More on Blood Sugar Control and Knee Arthritis

Is there a link between blood sugar control and knee arthritis?  Your blood sugar control may indeed determine if you’ll get knee arthritis-especially if you’re a woman. Several studies have shown a connection between metabolic syndrome and knee arthritis. Metabolic syndrome is very much the average American experience-putting on weight in middle age that eventually leads to a metabolic syndrome which includes high blood pressure and diabetes. What’s interesting about this study is that it first detected patients with poor blood sugar control in the early 1990s. These patients didn’t have diabetes at this time and they had no knee pain. It then reacquired them about 10 years later when the researchers performed MRIs. A second set of knee MRIs were then taken two years later and compared. The patients who had poor blood sugar control on lab tests in the 1990s had more cartilage loss 10 years later. What’s interesting was that this effect was seen in women and not men. However other studies have demonstrated that it likely happens in men as well. The upshot? If you’ve put on pounds in your 30s and 40s or are on blood pressure medications-get help. The help isn’t going on more medications, but instead cutting out the sugar and getting active again to get rid of the metabolic syndrome. You may also want to find an age management physician to help. A fasting blood sugar or Hemoglobin A1C will tell you if you have a problem. The A1C test is easy, as it can be performed any time of day and provides a reading of blood sugar control over the past few months. While your doctor may say a number below 5.6 is fine, you want your A1C under 5.1. This blog post has some things you can do to improve stem cells and help save your knees. If you want to save your knee cartilage have a look at your blood sugar control!

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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