Best supplements for joints?

[Mr Tim Buktoo]

Have been running for years and can feel the ole knees starting to struggle.
Any good supplements to recommend for joints/muscles?
I know glucosamine seems to be the main one. I used to drink cod liver oil straight from the bottle every day! No idea if that did much for me.
Any proper research done or are they all shyte.
Ta.

[Ali Cadoo]

I’ll get my token ‘I always like a bit of cherry tobacco’ comment out the way before recommending collagen powder. Odourless, tasteless, dissolves in liquid, we stick some in our coffee and it really helps my creaking hinges. Cod liver oil, too.

[Fangle]

I use glucosamine with chondroitin to keep my arthritic type pains away. I ran long distances for about 25 years and got tired of it. When I tried to go back after five years I found my knees were gone and I haven’t been able to run since.

[Enzedder]

Not sure if you guys can get this stuff but I swear by it

https://www.deepbluehealth.co.nz/collec ... N5EALw_wcB

Our Secret

Unique to New Zealand, Green Lipped Mussel (Green Shell Mussel) is one of nature's most powerful functional foods containing a range of bioactive ingredients that in particular promote joint health.

Our Deep Blue Health Green Lipped Mussel is sourced from licensed marine farms in the South Island of New Zealand and is rich in Glycosaminoglycans (GAGs), Omega 3 fatty acids, Glucosamine, Chondroitin sulfate, and marine protein. Our Green Lipped Mussel is freeze-dried to preserve these natural nutrients that provide support for joints.

In a recent composition analysis test of our Green Lipped Mussel, (batch dated 7 March 2019) Chondroitin Sulfate was found to equal an amazing 19.01% in our powder. This is an incredibly high percentage, which will have added benefits for our customers wanting to improve their joint health.

Benefits

Promotes joint health and mobility
Helps the body naturally repair and rebuild damaged cartilage
Supports connective tissue, speeds repair of ligaments and tendons
Provides significant anti-inflammatory activity
Natural pain relief without the long-term side effects of arthritic drugs
Green Lipped Mussel is an excellent source of Glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) that make the principal components of cartilage and the synovial fluid found in joints. These GAGs provide flexibility, elasticity and tensile strength to the articular cartilage. Taking GAGs can also exert a strong anti-inflammatory action on the connective tissue.

Research is also showing that Green Lipped Mussel may help with a reduction in inflammation leading to improved breathing in those suffering from asthma.

If you are looking for a product to support your pet's joint health please check out our PurePets product here.

Our supplement is made from pure fresh mussels so the capsules do maintain the natural smell of the potent raw ingredients.

[sefton]

Rizla

[Ted.]

Rizla

Is the obvious correct answer.

[Tichtheid]

Rizla isn't just the funny answer, it works.

If you want to go another way I've found a teaspoon of turmeric in warm water with grated ginger, some lemon juice, honey and black pepper makes a difference - the black pepper apparently helps the therapeutic parts of the turmeric and ginger and makes them get into your system quicker, whilst the honey and lemon make it drinkable

I've been trying Devil's Claw, but I don't know if it works more than the turmeric, I'd have to cut one out to see

[dpedin]

Exercise ... or should say the right exercise. Remember seeing a study, can't remember where but I will try and find it, which looked at arthritic pain and best treatment. Looked at everything from rest, supplements, physio, pain killers, opioids, acupuncture etc and the one that was by way the best for pain relief and keeping the joints working was exercise with the caveat that it was done properly. Obviously it had to be sensible and done properly - I wouldn't try doing heavy squats etc with my dodgy arthritic knees for example. I think the study found that all the other remedies some at best had some temporary relief but minimal impact long term. Thats not to say some supplements might do some people some good but generally good diet would do the trick.

[Openside]

Rizla

Damn you that was what I came onto the thread to post!!

[Fangle]

Rizla

Damn you that was what I came onto the thread to post!!

I’m completely ignorant concerning all stuff drug related, but I thought that rizla was a paper.

[Chilli]

www.jointxl.com

[dkm57]

Turmeric, 1/4 of a teaspoon twice a day has taken me from downing painkillers and seeing a consultant about knee replacements to walking more or less normally with the odd 'ouch' moment during cold, damp weather.

Shopping trolleys are the devil's work

[Openside]

Rizla

Damn you that was what I came onto the thread to post!!

I’m completely ignorant concerning all stuff drug related, but I thought that rizla was a paper.

