Sugar injections may improve symptoms of knee osteoarthritis

People with knee osteoarthritis of the knee could benefit from injections of a sugar solution, says research published in Annals of Family Medicine.

US scientists divided 90 participants with osteoarthritis of the knee into three groups. One received dextrose sugar injections, a second received saline injections and a third did exercises at home. Injections were administered in weeks one, five and nine; further injections were given at weeks 13 and 17 if needed.

All groups had improved after 52 weeks, but those who received sugar injections improved more than those who were injected with saline solution or exercised.

The authors concluded that the sugar injections “resulted in clinically meaningful sustained improvement of pain, function and stiffness scores for knee osteoarthritis compared with blinded saline injections and at-home exercises”.

More studies involving larger groups of people are needed to confirm the results.