Iwishihadknown

Please share what supplements you utilize for joint health and relief when you experience discomfort.

CliffordK

I find the more I ride, the better the knees get.

I can't say whether it is good or bad for the knees... I'll let you know in 20 or 30 years, but I find that if I ride every day, then I'm pain free. If I drop down to once a week, then the knees start bothering me to the point I can hardly walk.

wolfchild

I don't take joint supplements...I eat good food, ride my bike , go for long walks, do weight bearing exercises such as squats and lunges.

DaveLeeNC

For me (roughly) semi-annual hyaluronic acid knee injections are most helpful (osteo arthritis). I also take a daily dose of Meloxicam, although that is more focused on my hands (more osteo arthritis that affects my classical guitar playing).

dave

doubravsky 

I put some collagen powder in my coffee each morning to help with joint health in general.

Machka 

I am taking glucosamine, but I'm not sure if it is helping or not.

I tried tumeric, but had side effects I didn't like.

Mostly I try to keep things aligned and set up properly when I ride and run, and I do the exercises my physiotherapist has given me.

BloomBikeShop

I take Play Again Now which is a liquid hyaluronic acid and MSM supplement. One bottle (~ one month) and that improves my joints to where I can get back into a good weight lifting and physical therapy routine that wards off further joint pain for many more months (or until an injury forces me to be sedentary) before needing to do it again.

I also have seen Supple work well for some individuals.

Carbonfiberboy 

Glucosamine sulfate (glucosamine hydrochloride doesn't work)
MSM
So far, so good.

rykard

what were the side effects of the turmeric - if you don't mind me asking

Machka 

Mild digestive issues
Joint pain ... I was taking it for the arthritis in my feet, but the joints in my hands and arms started aching about 10 days after I started taking it. Coincidence? Maybe. But the pain stopped soon after I stopped taking it.
And I was nicely heading toward menopause ... then about 10 days after I started taking it that all came to a screeching halt. I stopped taking it and I'm nicely heading toward menopause again ... so far. Could be a coincidence. But apparently curcumin can act like the hormone estrogen or messes with it.

So ... the jury is out on the effectiveness of tumeric. But I do know that the arthritis in my feet certain did not ease up at all.

Tamiya

Gesekee19

collagen

canklecat

I've never noticed any improvements from various supplements touted as beneficial to bone and joint health. Tried 'em all, never noticed any differences.

But with upcoming surgery to remove my thyroid I'll probably need to at least take calcium supplements. Reportedly the parathyroid regulates calcium and since my entire thyroid may be removed I'll probably need supplements. Urk. I'd hoped to avoid that mess.

DrIsotope

I've got arthritis right in the lumbar spine and SI joints. Turmeric/Curcumin helps. 1000mg with breakfast, every morning-- as recommended by my fast-talking doc in Physical Medicine. Been on it I dunno... two months? No side effects I'm aware of.

And I've got the whole medicine cabinet full of the harder stuff-- methocarbamol, cyclobenzaprine, tizanidine, baclofen. None of which I particularly enjoy taking. Zanaflex might as well be a bottle of knockout drops. Anything that might mean less muscle relaxers I'm cool with.

OldTryGuy

I tried joint sups to no avail. Replacement surgery was the only solution to the bone on bone with added spurs that totally resolved my right shoulder issue. Still have 2 knees, left shoulder and left wrist to go.

An almost meatless diet, an increase of anti-inflammatory foods and spices plus minimizing added sugars has allowed me to go prescription med free for pain/inflammation since '80s when my new PCP/friend insisted that I change my consumption habits. She was spot on to the degree where 2 orthopedic surgeons found it interesting that I required no prescription meds for pain in my right shoulder prior to replacement.

Turmeric with black pepper, ginger, cayenne pepper(capsaicin), cumin, cinnamon, fennel, allspice, Italian seasoning, fermented foods, garlic, onions, tomato paste, celery seeds... the list is endless for natural sources to reduce inflammation/pain.

BLACK PEPPERS bioperine increases absorption of nutrients by slowing the digestion process for all things consumed.

Iwishihadknown

Thank you everyone! I have some knee discomfort. I wouldn't call it pain, more like an awareness of a sensation in them. I had a couple of recent rides with a lot of steep climbing, I am confident that my muscles were ready for it but I am questioning whether my tendons and ligaments were. I have an appointment for a professional three hour bike fit next week and I have hit the self care hard. Maybe the warning will turn out in the end to be beneficial. I hope so!

Clyde1820

Speaking of comfort of the knees and hips, specifically ...

Due to some old injuries, I've had tight hip muscles (flexors and others attached to the hips) for some decades. I keep them stretched and relatively strong, I'm fine; allow them to get tight, and all sorts of general issues start cropping up, including with the joints.

And so, for me, ensuring I have a solid, regular stretching regimen is key, addition to whatever fitness program I'm following. Key.

