One Supplement You Need to Know About for Arthritis
May 04, 2026
Welcome back to the last of our 4 Part Series on our One Supplement You Need to Know About. Today, our focus is on collagen and its effects on osteoarthritis.
Bottom-line:
Significant Pain Reduction: Participants who took 3,000 mg of low-molecular-weight collagen peptides (LMCP) daily for 180 days experienced a statistically significant reduction in joint pain (measured via WOMAC scores) compared to the placebo group.
Improved Physical Function: In addition to pain relief, the LMCP group showed marked improvements in physical function and overall joint health scores, making it an effective non-pharmacological option for patients with mild (Kellgren-Lawrence grade I or II) knee osteoarthritis.
Safety and Tolerance: The study reported that the collagen supplementation was safe for long-term use, with no adverse events recorded and high patient compliance throughout the six-month trial.
- Advanced nutritional strategies to support physical therapy for patients with metabolic disorders
- Case studies demonstrating successful integration of nutrition into physical therapy care plans
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Transcript:
Dr. Wells here from St. Augustine. We're here for our fourth and final portion of our 4part series on the supplement that every PT and a rehab professional needs to know more about, and that's collagen. So today we're going to talk specifically about collagen and osteoarthritis.
[00:18-00:36]
In our first part, we talked about exercise recovery. second part, we talked about body composition and does collagen change it or not. The third part, we focus on tendon healing, right? Particularly middle-aged adults and patellar tendinopathy. Today, we're going to focus on osteoarthritis. I have a lot of experience in this area.
[00:36-01:03]
I have a lot of patients that have osteoarthritis. Being in Florida, We have a typically skewed middle to older population. A lot of them were very physically active when they're younger. Some of them were college age athletes and a lot of them took some beatings and wear and tear and had some surgery. So collagen has been a tool that I've been using in my practice for a couple of years and I've seen very good results for patients with osteoarthritis, particularly of the knee. So today, the study I'm focusing on is Park et al.
[01:03-01:39]
This is published in twenty twenty five and it looks at the efficacy and safety of low molecular weight collagen peptides in knee osteoarthritis. It's a double blinded randomized control trial. So this is kind of like the peak of all studies, right? So what do they find? Well, Basically, with individuals that have OA or acute tendon issues, they found undenatured type 2 collagen helps reduce inflammation, typically dosed at around 40 milligrams per day. Now, the overall collagen peptide loading that they recommend is anywhere from ten to 15 grams per day.
[01:39-02:00]
What did they see? Well, here's the cool thing is they use actual like physical therapy and rehab outcomes. They use something called the WOMAC, right? That's something that we used. It's the Western Ontario McMaster Arthritis Index. I believe that's the best I can do with that acronym. But basically, it's a knee index that looks at osteoarthritis measures like bending, straightening, stiffness.
[02:00-02:41]
They saw significant improvements in the WOMAC. They also saw significant improvements in VAS. That's the reported pain for these particular athletes. And what they used as a comparator was glucosamine. And that's something I know that we talked about in my 3part course series about how the evidence for glucosamine is just kind of getting weaker and weaker, right? So maybe collagen needs to be the one that steps up. And I really encourage you if you're a PT or an OT or strength coach, start looking more at the data on collagen and not just the collagen peptides, but also some of those undenatured collagen type 2 fiber or type 2 collagen.
[02:41-03:13]
because it has an actual inflammatory effect so it actually helps to suppress some of the interleukins some of the cytokines that promote inflammation so you kind of get a double-edged response so if a patient's not in an acute flare they could do they can do and they do get by on just collagen peptides at anywhere from ten to 15 grams per day however if someone's in an acute flare they may need that extra type 2 undenatured collagen to help really suppress the inflammation so If you like this, check out our 3part course series.
[03:13-03:34]
It's a certificate program for physical therapists, but also for any rehab professionals. It's approved for PTs for continuing ed. We also have a bonus course that's focused on supplements, evidence-based supplements, and it has handouts for you so you can take it into the clinic the next day. It talks about some of these collagen protocols and more.
[03:34-03:38]
So like, subscribe, check it out, and stay tuned for our next series.
