Glucosamine And Chondroitin For Knee Pain
Glucosamine and chondroitin are produced naturally in the body as building blocks needed to make cartilage, tendons, ligaments and synovial fluid. Their production declines with age, and it is often in short supply, especially when active joint repair is needed.
Glucosamine and chondroitin regulate the levels of at least 31 different proteins in cartilage cells which are involved in cartilage health, antioxidant stress responses, and the synthesis of new proteins such as collagen. Glucosamine and chondroitin act as biological signals to switch on the repair of damaged joint tissues, and suppress the inflammation and breakdown of cartilage that is a feature of osteoarthritis.
As you get older, your cartilage cells secrete less and less glucosamine and chondroitin. As a result, cartilage becomes more brittle and prone to the degenerative changes seen in ageing joints.
The Pros And Cons Of Cortisone Shots
If you’re experiencing pain that makes it difficult for you to start physical therapy to address your knee problem, your doctor might recommend that you get an injection of cortisone to lessen the pain.
The shot injects a corticosteroid drug and a local anesthetic into the joint to temporarily relieve pain and swelling. But it isn’t a long-term fix. “Often people think that injections, especially cortisone injections, will fix a knee problem. What they do is provide a window of pain relief so you can make progress with rehabilitation,” says Dr. Rebecca Breslow, an instructor in orthopedic surgery at Harvard Medical School. “But when cortisone injections are overused, there is some evidence that they can actually accelerate osteoarthritis.”
In short, while cortisone shots put you on the path to healing, they should be used judiciously and aren’t a permanent solution to the underlying problem that’s causing your knee pain.
When To Seek Treatment For Your Arthritis
Arthritis doesnt have to spell the end of an active life. If you are experiencing worrisome symptoms or persistent pain, the renowned arthritis specialists at Summit Orthopedics can help. We work with you to confirm a diagnosis and develop an appropriate conservative treatment plan. If nonsurgical treatments fail to support your lifestyle goals, fellowship-trained orthopedic surgeons will consult with you and discuss appropriate surgical options. Summit is home to innovative joint replacement options. Our Vadnais Heights Surgery Center is one of only two surgery centers nationally to receive The Joint Commissions Advanced Certification for Total Hip and Total Knee Replacement.
Start your journey to healthier joints. Find your arthritis expert, request an appointment online, or call us at to schedule a consultation.
Summit has convenient locations across the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area, serving Minnesota and western Wisconsin. We have state-of-the-art centers for comprehensive orthopedic care in Eagan, MN, Plymouth, MN, Vadnais Heights, MN, and Woodbury, MN, as well as additional community clinics throughout the metro and southern Minnesota.
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How Effective Are Krill Oil Supplements For Knee Pain
Krill oil supplements can produce a significant improvement in knee pain and knee stiffness within a week. Krill oil supplements have also been shown to reduce the amount of pain-killing rescue medication such as paracetamol and ibuprofen needed.
A study involving 50 people with knee joint pain compared the effects of taking either 2g krill oil per day, or an identical placebo, for one month. Those taking krill oil showed more improvements in knee pain and stiffness than those taking placebo and, when other factors such as age, weight and lifestyle were taking into account, krill oil also significantly reduced the effects of knee pain on sleeping, standing and the range of movement in both knees compared to placebo.
As krill are an important food source for marine animals such as baleen whales, Antarctic Fur Seals and Adelie penguins, its important to select a supplement derived from sustainable sources that do not impact on these feeding grounds. Sustainably derived krill oil will have an on-pack endorsement from an organisation such as the is an international, non-profit organisation that works to safeguard seafood supplies for the future.
Expected Range Of Motion
After knee replacement surgery, it is important to work with a physical therapist to achieve the maximal range of motion. Typically, the range of motion will progress quickly during the first three months and can continue to increase for up to two years following surgery.
Normal motion after knee replacement is defined as the ability to get within 5 degrees of a straight knee and the ability to bend the knee back to 90 degrees. Most knee replacements have movement ranging from 0 degrees to 110 degrees or more.
The optimal motion of the replaced knee can be achieved with a combination of stretches, exercises, and gradual resumption of normal activities. Some surgeons will recommend the use of a machine to bend the knee, called a CPM, .
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Vitamins For Joint Stiffness
Some people use vitamins, minerals and other supplements to try to help manage joint stiffness.
The best vitamin to take for stiff joints is, without question, Vitamin D. Taking Vitamin D on a daily basis will help maximize calcium absorption, which in turn supports strong bones, connective tissues, and overall joint stability.
Studies show that vitamin D deficiency is highly correlated with joint pain, as well as stiff joints and poor flexibility. Clinical trials further demonstrate that consuming high quality vitamin D supplements helps alleviate joint stiffness and pain when the underlying cause is a citamin D deficiency.
Of course, it isnt just vitamins and minerals that people take to help with stiff joints. There are lots of supplements on the market today for easing stiff joints that are not vitamins. Rather, they are herbal extracts, amino acids, amino sugars, dietary fats, and other natural substances known to improve joint health and ease joint stiffness.
Glucosamine, chondroitin, omega-3, and green tea are just a few supplements used to help with joint pain from arthritis. Glucosamine in particular helps keep the cartilage in joints healthy and may have an anti-inflammatory effect. Glucosamine levels naturally drop as people age, causing stiff, sometimes painful joints. Supplementing with glucosamine has been found to be highly effective at reducing joint stiffness and alleviating joint pain caused by joint stiffening.
Causes Of Knee Stiffness
Most people experience knee stiffness after sitting for a long period of time. It’s usually the result of inflammation and fluid build-up in the knee joint, which causes swelling and decreases the ability to freely move the joint. A number of conditions can lead to inflammation, and subsequently, knee stiffness.