I am told you tear the Rizla packaging to create a cardboard butt for your reefer

[clydecloggie]

Hi folks, your resident knee expert here - knee arthritis has been my main research interest for the last 24 years and I hold a full University Chair in it. So for what it's worth, the evidence says:

1) Everything that you think works, works to some extent. It's called the placebo effect and is one of the most powerful healing mechanisms out there - if it works for you, it works. All subsequent points therefore relate to 'beyond placebo'.
2) Glucosamine and chondroitin don't work. There is no evidence that any meaningful molecule survives digestion and then ends up in the cartilage where it needs to be.
3) Capsaicin (the stuff that makes chillies hot) is the only proven effective nutrient that has an anti-inflammatory and analgesic effect; so much so it's actually available as a prescription drug.
4) Evidence is emerging that turmeric might have similar effects to capsaicin - should be clear within the next few years.
5) All other nutrient claims (most notably broccoli and red wine) are firmly in the bullshit camp. Some interesting chemical reactions have been observed when you put a specific molecule found in these foods/drinks in a petri dish and mix them with molecules known to be involved in various arthritic mechanisms, but that's it and it's miles and miles away from being meaningful to any processes in living human beings.
6) Exercise is a proven effective treatment improving outcomes across the board. The kicker obviously is that exercise can hurt and lots of people with arthritis stop exercising because of that. The good news is that even if exercise hurts, it doesn't do any (additional) joint damage - unless you're talking elite-level high-impact high-duration sport - don't go for that sub-3hr marathon with arthritic knees, folks. A good choice would be to switch from high-impact exercise (e.g. running) to low-impact exercise (cycling, swimming) which have the same cardiovascular benefits with less chance of adverse biomechanical loads affecting your joints.
7) Insoles, adapted shoes, knee braces and gait changes (in particular, walking with a toe-out gait i.e., a slight version of the Charlie Chaplin walk) can be effective if your arthritis is caused by adverse biomechanics - excessive loads on the wrong part of the knee. Current evidence strongly suggests that this is only true for a subset of arthritis patients, but also that these interventions do no harm - if they do not lead to pain reduction, you simply discontinue them and you haven't exposed yourself to harmful side effects unlike with most dug therapies.

Happy to field any questions on this.

[Slick]

"Expert"

Very much looking forward to Bimbo taking this apart.

[dpedin]

Hi folks, your resident knee expert here - knee arthritis has been my main research interest for the last 24 years and I hold a full University Chair in it. So for what it's worth, the evidence says:

1) Everything that you think works, works to some extent. It's called the placebo effect and is one of the most powerful healing mechanisms out there - if it works for you, it works. All subsequent points therefore relate to 'beyond placebo'.
2) Glucosamine and chondroitin don't work. There is no evidence that any meaningful molecule survives digestion and then ends up in the cartilage where it needs to be.
3) Capsaicin (the stuff that makes chillies hot) is the only proven effective nutrient that has an anti-inflammatory and analgesic effect; so much so it's actually available as a prescription drug.
4) Evidence is emerging that turmeric might have similar effects to capsaicin - should be clear within the next few years.
5) All other nutrient claims (most notably broccoli and red wine) are firmly in the bullshit camp. Some interesting chemical reactions have been observed when you put a specific molecule found in these foods/drinks in a petri dish and mix them with molecules known to be involved in various arthritic mechanisms, but that's it and it's miles and miles away from being meaningful to any processes in living human beings.
6) Exercise is a proven effective treatment improving outcomes across the board. The kicker obviously is that exercise can hurt and lots of people with arthritis stop exercising because of that. The good news is that even if exercise hurts, it doesn't do any (additional) joint damage - unless you're talking elite-level high-impact high-duration sport - don't go for that sub-3hr marathon with arthritic knees, folks. A good choice would be to switch from high-impact exercise (e.g. running) to low-impact exercise (cycling, swimming) which have the same cardiovascular benefits with less chance of adverse biomechanical loads affecting your joints.
7) Insoles, adapted shoes, knee braces and gait changes (in particular, walking with a toe-out gait i.e., a slight version of the Charlie Chaplin walk) can be effective if your arthritis is caused by adverse biomechanics - excessive loads on the wrong part of the knee. Current evidence strongly suggests that this is only true for a subset of arthritis patients, but also that these interventions do no harm - if they do not lead to pain reduction, you simply discontinue them and you haven't exposed yourself to harmful side effects unlike with most dug therapies.

