Hyaluronic acid shows benefits for Knee Osteoarthritis
A new meta-analysis of 29 studies involving more than 4,500 patients with Knee Osteoarthritis found that intra-articular hyaluronic acid (HA) injections provided significant improvement in pain and function compared to saline injections. It included results from studies of six HA injection brands, with identical treatment follow up between the treatment and control groups. The results are in contrast to an earlier paper that included data from many HA products which are not FDA approved and not available in the US.
Researchers found very large treatment effects between four and 26 weeks for knee pain and function compared to pre-injection values, and changes of approximately 50 percent improvement in pain and function from baseline with viscosupplementation. See: "US-Approved Intra-Articular Hyaluronic Acid Injections are Safe and Effective in Patients with Knee Osteoarthritis: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized, Saline-Controlled Trials," Larry Miller et al. Clinical Medicine Insights: Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Disorders 2013:6 57-63 DOI: 10.4137/CMAMD.S12743
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