Soda Enhances Arthritis Knee Pain?

I am a very large man and I also happen to have osteoarthritis.  My arthritis, while not totally debilitation, results in fairly significant pain from time to time... so much so that I consume far too much ibuprofen and Naprosyn in an effort to curb the pain.  My worst pain is in my knees and I always figured that it was a direct result of my weight.  In an effort to control my weight I use Splenda, a well-known artificial sweetener, in my coffee.  I drink a lot of coffee.
Recently I have been reading about how artificial sweeteners actually are worse for you than the sugars that you are trying to avoid by using them and I decided to cut out all artificial sweeteners from my daily diet.  In an effort to cut back on sugar consumption I also decided to eliminate all soda drinks from my diet.  These decisions were made only a few days ago.
Since I made those changes in my diet I have noticed an extreme change in my body... extreme.  My days are usually filled with pain... so much pain that I hate to even mention it to my wife anymore.  The last couple of days have been virtually pain-free and I have been feeling great.
While reflecting on my new-found pain-free life I remembered reading about arthritis pain possibly being associated either with soda, sugar, or artificial sweeteners so I did a quick Google search this morning and found what I was looking for.  Last year Harvard University released the results of a study they had conducted on the relationship of soda consumption and pain.  The study concludes that there is a definite possibility of a link between drinking soda and experiencing arthritis pain from osteoarthritis... especially in the knees.  Also the study concludes that this pain is not weight-related.  In fact, people with less body mass were actually affected more than the larger people in the study.  If their pain was worse than my pain has been being, I certainly do feel sorry for them.  Here is a link to that study:

 http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/health&id=8889220

It is too early for me to draw any definite conclusions but it certainly is not too early for me to report that I feel great and I hope this absence of pain is something that will continue.  I will keep you updated as to whether this condition persists and as of this time it is only my best guess that cutting soda from my diet could be the reason for my lack of pain recently.  We will see...