Condition
Acute Nonspecific Knee Pain
Acute nonspecific knee pain is knee soreness without an obvious structural cause like a ligament tear, often from overuse, strain, or muscle imbalance. Among supplements, bromelain, boron, and glucosamine have the most to show: inflammation went down with bromelain, knee pain improved with boron, and rehabilitation rates improved with glucosamine. Still, the evidence is limited, since these studies were small, with 60 to 102 people each.
Sources: PMID 24940052
- Supplements studied
- 3
- Graded outcomes
- 4
- Trials
- 3
- People studied
- 239
Evidence by supplement
- Strong
- Moderate
- Limited
- Very limited
| Grade | Outcome | Effect | Size | Studies | People | Studies list |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pain Moderate Improvement | Improves (the measure goes down) | Moderate effect | 1 study | 60 people | ||
| Range of Motion Moderate Increase | Improves (the measure goes up) | Moderate effect | 60 people | |||
| Grade | Outcome | Effect | Size | Studies | People | Studies list |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Inflammation Small Decrease | Improves (the measure goes down) | Small effect | 77 people | |||
| Muscle Soreness | Changes; see studies | 2 studies | 77 people | |||
| Subjective Well-Being | Improves (the measure goes up) | 77 people | ||||
| Grade | Outcome | Effect | Size | Studies | People | Studies list |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Injury Rehabilitation Rate Small Improvement | Improves (the measure goes up) | Small effect | 102 people | |||
| Range of Motion | Improves (the measure goes up) | 1 study | 102 people | |||
Studies that measured range of motion | ||||||
Key findings
- PainImproves (the measure goes down)
- InflammationImproves (the measure goes down)
- Injury Rehabilitation RateImproves (the measure goes up)
The Acute Knee Pain Relief & Recovery protocol
2 primary supplements · 6 supporting supplements
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Studies cited
37 studies from PubMed
- The adjuvant use of calcium fructoborate and borax with etanercept in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: Pilot study
- Effects of Calcium Fructoborate on Levels of C-Reactive Protein, Total Cholesterol, Low-Density Lipoprotein, Triglycerides, IL-1β, IL-6, and MCP-1: a Double-blind, Placebo-controlled Clinical Study
- Comparative effects of daily and weekly boron supplementation on plasma steroid hormones and proinflammatory cytokines
- Effects of boron supplementation on the severity and duration of pain in primary dysmenorrhea
- Plasma boron and the effects of boron supplementation in males
- Effect of dietary boron on mineral, estrogen, and testosterone metabolism in postmenopausal women
- Preliminary evidence hints at a protective role for boron in urolithiasis
- A double-blind, placebo-controlled pilot study to evaluate the effect of calcium fructoborate on systemic inflammation and dyslipidemia markers for middle-aged people with primary osteoarthritis
- Effect of boron supplementation on blood and urinary calcium, magnesium, and phosphorus, and urinary boron in athletic and sedentary women
- Oral resveratrol and calcium fructoborate supplementation in subjects with stable angina pectoris: effects on lipid profiles, inflammation markers, and quality of life
- Short-term efficacy of calcium fructoborate on subjects with knee discomfort: a comparative, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical study
- Bromelain reduces mild acute knee pain and improves well-being in a dose-dependent fashion in an open study of otherwise healthy adults
- Bromelain as an adjunctive treatment for moderate-to-severe osteoarthritis of the knee: a randomized placebo-controlled pilot study
- Therapeutic use, efficiency and safety of the proteolytic pineapple enzyme Bromelain-POS in children with acute sinusitis in Germany
- Preliminary comparison of bromelain and Ibuprofen for delayed onset muscle soreness management
- Effect of combined oral proteases and flavonoid treatment in subjects at risk of Type 1 diabetes
- Glucosamine therapy for treating osteoarthritis
- Ayurvedic medicine offers a good alternative to glucosamine and celecoxib in the treatment of symptomatic knee osteoarthritis: a randomized, double-blind, controlled equivalence drug trial
- Comparable clinical outcomes between glucosamine sulfate-potassium chloride and glucosamine sulfate sodium chloride in patients with mild and moderate knee osteoarthritis: a randomized, double-blind study
- Glucosamine, chondroitin sulfate, and the two in combination for painful knee osteoarthritis
- Effect of glucosamine hydrochloride in the treatment of pain of osteoarthritis of the knee
- Double-blind clinical evaluation of oral glucosamine sulphate in the basic treatment of osteoarthrosis
- Effectiveness of glucosamine for symptoms of knee osteoarthritis: results from an internet-based randomized double-blind controlled trial
- Long-term effects of glucosamine sulphate on osteoarthritis progression: a randomised, placebo-controlled clinical trial
- Glucosamine sulfate in the treatment of knee osteoarthritis symptoms: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study using acetaminophen as a side comparator
- Glucosamine sulfate use and delay of progression of knee osteoarthritis: a 3-year, randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind study
- A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of glucosamine sulphate as an analgesic in osteoarthritis of the knee
- Randomized, controlled trial of glucosamine for treating osteoarthritis of the knee
- Glucosamine sulfate in osteoarthritis of the knee
- Evaluation of glucosamine sulfate compared to ibuprofen for the treatment of temporomandibular joint osteoarthritis: a randomized double blind controlled 3 month clinical trial
- No effect of glucosamine sulfate on osteoarthritis in the temporomandibular joints--a randomized, controlled, short-term study
- Evaluation of Glucosamine sulfate and Ibuprofen effects in patients with temporomandibular joint osteoarthritis symptom.
- Glucosamine oral administration as an adjunct to hyaluronic acid injection in treating temporomandibular joint osteoarthritis.
- Kashin-Beck disease in Sichuan, China: report of a pilot open therapeutic trial
- Chondroitin sulfate and/or glucosamine hydrochloride for Kashin-Beck disease: a cluster-randomized, placebo-controlled study
- Glucosamine administration in athletes: effects on recovery of acute knee injury
- Evaluation of the effect of glucosamine administration on biomarkers for cartilage and bone metabolism in soccer players