Happy to field any questions on this.

Thanks - saves me having to look out the article!

[clydecloggie]

"Expert"

Very much looking forward to Bimbo taking this apart.

Feck, I did call myself an expert there, didn't I. Fucking idiot. I deserve all Bimbot will give me.

[dkm57]

Hi folks, your resident knee expert here - knee arthritis has been my main research interest for the last 24 years and I hold a full University Chair in it. So for what it's worth, the evidence says:
In my experience
1) Everything that you think works, works to some extent. It's called the placebo effect and is one of the most powerful healing mechanisms out there - if it works for you, it works. All subsequent points therefore relate to 'beyond placebo'.
2) Glucosamine and chondroitin don't work. There is no evidence that any meaningful molecule survives digestion and then ends up in the cartilage where it needs to be. yup
3) Capsaicin (the stuff that makes chillies hot) is the only proven effective nutrient that has an anti-inflammatory and analgesic effect; so much so it's actually available as a prescription drug. ddsin't know that
4) Evidence is emerging that turmeric might have similar effects to capsaicin - should be clear within the next few years. It most definitely does
5) All other nutrient claims (most notably broccoli and red wine) are firmly in the bullshit camp. Some interesting chemical reactions have been observed when you put a specific molecule found in these foods/drinks in a petri dish and mix them with molecules known to be involved in various arthritic mechanisms, but that's it and it's miles and miles away from being meaningful to any processes in living human beings. interesting
6) Exercise is a proven effective treatment improving outcomes across the board. The kicker obviously is that exercise can hurt and lots of people with arthritis stop exercising because of that. The good news is that even if exercise hurts, it doesn't do any (additional) joint damage - unless you're talking elite-level high-impact high-duration sport - don't go for that sub-3hr marathon with arthritic knees, folks. A good choice would be to switch from high-impact exercise (e.g. running) to low-impact exercise (cycling, swimming) which have the same cardiovascular benefits with less chance of adverse biomechanical loads affecting your joints. So much this
7) Insoles, adapted shoes, knee braces and gait changes (in particular, walking with a toe-out gait i.e., a slight version of the Charlie Chaplin walk) can be effective if your arthritis is caused by adverse biomechanics - excessive loads on the wrong part of the knee. Current evidence strongly suggests that this is only true for a subset of arthritis patients, but also that these interventions do no harm - if they do not lead to pain reduction, you simply discontinue them and you haven't exposed yourself to harmful side effects unlike with most dug therapies. Logical

If you're on acid suppression meds make sure your magnesium intake is adequate

Would add that if you're on long term acid suppressant meds like Lanzoprazol make sure your magnesium intake is adequate

Happy to field any questions on this.

[Fangle]

All the same my arthritis in my finger joints swell up visibly and become painful if I don’t take the placebo for a number of days.

[Ali Cadoo]

Good post, CC.

Way to ruin my placebo effect, though!

[clydecloggie]

All the same my arthritis in my finger joints swell up visibly and become painful if I don’t take the placebo for a number of days.

Absolutely, if it works for you, it works and you should keep doing it, science be damned.

And one thing science is really bad at anyway is explaining individual responses to anything, it's all about average responses in large groups of people. Your body may have just the right biochemical strengths for chondroitin to be a wonderful supplement to take, who knows?

But also, the placebo response is a miracle of nature and achieves things that can go beyond what any scientist or clinician would consider credible - including suppression of inflammation like you describe above.

[clydecloggie]

Good post, CC.

Way to ruin my placebo effect, though!

Cheers.

And fortunately there is some evidence that even if you explicitly tell people that what they are taking is a placebo, it still has an effect! In particular if the packaging is convincing (just like A-brand paracetamol is more effective than bargain-brand paracetamol of the exact same strength , purely based on brand attribution and packaging). So make sure you buy the stuff with the most snazzy packaging, because that works the best

[Mr Tim Buktoo]

Hi folks, your resident knee expert here - knee arthritis has been my main research interest for the last 24 years and I hold a full University Chair in it. So for what it's worth, the evidence says:

