Home › Blog › How Does a Knee Arthritis Supplement Stack Up Against NSAID Drugs Like Motrin?

How does a Knee Arthritis Supplement Stack Up Against NSAID Drugs Like Motrin? This past week an important study was published that demonstrated that Curcumin was as effective as Ibuprofen (Motrin) for improving pain and function in knee arthritis suffers. This was not a slouchy study, instead it was a multi-center, randomized controlled trial with almost 200 patients in each group. This got me thinking about putting together an infographic on comparing the two. As you may know, high bio availability Curcumin was a supplement ingredient we chose for our Advanced Stem cell Support Formula based on it’s performance in-vitro with human stem cells.

The summary is above with the scientific references. First, its well known that NSAID drugs reduce the healing of bones. A recent study also discusses in detail how they negatively impact the gene expression of human stem cells. In essence, they push the cells in directions that aren’t generally favorable for repairing cartilage. On the other hand, Curcumin has been shown in the lab to help stem cells produce cartilage while managing the inflammation that can push them too far in the direction of producing scar tissue rather than repair tissue. NSAIDs have also been shown, rather disturbingly, to increase markers of system inflammation, while Curcumin has been shown to reduce these markers. Finally, the deadly heart attack risks of all NSAIDs are well known, with these drugs roughly doubling to tripling your risk of a heart attack. In fact, the American Heart Association has launched a campaign to reduce their use. On the other hand, Curcumin reduces c-reactive protein, a marker associated with a higher risk of heart attacks.

The upshot? There’s a reason we chose a highly bioavailable form of Curcumin for our Regenexx Supplement. Not only does it perform well in the lab in helping mesenchymal stem cells produce cartilage, but it also compares favorably to NSAIDs in its ability to reduce inflammation without many of the negative side effects associated with that drug class!

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Chris Centeno, MD is a specialist in regenerative medicine and the new field of Interventional Orthopedics. Centeno pioneered orthopedic stem cell procedures in 2005 and is responsible for a large amount of the published research on stem cell use for orthopedic applications. View Profile