What to take for Joints

[RON]

Im about 275 and have messed up ankles and knees from playing football. So anyway I just upped morning cardio from 30 min to 45 on Monday and already my ankles are starting to feel it. At my size the joint stress is quite a bit so what should I take while off cycle. There are many products on the market now but what works. I was thinking of maybe some creatine but if any of these supplements work I'd rather do that. Next week I plan on adding a second cardio session at night so I need to get this resolved.

[cb25]

Well, IMO creatine isn't going to help your joints (although i don't think it'll hurt them either).

I really like the glucosamine/chondroitin combo. It works for some, not for others...i've always found it beneficial.

In addition, just make sure you're getting all your vitamins and plenty of EFA's...not much else you can do, supplement wise that i know of.

[PTbyJason]

glucosamine/chondroitin is the best and only choice IMO. You can get it with MSM in it for better absorption if you want. Glucosamine has been very effective in research studies.

[cb25]

glucosamine/chondroitin is the best and only choice IMO. You can get it with MSM in it for better absorption if you want. Glucosamine has been very effective in research studies.

Exactly my point...though if you talk to medical researchers (my teachers have talked about it...and i make a point of questioning)...they have no idea why it works...lots of speculation, but little to no answers from anyone.

but they all seem to agree...it does work.

[RON]

Thanks cb all my vitamins and EFA's are there already.

PT, I was hoping you chime in. I was big on supplements when I was younger. I even took that Cybergenics crap for a while. Seems now I'm always skeptical of them. Its hard to tell the good from the crap. I'll give glucosamine/chondroitin a shot bro thanks a lot.

BTW my idea behind creatine was that it would make me hold water and thus lube the old joint like some steroids do. Not that I want to get all bloated

[PTbyJason]

yeah, I have thought about the creatine idea before. I know the body holds water in the muscles, and I would think some water would be held in the joints which would contribute to some of the strength increases. The only thing is that I don't think it would be enough water retention. I have not personally seen any research on joint pain relief while using creatine though.

Like cb25 said, there isn't any concrete reasons why glucosamine works, but it is definitely one of the most effective things out there next to prescription medication (and there are some rumors that it might be more effective than some prescription medication, though I have no proof of this).

[cb25]

As i understand it, creatine increases water retention, but only in the muscle cells (because that's where the creatine is stored and used). If this is true, it wouldn't have any effect on the joints...

this is how i see it, but like we've said...i haven't seen anything on it to prove one way or the other...for me, this is just my educated guess...

[Mr. Death]

I had a problem with my shoulder, so I began taking glucosamine/chondroitin and it felt much better after a couple of weeks. I've continued using it and the problem hasn't come back.

[PTbyJason]

As i understand it, creatine increases water retention, but only in the muscle cells (because that's where the creatine is stored and used). If this is true, it wouldn't have any effect on the joints...

this is how i see it, but like we've said...i haven't seen anything on it to prove one way or the other...for me, this is just my educated guess...

Very Good points.

I just did some searching for journal articles and came up with nothing. So it looks like no one has thought that creatine was even qualified as a supplement to assist in joint pain relief.

[magicstick2003]

i think the creatine idea is valid, i had knee pains (due to sports) awhile ago and the only tihng that has changed since then has been the addition of creatine and glutamine, and the problem is gone. So its gotta be something and i doubt its the glutamine. It's worth a shot creatine is pretty cheap anyway, if it doesn;t work your only out 20 bucks or so.

[RON]

i think the creatine idea is valid, i had knee pains (due to sports) awhile ago and the only tihng that has changed since then has been the addition of creatine and glutamine, and the problem is gone. So its gotta be something and i doubt its the glutamine. It's worth a shot creatine is pretty cheap anyway, if it doesn;t work your only out 20 bucks or so.

I think the creatine would work fine myself but I would like to stay away from the bloat so I'll give glucosamine/chondroitin a shot.