I had a similar problem 6 or 7 tears ago and could hardly walk with both knees very painful, I started taking glucosamine 1500 a day and now have very little pain and can walk quite long distances without trouble, I checked with the anticoag clinic and its ok (according to them) to take glucosamine , but not with chrondroitin, it works for me, but some of my friends have tried it and had no improvement whatsoever,so guess it may be worth a try,it apparently can do no harm??? but would take a few weeks to show,if my experience is anything to go by. when I was unable to obtain my supply around xmas, I had extreme pain in the side of my right knee, like a knife sticking in, and found it difficult to sleep, an x ray proved no damage to knee, a few days after restarting pills, the pain went away, magic.