Lots of folks have good results for pain and stiffness in the hip and knee with glucosamine and chondroitin, but the double-blind placebo studies are piling up and saying NAY!  I kept a log for three months and didn’t see any significant results, and you should do the same.  Don’t just keep throwing stuff down because “people say it works.”  Give it a fair shot and then move on to something new – avocado/soybean unsaponifiables.  Mostly available on his web site, Dr. Theodosakis has four good clinical trials for the Avosoy supplement that show promising results for osteoarthritis.  Also make an appointment with a really excellent physical therapist, the kind who operates independently and takes a few weeks to get in to see.  Do what they tell you to do religiously, and of course, take off some weight to take a load off those joints.  Do I need to mention yoga and pilates?  Duh.  With some NSAID use showing increased risk of heart attack and stroke, ibuprofen and Celebrex-type drugs can no longer be considered the most conservative approach.  On the other hand, there’s an epidemic of “torn meniscus” diagnoses going around, resulting in lots of profitable MRI and surgery recommendations.  If it’s arthritis, surgery may not help.  Read Dr. Ron Grelsamer’s “What Your Doctor May NOT tell you about Knee Pain and Surgery” before jumping in for surgery.