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 The results were dramatic. Dr. Orloff remarked, "The first patient presented with femoral patellar [kneecap] "degenerative" joint disease and low back pain attributable to a chronic disk condition following a disco-radicular [base of the disk or compressed disk] acute episode five years ago. She is aged 49 and reliable in her reports. Her global pain score (visual analog scale) decreased by 50% after the first two weeks (scores: 50% to 22%) and by another 50% at 6 weeks of treatment (scores: 22% to 12%). Her comments were that she could bend both through her knees and her back with less pain during the day to day house chores and feeling as though she had former muscles.9"
Shark Cartilage Tested on Dogs with Secondary Osteoarthritis
At about the same time a veterinarian, Dr. J. Rauis, also of Brussels, started experimenting with shark cartilage on dogs have significant secondary osteoarthritis as the result of hip injury or hip dysplasia.
His first study involved three dogs, to test the effectiveness of the powder orally administered with food. After 21 days, his results were very good, all three dogs showed significant decreases in pain, functional signs (pain before and after activity and difficulty in getting over an obstacle) and swelling.
Armed with these results, the study was expanded to include ten dogs. Each dog received 740 mg of shark cartilage for every 5 kg of body weight for 21 days, and was evaluated at day 8, day 15, day 21 and day 36. During the period between day 21 and day 36 the shark cartilage was discontinued to see if there was a regression of the effects of the treatment.
| Symptom/Activity |
Start |
Day 21 |
Day 36 |
| Local Pain/Swelling |
2.7 |
0.9 |
1.7 |
| Lameness before action |
3.1 |
1.6 |
2.2 |
| Lameness after action |
3.0 |
1.7 |
2.0 |
| Movement over obstacle |
3.0 |
2.4 |
2.9 |
Figure 3: Average results observed in osteoarthritic dogs.
Dogs are especially useful in evaluating biologically active substances like shark cartilage because they do not exhibit a placebo effect usually found in human trials.
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