Could drinking red wine help with knee pain?
A number of years ago, at a dinner party, one of the quests asked me why her knee pain improved when she drank red wine.
She stated that she only would have one glass of wine every couple of nights and that regimen had a greater effect on her knee pain than any of her medications. At that time, I did not have a reasonable answer for her, but perhaps I have an answer now.
Recently I read a medical research article showing that resveratrol, a compound found in red wine, improved the effectiveness of a nonsteroidal pain medication for the treatment of osteoarthritis of the knee.
Osteoarthritis of the knee causes the cartilage to die and wear away. It is the result of chronic inflammation in and around the knee joint.
Factors that promote osteoarthritis include muscle weakness, obesity, prior joint injury, overuse (sports) and aging.
Ultimately the cartilage disappears and the bones of the knee begin to grind against each other with every step. Almost 55 million Americans have symptoms of some form of osteoarthritis.
As the population ages, that number is expected to almost double over the next 12 years. The end result of this process in the knee is often knee replacement surgery (currently 54 percent of knee osteoarthritis patients undergo knee replacement surgery). Nonsurgical treatment of osteoarthritis is not cheap. Lifetime costs have been estimated to be over $140,000.
Resveratrol is an anti-inflammatory compound found in some plants. It protects the plant from attack by bacteria and fungi. Resveratrol is found in robust quantities in the skin of grapes and many berries and subsequently is also found in red wine.
A medical study published in the Journal of Medicinal Food showed that daily resveratrol significantly reduced the need for pain medication.
In this study 110 people diagnosed with osteoarthritis of the knee and taking meloxicam (generic name for Mobic, a nonsteroidal prescription pain medication) were randomized to their meloxicam plus resveratrol or placebo. Over 90 days, those taking resveratrol and meloxicam had a significantly greater reduction in pain and several biologic markers of inflammation when compared to the participants taking meloxicam and a placebo.
This research suggests that people with osteoarthritis of the knee may be able to reduce their use of pain medication.
This is important since use of nonsteroidal pain medications like meloxicam may, over time, make osteoarthritis worse. Reducing biologic markers of inflammation also suggests that they may have a role in not only reducing pain, but also preserving the cartilage of the knee. This could decrease lifetime medical costs and may even reduce the number of knee replacement surgeries needed by our aging population.
A trial of resveratrol might be in order for those suffering from mild to moderate osteoarthritis. I am not sure if resveratrol would benefit people with bone-on-bone knee arthritis, but it does reduce inflammation markers and does not have any documented serious side effects. For those on blood thinners, caution is always stressed.
• Dr. Patrick B. Massey, MD, PH.D., is president of ALT-MED Medical and Physical Therapy, 1544 Nerge Road, Elk Grove Village. His website is www.alt-med.org.