The hip flexor muscles (at the front of each hip, outside the groin area). The piriformis/glute. The hamstrings. The quadriceps. The adductor (inner) and abductor (outer) leg muscles. With these tight, I can develop achy joints. With flexible and limber muscles in those areas, no such achy feeling ever occurs (aside from occasional overworked-muscle tiredness from strength training).

Generally speaking, it can't hurt. Unless you've got joint damage that precludes the strains that certain stretches places on your muscles/joints.

Carbonfiberboy 

Absolutely. I do the same for the same reasons. Stretching and weight work will extend your joints' life more than any supplement. Training is the hammer, supplements the feather. But everything you do helps. The fact that supplements may not help as much as training is not a reason to eschew them. Do both.

rseeker

Every time I've increased exercise intensity I've had some knee pain. Sometimes a lot. From sedentary to walking, to walking hills, to riding, to riding hills, each of those transitions made my knees (and hips) complain for a while. In my case and I've heard from others too, the joints adapt slowly.

And what @Clyde1820 said about stretching goes for me too. Three years ago I didn't know what a piriformis was, but now a piriformis stretch is part of my daily routine, along with hamstring, glutes, IT bands, calves, quads and more.

What do you do for protein? I'm starting to think I'll need to go meatless (for many reasons, not just health) but it looks like tough going. Protein keeps my glucose metabolism happy.

Iwishihadknown

Clyde1820

Here are a couple of decent books on stretching:

• Stretching: 30th Anniversary Edition, by Bob Anderson (Author), Jean Anderson (Illustrator).
• Stretching Anatomy, by Arnold G. Nelson & Jouko Kokkonen.
• The Anatomy of Stretching: Your Illustrated Guide to Flexibility and Injury Rehabilitation, 2nd Ed, by Brad Walker.
• Anatomy and 100 Essential Stretching Exercises, by Guillermo Seijas Albir.

And a series of books on the anatomy of exercise and stretching, by Human Kinetics Publishers. Most of these are exceptional, giving you a view of the muscles involved with various stretches and exercises.

• Cycling Anatomy, by Shannon Sovndal.
• Yoga Anatomy, by Leslie Kaminoff & Amy Matthews.
• Running Anatomy, by Joseph A Puleo & Dr Patrick Milroy.
• Pilates Anatomy, by Rael Isacowitz & Karen Clippinger.
• Bodyweight Strength Training Anatomy, by Bret Contreras

While more exercise instead of stretching centric, each can show how a particular type of exercise (ie, cycling intervals) or movement (ie, pushups) looks from the perspective of the muscles ... which muscles are "hit" most, least. Can help illuminate which exercises target certain muscles (you might be targeting, or treating gingerly due to injury).

Iwishihadknown

Thank you very much! Very decent of you to post all of those resources.

OldTryGuy

Fins and Filtering replaced 2 and 4 feet. Plenty of protein available from plants sources. I also SPICE THINGS UP.

rseeker

My source was a physical therapy practice. My hip pain was so bad I could barely walk but they fixed me right up. The diagnosis was 20 years working in front of a computer. I was doing OK with walking and hiking, but when I added cycling that was too much. The treatment was to stretch and strengthen.

Here are videos that show a good set of stretches to get started. My therapists taught me about twenty-five different stretches and exercises, and I did all of them for a while but it took a lot of time, especially for every day. I whittled it down to this core group that I have to stick with to keep from being tight. I can really tell if I slack off, I need to do them.

For equipment I just need a patch of carpet in the hall, a pillow behind my head and a yoga strap. The strap is just like a belt made of cotten with a plastic buckle at one end that you can thread the strap through to make a loop to go around your foot. It was like 8 bucks. There's another kind of strap you may see in the videos that has loops sewn into it, that's common too, but I'm fine with what I have.

Calf stretch at wall - Calf stretch and ankle toning with band - Supine Hamstring Stretch - IT band stretch with strap - Piriformis stretch - Gluteus medius toning - Prone on elbows (or up on hands with straight arms) - Quadriceps stretch, 2m18s through 2m47s in the video. He does it standing or on his side, while I do it on my stomach because it feels more stable. And if I want to I can easily extend the stretch into a nap. -

Carbonfiberboy 

I haven't eaten meat in 45 years. I do eat fish, though not a lot. My diet contains a good bit of dairy, some eggs. Strong on legumes, whole grains, vegetables, that sort of thing - a mostly plant based diet. I supplement with whey protein, maybe 60g/day when I'm exercising hard. I have a bit of hypoglycemia so I mostly eat slow burning stuff off the bike. On the bike, I can eat all the fast carbs I want, no problem.

Knee pain in particular usually succumbs to changes in bike fit and particular exercises. The prescription depends on the source of the pain. It's usually not weak joints or tendons, just misuse of same.