Does ibuprofen cure osteoarthritis?

No, of course not. Nor does naproxen, diclofenac, or celecoxib. Then why are such anti-inflammatory drugs so popular in managing osteoarthritis?

They are moderately effective in reducing the pain associated with arthritis and they do indeed reduce some of the inflammatory response occurring in the knee, hip, or other joint. But such drugs do NOT rebuild joint cartilage, do not restore lubricating synovial fluid, do not prevent the progression to bone-on-bone arthritis, and may even accelerate cartilage deterioration. In other words, just blockng the inflammatory process at the problem area does nothing to slow or stop the disease.

But there are indeed strategies that you can follow that slow or even reverse the joint deterioration of osteoarthritis. Admittedly, such strategies are better at preventing, rather than reversing, arthritis. But, even if you have established arthritis, there is no harm in giving it a try. Recall that the strategies I employ do not “treat” a condition like osteoarthritis. Instead, we aim to restore factors lacking in your life or to correct factors that don’t belong, all of which erode joint cartilage.

Here is a list of strategies that, over time, preserve or restore joint health:

• Minimize abdominal visceral fat—Fat in this location “exports” inflammation body-wide, including in joints, accelerating the deterioration of joint cartilage. Reducing abdominal visceral fat can also reduce or eliminate “ectopic” fat that has coalesced in joint fluid that accelerates erosion of joint cartilage. (See my many blog posts, YouTube videos, Defiant Health podcast, and of course my books on how to accomplish this.)
   
• Minimize cartilage glycation—Joint cartilage is around 70% collagen, a protein that is glycation-prone, i.e., subject to react with blood glucose and thereby becoming brittle and fragmenting over time. We minimize collagen glycation by never allowing blood glucose to exceed 100 mg/dl, achieved by banishing foods that raise blood glucose (wheat, grains, sugars), and by minimizing insulin resistance (diet, vitamin D, magnesium, omega-3 fatty acids, iodine).
   
• Obtain collagen—The misguided advice to reduce your intake of saturated fat and cholesterol caused most Americans to abandon consumption of organ meats such as tongue, stomach, and heart and thereby sources of collagen. Collagen ingestion, whether via resumption of organ meat consumption or the skin on chicken and fish or supplementation (e.g., 20 grams per day of bovine collagen), slowly rebuilds joint collagen. By the way, bone broth is not a safe way to obtain collagen, as it contains toxic levels of the heavy metal, lead.
   
• Obtain hyaluronic acid—As with collagen, the loss of organ meats from the modern diet means that we have not been obtaining healthy intakes of hyaluronic acid, one of the rare fibers sourced from animals, not plants. Hyaluronic acid also stimulates growth of joint cartilage while also increasing synovial fluid, the viscous lubricating fluid of your joints. Of course, applying hyaluronic acid topically, as many ladies do, does nothing for joint health.
   
• Vitamin D—Vitamin D restored to healthy levels (that I would define as a 25-OH vitamin D blood level of 60-70 ng/ml) reduces inflammation and insulin resistance, helps build muscle, and increases the strength of subchondral bone, i.e., bone just beneath the surface in your joints.
   
• Address SIBO and endotoxemia—The endotoxemia of small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO), now ubiquitous in modern people due to our over-exposure to antibiotics, drives inflammation, insulin resistance, and collagen glycation. If you address this situation with my recipe for SIBO Yogurt, you obtain even greater joint-rebuilding effects such as reduced cortisol (that damages joint cartilage), increased oxytocin (that stimulates production of the components of joint cartilage), and encourages collagen production.
   
• Eliminate wheat and grains—By itself, elimination of wheat and grains reduces arthritis pain and inflammation in an impressive proportion of people. This dietary strategy that mimics the eating style of hunter-gatherers reduces collagen glycation, reduces exposure to gliadin-derived opioid peptides that are inflammatory (as well as an appetite stimulant), reduces the inflammation-promoting effect of wheat germ agglutinin.
   
• Magnesium restoration—Magnesium supplementation to compensate for its lack in modern food and filtered water adds an additional factor for bone health, as it is a major component of bone structure.
   
• Increase leg muscle mass—Many of the above strategies also facilitate increase in muscle mass, including that in the legs: reducing abdominal visceral fat and thereby myosteatosis; oxytocin, the hormone of shape and body composition; vitamin D. While exercises involving resistance for leg muscles also helps, so can a vibration plate that increases release of myokines.

Yes, it’s a lot, but all built into my programs. And flip it on its head: It’s also a list of things few people are doing and thereby experiencing the deterioration of their joints, resorting to anti-inflammatory drugs, hydrocortisone and hyaluronic acid injections, platelet-rich plasma injections, and, ultimately, prosthetic joint implants. Of course, in conventional healthcare, receiving a prosthetic joint is hailed as a success; I label it a failure, a failure to have stopped the process in the first place.

Ask your doctor, whether primary care, rheumatologist, or orthopedist: “How can I prevent osteoarthritis?” Or how can I rebuild a joint damaged by arthritis?” You will invariably obtain blank stares, perhaps be ridiculed. “There’s no such thing” or “Did you consult Dr. Google again?” I know this because I have had this conversation with many of my colleagues. But the most troubling aspect of all this is not their ignorance, but their indifference: they don’t care to know because there is no money in it.

The original IHB post is currently found on the: ⎆Infinite Health Blog, but accessing it there can require an unnecessary separate blog membership. The copy of it above is complete, and has been re-curated and enhanced for the Inner Circle membership.