1) Everything that you think works, works to some extent. It's called the placebo effect and is one of the most powerful healing mechanisms out there - if it works for you, it works. All subsequent points therefore relate to 'beyond placebo'.
2) Glucosamine and chondroitin don't work. There is no evidence that any meaningful molecule survives digestion and then ends up in the cartilage where it needs to be.
3) Capsaicin (the stuff that makes chillies hot) is the only proven effective nutrient that has an anti-inflammatory and analgesic effect; so much so it's actually available as a prescription drug.
4) Evidence is emerging that turmeric might have similar effects to capsaicin - should be clear within the next few years.
5) All other nutrient claims (most notably broccoli and red wine) are firmly in the bullshit camp. Some interesting chemical reactions have been observed when you put a specific molecule found in these foods/drinks in a petri dish and mix them with molecules known to be involved in various arthritic mechanisms, but that's it and it's miles and miles away from being meaningful to any processes in living human beings.
6) Exercise is a proven effective treatment improving outcomes across the board. The kicker obviously is that exercise can hurt and lots of people with arthritis stop exercising because of that. The good news is that even if exercise hurts, it doesn't do any (additional) joint damage - unless you're talking elite-level high-impact high-duration sport - don't go for that sub-3hr marathon with arthritic knees, folks. A good choice would be to switch from high-impact exercise (e.g. running) to low-impact exercise (cycling, swimming) which have the same cardiovascular benefits with less chance of adverse biomechanical loads affecting your joints.
7) Insoles, adapted shoes, knee braces and gait changes (in particular, walking with a toe-out gait i.e., a slight version of the Charlie Chaplin walk) can be effective if your arthritis is caused by adverse biomechanics - excessive loads on the wrong part of the knee. Current evidence strongly suggests that this is only true for a subset of arthritis patients, but also that these interventions do no harm - if they do not lead to pain reduction, you simply discontinue them and you haven't exposed yourself to harmful side effects unlike with most dug therapies.

Happy to field any questions on this.

Interesting. What about collagen or cod liver oil as mentioned above?
I'm not at the arthritis level just yet but it's in the family and no doubt I'm gonna get it bad. Are any of the above good to delay it's onset?

[Openside]

All the same my arthritis in my finger joints swell up visibly and become painful if I don’t take the placebo for a number of days.

Fangle apparently if you can get white&blue placebo pills they work the best (even if you know they are placebos)


Edit : confirmed by the Expert two posts above

[Slick]

I've never really had knee problems but my left one is hurting this afternoon.

Thanks idiots.

[Openside]

I've never really had knee problems but my left one is hurting this afternoon.

Thanks idiots.

The opposite of a placebo effect

[Fangle]

All the same my arthritis in my finger joints swell up visibly and become painful if I don’t take the placebo for a number of days.

Absolutely, if it works for you, it works and you should keep doing it, science be damned.

And one thing science is really bad at anyway is explaining individual responses to anything, it's all about average responses in large groups of people. Your body may have just the right biochemical strengths for chondroitin to be a wonderful supplement to take, who knows?

But also, the placebo response is a miracle of nature and achieves things that can go beyond what any scientist or clinician would consider credible - including suppression of inflammation like you describe above.

Could the anti-oxidant I take with it make a difference?

[Line6 HXFX]

Just don't run downhill. I am often passed by a seriously attractive girl running down one of the steepest hills in Ebbw, and boy are there steep hills here. I am so tempted to shout "oi luv, don't run down hill, you will fuck up your knees in later life" but she is so gaw'damned cute saying anything to her it would seem like I am coming on to her, when I would basically just shouting friendly unsolicited advice at an attractive jogger.

Which is kinda fucked up.

[clydecloggie]

Interesting. What about collagen or cod liver oil as mentioned above?
I'm not at the arthritis level just yet but it's in the family and no doubt I'm gonna get it bad. Are any of the above good to delay it's onset?

Collagen would fall in the glucosamine / chondroitin category - unlikely to arrive at the crime scene in working order.

Cod liver oil is mainly taken for its high vitamin D content, and I'm afraid to say the studies so far have had disappointing outcomes. I should know, I ran one. Obviously, generally speaking, good vitamin D levels are good for you and if you're UK based, the sun isn't going to provide that for most of the year. So supplementing vit D is not the worst idea (although it's toxic at high levels). But for arthritis, it doesn't appear to do much.

[Sandstorm]

Good post, CC.

Way to ruin my placebo effect, though!

Amen. My wife has Arthur Ritus and Gut Rot and this post is very useful.

