If you have arthritis a new study suggests there's no point in taking paracetamol the active ingredient in a large number of over-the-counter painkillers. In the large-scale analysis of pain-relief medication for osteoarthritis researchers found that paracetamol does not meet the minimum standard of clinical effectiveness in reducing pain or improving physical function in patients with knee and hip osteoarthritis. Although paracetamol was slightly better than placebo researchers concluded that taken on its own paracetamol has no role in the treatment of patients with osteoarthritis irrespective of dose. The study is the largest analysis of randomised trials of medical pain
