KC Meat Up

Joint Pain, Arthritis and the Carnivore Diet

By Jeffrey M. Barber

Personal stories, not medical advice. If you take medication (especially for blood sugar, blood pressure or mood), change your diet with your doctor in the loop.

What it feels like

Mornings start stiff. Stairs are a negotiation. You've been told it's age, or wear and tear, and that the next step is pills, injections, then a new knee or hip. The people below heard the same thing.

Real people, real stories (N=1)

The Carnivore Diet Cured My Arthritis · Sean (Eyes On Carnivore) · Watch on YouTube

  • Sean says that for years he lived with pain from tendonitis and bursitis in his hips and lower back. YouTube
  • Sean says that by three months on carnivore most of his pain was gone, and by six months his arthritis pain was gone completely. YouTube

Tani treats migraines, insomnia, scoliosis, conjunctivitis, and osteoarthritis on a carnivore diet · Tani (with Dr. Shawn Baker) · Watch on YouTube

  • Tani tells Dr. Shawn Baker her lower back pain fell from a constant 11 to about 2 or 3 on a bad day, and says she can't be cured of her underlying condition. YouTube

Arthritis Pain? Your Diet Is Likely Making It Worse (Fix It Naturally) · Dr. Ken Berry · Watch on YouTube

  • Dr. Ken Berry says arthritis means inflammation in the joint and questions the idea that it's only wear and tear. YouTube
  • Dr. Ken Berry says ketogenic, low-carb high-fat or carnivore diets give joints the nutrition they need without driving inflammation. YouTube

🔴 Is Carnivore the Key to Arthritis Relief? · Dr. Anthony Chaffee · Watch on YouTube

  • Dr. Anthony Chaffee says he doesn't think there's evidence carnivore regrows cartilage, but that it lowers inflammation and pain. YouTube
  • Dr. Anthony Chaffee says carnivore can help arthritis pain, which he calls the main reason for joint replacement. YouTube

Can carnivore help joint pain?? · Dr. Shawn Baker · Watch on YouTube

  • Dr. Shawn Baker cites a University of Alabama study in which people with knee osteoarthritis had significant pain relief on a low-carb diet, less so on low-fat. YouTube
Read the full notes

Sean, on his channel Eyes On Carnivore. The Carnivore Diet Cured My Arthritis, at 5:18 "For years I lived in pain. I was diagnosed with tendonitis and bursitis in my hips and lower back." At 8:42: "by 3 months, most of the pain was gone… by 6 months, my arthritis pain was gone completely." (The word "cured" is from his video title.)

Tani, on Dr. Shawn Baker's podcast. Watch at 58:29 Living with scoliosis and a connective tissue disorder, she says her lower back pain went from "a constant eleven" to about two or three on a bad day. She's careful to add that her underlying condition can't be cured.

Our thesis

Our thesis: We think much everyday joint pain is driven by inflammation and high insulin from the modern diet, not just wear and tear, and that a meat-based diet may ease that pain for some people. Even its advocates don't claim it regrows cartilage. This is understudied for carnivore: we know of no controlled trial of a carnivore diet for joint pain. The one trial cited here tested a low-carb diet in a small pilot.

The bet

  • A directional shift. The stories above come from real people, on camera and in their own words. They are anecdotes, but they point the same way, and we think that's worth taking seriously.
  • Lower risk with your doctor in the loop. Eating meat, eggs, salt and water for a set trial period is a reversible experiment. Painkiller, steroid-injection and warfarin changes need your doctor, so any change happens with them first. The trial happens with your doctor in the loop, not around them; see the Safety check above for the details.
  • Why the research is thin. Randomized trials are built for drugs and are expensive. No one can patent a steak, so the industry has little incentive to fund primal-diet research. A missing trial isn't proof that it works, and it isn't proof that it doesn't.
  • The primal lens. The human body was shaped long before refined sugar, seed oils and ultra-processed food existed. We see the modern diet as the uncontrolled experiment, and a meat-based trial as a step back toward the conditions our biology evolved in.

Overview: the condition, holistically

Osteoarthritis is the most common form of arthritis: the cartilage in a joint, often the knee, hip or hands, wears down and the joint becomes painful and stiff. Commonly discussed contributors include age, past injury, genetics, excess weight and metabolic health. Standard care includes exercise and physical therapy, weight loss, pain relievers such as NSAIDs, steroid injections, and joint replacement. Not all joint pain is osteoarthritis; gout, rheumatoid arthritis and infection need different care.

How carnivore is claimed to help

What advocates say, attributed to them:

  • Not just wear and tear. At 0:29 Dr. Ken Berry says "arthritis is just a word that means inflammation inside the joint" and questions the wear-and-tear story. At 7:20 he says ketogenic, low-carb or carnivore diets give joints the nutrition they need "and they're not going to cause inflammation."
  • Less pain, not new cartilage. At 0:31 Dr. Anthony Chaffee says he doesn't think there's evidence it will "regrow any cartilage," but that it "will lower inflammation and lower your pain." At 3:18 he says pain is the main reason people get joints replaced.
  • A low-carb trial. At 0:12 Dr. Shawn Baker cites a University of Alabama study in which people with knee osteoarthritis saw "significant relief on a low carb diet and less so on a low fat diet."

Doctors and advocates

  • Dr. Ken Berry

    Family physician; argues diet, not just wear and tear, drives arthritis pain.

  • Dr. Anthony Chaffee

    Host of the Anthony Chaffee MD channel; says carnivore can ease arthritis pain, not reverse joint damage.

  • Dr. Shawn Baker

    Carnivore advocate and podcast host; reviews a low-carb knee osteoarthritis study and hosts Tani's story.

Read the full notes

Dr. Ken Berry, family physician. Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@KenDBerryMD

Dr. Anthony Chaffee, physician. Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@anthonychaffeemd

Dr. Shawn Baker, orthopedic surgeon. Channels: https://www.youtube.com/@ShawnBakerMD and https://www.youtube.com/@DrShawnBakerPodcast

Questions to ask your doctor

Ask: "Is my joint pain osteoarthritis, or something else we should rule out first?" "How should we measure whether a 90-day diet trial is helping my pain and function?" Not sure your concerns are being heard? See when to question the advice.

Try it

  • Go through the Safety check above with your doctor before you start.
  • Eat fatty meat, eggs, salt and water. Cut sugar, grains and seed oils.
  • Keep moving: walking and strength work still matter for joints.
  • Plan meals with the KC Meatup calculator, and find KC butchers and clinicians in the directory.
  • Rate your pain and stiffness weekly so you and your doctor can judge a 90-day trial.
Plan your meat with the calculator

Not medical advice

Personal stories, not medical advice. If you take medication (especially for blood sugar, blood pressure or mood), change your diet with your doctor in the loop.

Sources

Research

  • Strath LJ et al. (2019). The Effect of Low-Carbohydrate and Low-Fat Diets on Pain in Individuals with Knee Osteoarthritis. Pain Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1093/pm/pnz022. A randomized controlled pilot in adults aged 65-75 with knee osteoarthritis, comparing low-carb, low-fat and usual diets over 12 weeks. A small pilot of a low-carb diet, not carnivore.

Videos (all verified by oEmbed. Timestamps are confirmed against YouTube auto-captions. Quotes are from the auto-captions.)