[dpedin]

Clyde - quick personal question. I have arthritic knees and have had a number of arthroscopies over last 20 years due to sport - rugby, football, squash, skiing - anything that is bad for knees! Last 5+ years I had pain in my left knee which I thought was arthritis. Couple of years ago I had septic arthritis in left knee, hospitalised for 10 days, a couple more arthroscopies to clean the infection out and a very long time on IV and then oral antibiotics. Crutches for 4 months, physio and then gym non stop for another 6 months. I am now back to normal gym routine and playing golf 3-4 times a week. My knee now feels better than ever, has better range of movement and the pain I had previously before the septic arthritis is greatly reduced. Is it possible I had a low grade infection in my knee for some years and this is what caused my knee pain prior to the bout of septic arthritis?

[clydecloggie]

Clyde - quick personal question. I have arthritic knees and have had a number of arthroscopies over last 20 years due to sport - rugby, football, squash, skiing - anything that is bad for knees! Last 5+ years I had pain in my left knee which I thought was arthritis. Couple of years ago I had septic arthritis in left knee, hospitalised for 10 days, a couple more arthroscopies to clean the infection out and a very long time on IV and then oral antibiotics. Crutches for 4 months, physio and then gym non stop for another 6 months. I am now back to normal gym routine and playing golf 3-4 times a week. My knee now feels better than ever, has better range of movement and the pain I had previously before the septic arthritis is greatly reduced. Is it possible I had a low grade infection in my knee for some years and this is what caused my knee pain prior to the bout of septic arthritis?

That's definitely possible. Around the knee, and most other joints for that matter, is a bag of fluid - the synovium. It's the primary site of arthritic inflammation: synovitis. A clean out of the joint plus elephant killer antibiotics will probably have eliminated any inflammation in that area.

Alternatively, or additionally, they may have removed some bony spikes (osteophytes) during the arthroscopies, which could have caused pain and mechanical obstruction (loss of range of motion).

A third very common cause of pain is a frayed meniscus. The meniscus most resembles a figure-of-8 rubber band which serves as a shock absorber in the knee joint and is very susceptible to tissue damage. It is quite often cleaned up during arthroscopy as well, with removal of the frayed ends.

Both osteophytes and meniscal tears and also microfractures in the cartilage can lead to low-grade synovitis that never gets quite bad enough to warrant surgery by itself but leads to significant functional limitation nevertheless. A nice bout of septic arthritis then provided the reason to go in after all and clean things up. Good to hear you've recovered so well, that's not a guarantee!

If you happen to have the clinical notes from the procedures you could check if any of these things are mentioned.

[average joe]

About a year ago my wife experienced severe neck pain. It got so bad she could not turn her head. Anyways, turned out her discs were foked. She started using flexofend and swears by it. I told her it's just eggshell membrane but have to admit she's no longer in pain and no more robocop head.

[dpedin]

Clyde - quick personal question. I have arthritic knees and have had a number of arthroscopies over last 20 years due to sport - rugby, football, squash, skiing - anything that is bad for knees! Last 5+ years I had pain in my left knee which I thought was arthritis. Couple of years ago I had septic arthritis in left knee, hospitalised for 10 days, a couple more arthroscopies to clean the infection out and a very long time on IV and then oral antibiotics. Crutches for 4 months, physio and then gym non stop for another 6 months. I am now back to normal gym routine and playing golf 3-4 times a week. My knee now feels better than ever, has better range of movement and the pain I had previously before the septic arthritis is greatly reduced. Is it possible I had a low grade infection in my knee for some years and this is what caused my knee pain prior to the bout of septic arthritis?

That's definitely possible. Around the knee, and most other joints for that matter, is a bag of fluid - the synovium. It's the primary site of arthritic inflammation: synovitis. A clean out of the joint plus elephant killer antibiotics will probably have eliminated any inflammation in that area.

Alternatively, or additionally, they may have removed some bony spikes (osteophytes) during the arthroscopies, which could have caused pain and mechanical obstruction (loss of range of motion).

A third very common cause of pain is a frayed meniscus. The meniscus most resembles a figure-of-8 rubber band which serves as a shock absorber in the knee joint and is very susceptible to tissue damage. It is quite often cleaned up during arthroscopy as well, with removal of the frayed ends.

Both osteophytes and meniscal tears and also microfractures in the cartilage can lead to low-grade synovitis that never gets quite bad enough to warrant surgery by itself but leads to significant functional limitation nevertheless. A nice bout of septic arthritis then provided the reason to go in after all and clean things up. Good to hear you've recovered so well, that's not a guarantee!

