result in increased pain and inflammation.

For the experiment, scientists split a group of folks suffering from knee pain in half. Every three months for two years, one group got cortisone shots in their achy knees and the other took placebo shots.

Additionally, the researchers recorded cartilage density and pain level for all participants.

At the end the trial, the researchers found some shocking results…

Folks getting corticosteroid shots had significantly lower cartilage density than those getting the placebo. It’s as if their cartilage was being slowly eaten away.

Even worse, both groups reported the same level of pain.

This means regular corticosteroid shots deplete your cartilage and offer ZERO pain relief.

Sounds like a lose-lose situation to me.

If you’re taking corticosteroid shots for knee pain, talk to your doc about stopping them.

Another way to help keep your knees pain-free is by taking a collagen supplement. Collagen is loaded with special peptides that can help reduce your pain and restore the cartilage in your joints.

You can find collagen supplements through natural health stores or online retailers.

Live well,

Natalie Moore
Managing editor, Living Well Daily

Ed. Note: Please send your feedback: feedback@livingwelldaily.com – and click here to like us on Facebook.


Sources

[1] Effect of Intra-articular Triamcinolone vs Saline on Knee Cartilage Volume and Pain in Patients With Knee Osteoarthritis

[2] Findings do not support steroid injections for knee osteoarthritis

[3] Prednisone and other corticosteroids

[4] Change in knee osteoarthritis cartilage detected by delayed gadolinium enhanced magnetic resonance imaging following treatment with collagen hydrolysate: a pilot randomized controlled trial.

[5] A double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomised, clinical study on the effectiveness of collagen peptide on osteoarthritis

Natalie Moore

Written By Natalie Moore

Natalie Moore is a dedicated health researcher with a passion for finding healthy, natural, and science-based solutions. After a decade of direct healthcare experience in western and natural medicine, she was involved in public health research before joining Living Well Daily.

View More Free Articles

This Sleep Mistake Is Doubling Your Disease Risk

Think your inconsistent bedtime is just a harmless habit? Think again. New research reveals that going to bed at different times each night isn’t just making you tired—it could be dramatically increasing your risk of serious diseases. But the key to making sure poor sleep doesn’t derail your health goals likely isn’t what you think…....

Read This

Stop Obsessing Over Diet Trends

Can we stop with the endless diet debates already? Every other week there’s a new headline shouting about which diet is best for weight loss, heart health, or diabetes. Paleo, keto, low-carb, high-protein… it’s exhausting. And now, a new meta-analysis is out comparing the Mediterranean diet, the DASH diet, and something called AHEI (that’s “Alternative...

Read This

A New Reason to Ditch Processed Junk

If you’ve ever walked the inside aisles of your local grocery store and thought, “This is all just junk,” your instincts were spot on. A new study published in the journal Thorax just added another red flag to the list of dangers linked to ultra-processed food—a 41 percent higher risk of lung cancer. That’s right....

Read This

When Being Winded on Stairs Is Serious (And When It Isn’t)

I had an athlete visit me recently because he experienced shortness of breath while climbing stairs. He is in great shape, so he was worried about what it might mean. “Doc,” he said, “I run five miles three times a week. Why am I huffing and puffing after two flights of stairs?” His concern is...

Read This

Study EXPOSES Hidden Danger Lurking in Your Car

We think of our homes and cars as safe havens. But according to a startling new study, they may be flooding your lungs with microscopic plastic particles—every single day. Researchers in France recently found that adults inhale an average of 68,000 microplastic particles daily from indoor air alone. To put that in perspective, that’s about...

Read This

Mailbag: Is Modern Food Making You Snore?

“What can cause snoring, and is there a way to correct this issue?” —Seeking  Silence Hi Seeking, Snoring happens when the soft tissues in your throat relax and vibrate as air passes through during sleep. While several factors can cause snoring—from sleep position to nasal congestion—I want to share one trigger that might surprise you....

Read This

Simple Food Swap SLASHES Dementia Risk 28%

Let’s be honest… who would jump at the chance to cut their dementia risk by 28 percent. And no, you don’t need to run marathons, survive on broccoli, or learn to play the zither (whatever that is) to make it happen. All it takes is one easy swap—something that’s probably already in your refrigerator. Researchers...

Read This

This SMART Floss Exposes Hidden Health Danger

Scientists have created dental floss that doesn’t just clean between your teeth—it also tracks your stress while you’re flossing. Now, I know what you’re thinking… “Great—now even flossing is going to stress me out by telling me how stressed I am.” But this fascinating new tool from Tufts University could be a game-changer for understanding...

Read This

Is This "Safe" Sweetener Damaging Your Brain?

The headlines are alarming… “Popular Sugar Substitute Linked to Brain Cell Damage” and “Erythritol Could Damage Critical Brain Barrier” are just two of the dozens I’ve spotted recently. But before you toss every sugar-free product in your pantry, let’s take a closer look at what this study actually shows—and what it doesn’t. The latest research...

Read This

This Summer Threat Could SPIKE Your Blood Sugar

Picture this… It’s another scorching hot summer day. You crank up the air conditioning while watching the weather forecast, which predicts yet another “record-breaking” heat wave. It’s starting to feel like just another miserably uncomfortable summer. But what you might not realize is that—if you have diabetes—those rising temps could do far more damage to...

Read This