If you happen to have the clinical notes from the procedures you could check if any of these things are mentioned.

Cheers Clyde - appreciated! I was too spaced out with pain killers post both ops to ask any questions, probably a combination of all the above! I am only too grateful to have almost full function back again. It was the most painful thing I have had and the post op physio to get joint working again was very painful and took a long time. My knee would neither straighten, 15 degrees off of straight, nor bend beyond 90 degrees post op and i had significant muscle loss. Luckily I enjoy the gym and the physios worked had on recovery. My instrument of torture was the biodex machine.

[Knoath]

Hi Clyde
So you seem to know what you're saying. My wife has bad cartlidge issues in knees and yes she has been using the other shit, which I constantly point out, she actually believes your post though. Any advice on cartlidge issue (pretty much gone according to her and doctors)
Cheers in advance

[clydecloggie]

Hi Clyde
So you seem to know what you're saying. My wife has bad cartlidge issues in knees and yes she has been using the other shit, which I constantly point out, she actually believes your post though. Any advice on cartlidge issue (pretty much gone according to her and doctors)
Cheers in advance

So your wife has osteoarthritis, and if the cartilage is indeed 'pretty much gone', that would be 'end-stage' or 'grade 4' OA. There are plenty of people who have that, but do not have any pain or limitations in function. But if she's seen doctors for it, I assume she does have pain.

In that case, knee replacement surgery should be an option for her, although I'm not saying it would be the solution. Knee replacement surgery is proven effective but also risky - in that it works well in terms of improving pain and function for >70% of patients, but doesn't in the remaining ~30% and sometimes can lead to complications which may require revision surgery etc. Unfortunately we cannot yet accurately predict in whom the surgery will work, but if the answers to the following questions are all yes, I'd be more confident that it could be the right thing to do:

Are her knees the only joints that hurt?
Is she of normal body weight (i.e. she's not obese)?
Is the pain mainly on the insides of her knees - by which I mean on the left hand side of her right knee and the right hand side of her left knee (in any clinical notes, this may be referred to as 'medial')?
Are the knees NOT normally red and/or swollen?

The more Noes to the questions above, the more reluctant I'd personally be to go down the surgery path - the four questions ask after widespread pain, obesity, non-mechanical sources of joint damage and pain, and clear signs of inflammation, all of which I would consider reasons not to do surgery - but I'll readily admit that the scientific evidence underpinning that opinion is flimsy at best.

Exercise is key - I really can't stress that enough. Cycling and swimming in particular, or gym stuff that doesn't involve too much running, are good options. If joints are too painful to exercise, try and see if well-timed pain killers can make it bearable. And finally, play around with changing the way she walks - taking longer or shorter steps , or pointing the toes outwards or inwards, can help as well. Then, to celebrate, enjoy a nice spicy yellow curry for your recommended turmeric and capsaicin shot.

The sad reality is that none of it will probably 'cure' your wife entirely but those are things that could improve it.

[clive]

Have been running for years and can feel the ole knees starting to struggle.
Any good supplements to recommend for joints/muscles?
I know glucosamine seems to be the main one. I used to drink cod liver oil straight from the bottle every day! No idea if that did much for me.
Any proper research done or are they all shyte.
Ta.

Magnesium

[PCPhil]

Not sure if you guys can get this stuff but I swear by it

https://www.deepbluehealth.co.nz/collec ... N5EALw_wcB

Our Secret

Unique to New Zealand, Green Lipped Mussel (Green Shell Mussel) is one of nature's most powerful functional foods containing a range of bioactive ingredients that in particular promote joint health.

Our Deep Blue Health Green Lipped Mussel is sourced from licensed marine farms in the South Island of New Zealand and is rich in Glycosaminoglycans (GAGs), Omega 3 fatty acids, Glucosamine, Chondroitin sulfate, and marine protein. Our Green Lipped Mussel is freeze-dried to preserve these natural nutrients that provide support for joints.

In a recent composition analysis test of our Green Lipped Mussel, (batch dated 7 March 2019) Chondroitin Sulfate was found to equal an amazing 19.01% in our powder. This is an incredibly high percentage, which will have added benefits for our customers wanting to improve their joint health.

Benefits

Promotes joint health and mobility
Helps the body naturally repair and rebuild damaged cartilage
Supports connective tissue, speeds repair of ligaments and tendons
Provides significant anti-inflammatory activity
Natural pain relief without the long-term side effects of arthritic drugs
Green Lipped Mussel is an excellent source of Glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) that make the principal components of cartilage and the synovial fluid found in joints. These GAGs provide flexibility, elasticity and tensile strength to the articular cartilage. Taking GAGs can also exert a strong anti-inflammatory action on the connective tissue.

Research is also showing that Green Lipped Mussel may help with a reduction in inflammation leading to improved breathing in those suffering from asthma.

If you are looking for a product to support your pet's joint health please check out our PurePets product here.

Our supplement is made from pure fresh mussels so the capsules do maintain the natural smell of the potent raw ingredients.

Interesting. I used to get terrible back episodes about once every 2 years. Thankfully (I hope) they seem behind me now. Rather than overdosing on ibroprofen gel as it would start to ease. my wife suggested a Gel from them thar mussels and it really did seem to help. Might look into this for the slightly dogy knee.
Update: Just bought some. I will report back on my scientific analysis.

[Tichtheid]

Hi folks, your resident knee expert here - knee arthritis has been my main research interest for the last 24 years and I hold a full University Chair in it. So for what it's worth, the evidence says:

1) Everything that you think works, works to some extent. It's called the placebo effect and is one of the most powerful healing mechanisms out there - if it works for you, it works. All subsequent points therefore relate to 'beyond placebo'.
2) Glucosamine and chondroitin don't work. There is no evidence that any meaningful molecule survives digestion and then ends up in the cartilage where it needs to be.
3) Capsaicin (the stuff that makes chillies hot) is the only proven effective nutrient that has an anti-inflammatory and analgesic effect; so much so it's actually available as a prescription drug.
4) Evidence is emerging that turmeric might have similar effects to capsaicin - should be clear within the next few years.
........

Happy to field any questions on this.

Hi clyde, I remembered this post yesterday as I was looking up some things.

My story is that I had to give up playing piano due to a constant dull ache in my forearms. This dull ache was augmented with really sharp shooting pains a couple of times a day.
Rest from playing made these symptoms disappear pretty much entirely. I tried going back to playing half a dozen times (this is over the course of three years or so) and every time the pains came back.

About a year ago I saw a Michael Mosely tv prog which mentioned the effects of turmeric, I think it was do do with cancer, but it was also touted for its anti-inflammatory properties.
A year later and I've built up to taking a heaped teaspoon of turmeric in a glass of water every morning and I can now play for half to three quarters of an hour every day with only a little bit of the dull ache present, just a little, it's not really intrusive and before I had to stop after ten minutes and it would put me out for a month at least if I had played for a few days in a row.

What I was looking up yesterday was capsaicin supplements. I buy the turmeric in a large bag from the supermarket for a couple of quid, but I'm not sure I could drink a solution of a heaped teaspoon of chili powder every morning, but I would if it doubled down on the anti-inflammatory properties I've found with turmeric.
Basically what I'm asking is this, is the amount of capsaicin relative to the heat of the chilli powder, ie, is hot powder better than mild powder?
After the success I've had with turmeric I want to try this every day.

Cheers.

[clydecloggie]

Hi TH,

Good to hear the turmeric is working so well for you.

I would strongly advise against repeating the same trick with the same amounts of chilli powder. Yes, it's capsaicin that is both the effective analgesic and anti-inflammatory drug as well as the stuff that makes chillies hot. So the hotter the powder, the more capsaicin is in it. But overdosing on capsaicin will just wreck your gut.

My suggestion would be to get capsaicin cream and apply that on the skin in the area that gives you the aches, but in particular near any joints that cause you pain. The skin doesn't let an awful lot of stuff through, but you can get enough of the capsaicin in that way and near the joints the distance between skin and joint pain receptors is at its shortest. Since you support Edinburgh, I assume cost is no issue for you - try and find a high-end cream with the highest capsaicin content. All the rest of the cream is feel-good tender skin stuff for fannies. Alternatively, the NHS might be willing to prescribe it?

In addition, spike your turmeric shot with some chilli powder, an amount that you can handle comfortably (without popping all the veins in your eyeballs and having to show your toilet bowl the Japanese flag every morning). If you notice further improvement, try and up the amount of chilli powder to train yourself to tolerate more. Then see if you can do without the skin cream.