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How To Find Relief
The best way to ease joint stiffness depends on whats causing it in the first place. If stiffness lasts longer than 30 minutes after you wake up or if symptoms are getting worse, its important you seek medical attention.
Diagnosing the underlying problem will help you and your doctor determine the best way to ease stiffness and stop other associated symptoms.
More Symptoms Of Knee Pain
If youre nervous to schedule your appointment with your doctor after a car accident or a work-related knee injury, join the club. Here are more symptoms to keep an eye out for the next time youre experiencing severe knee pain:
- Symptoms that get worse after inactivity
- Crunching or popping in the knees
- Locking up or buckling of the knees
For those whose symptoms are gone worse after inactivity, thats often the case when youve been sitting or sleeping for extended periods. However, people that have already been diagnosed with knee osteoarthritis know that their stiffness will last from the moment that they get out of bed in the morning to the moment that they lie down in bed at night.
As if thats not enough, crunching or popping in the knees can occur when you do things like getting down into a deep squat position to lift equipment at work. If this happens to you frequently, then friction in your knee joints is basically a no-brainer. Also known as crepitus, crunching and popping in the knees can also be accompanied by other painful symptoms.
Raise your hand if knee-buckling sounds like an everyday occurrence in your life nowadays. Just in case youre not in the know, whenever your knees lock up or buckle up after a work-related incident, it can be a red flag for advanced or moderate knee pain.
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What Are Stiff Joints And How To Remedy Them
As people age, they often begin to experience stiffness in their joints. The years of using their joints, bones, and muscles finally catch with them, causing stiffness and discomfort. Most experience stiffness in the morning right after waking up. Joint stiffness can be caused by a number of factors. Read on to discover what causes stiff joints and what you can do to treat them.
How To Treat Knee Arthritis Pain
Besides traditional pain medications, treating knee pain from a work-related injury is normally going to take a lot of physical therapy. But the earlier you treat your knee osteoarthritis, the better.
If early detection is your goal, then you should definitely hire a physical therapist along with undergoing any surgery, injections, or other nonsurgical treatment that you may need. To put it simply, rehab for your knee joints should be your number one priority right now.
In spite of the fact that surgery is literally the last resort, this might be recommended when all other treatments fail. Moving on, physical therapy for chronic knee pain usually involves some sort of aerobic conditioning, stretching, and strengthening.
Plus, having your posture and your gait examined by a medical professional can figure out if you have any biomechanical problems going on too.
To combat this, your physician might introduce you to different ways of walking or sitting that might prevent this kind of severe knee pain from getting worse. Additionally, there are a few comfortable shoe inserts that you could put in your work boots to help you take a load off too. Youll never know until you try it.
Speaking of which, exercises that focus on building cardio strength are one of the best things that you can do for yourself right now. So, that includes anything from stretching, walking, cycling, and water aerobics. Dont forget about stationary cycling too!
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Support For Back Knee And Other Typical Joint Health Problems*
- Clinically studied ingredients are added to reduce common joint discomfort in as few as 5 days. This fast-acting formula is designed to start strong as well as help maintain long-term joint health*
- AprèsFlex®Boswellia Serrata, clinically shown to both support joint health and aid joint discomfort*
- Zanthin® Natural Astaxanthin is a powerful antioxidant shown in a pilot clinical study to significantly reduce oxidative stress in young, adult females*
- Type X.I.V. Eggshell Membrane Collagen and Type II Chicken Collagen are added to promote normal range of motion and address connective tissue ailments*
- Hyaluronic Acid helps maintain healthy viscosity of joint synovial fluid for targeted joint mobility and flexibility support*
How Vitamin C Reduces Knee Pain
People who obtain at least the recommended dietary intake of vitamin C, or higher, for example, are half as likely to develop osteoarthritis as those with lower intakes.
Vitamin C is essential for collagen synthesis and for the metabolism of joint cartilage. Vitamin C is also a powerful antioxidant, especially in joint fluid.
Poor intakes of vitamin C can lead to reduced collagen formation and slow joint healing. In contrast, good intakes of vitamin C can reduce cartilage loss and disease progression in osteoarthritis, while its antioxidant action reduces joint inflammation.
Vitamin C stimulates bone-building cells to improve bone mineral density and support the overlying joint cartilage. Vitamin C may even help to prevent damage, cartilage loss and the development of osteoarthritis.
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Remember To Pace Yourself
When you start a new activity, build up gradually to reduce the risk of injury. If you work out too hard too fast, you risk inflaming or stressing joints before the muscles are strong enough to support them. Listen to your body to know when enough is enough. There is no benefit from overuse.
How much is too much? If you experience pain during an activity, stop. If pain or discomfort hasnt gone away within 30 minutes after exercising, cut back. And if you have arthritis, be aware the pain will often decrease with movement. Its all about finding the fine line between too little and too much.
Possible Cause #: Lupus
Lupus is an autoimmune disease like RA. Your body attacks itself, including your organs and tissues. Lupus that attacks your joints can cause stiffness, pain, and swelling.
Lupus is difficult to diagnose because its symptoms mimic many other conditions. It may take several months for a lupus diagnosis while tests rule out other conditions.
Like RA, lupus is chronic. Once you develop it, you will likely experience symptoms of the condition for the rest of your life. There isnt a cure, but treatments are effective at reducing and controlling symptoms.
Other common sites include the:
- knee
- ankle
- big toe
Bursitis is often temporary, and treatment relies on resting the affected joint for several weeks. This may mean you need to reduce physical activity and keep the joint stationary for periods of time. This allows the bursae to recover and stiffness to resolve.
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How Does It Work
While were not exactly sure, researchers believe that fiber helps protect your knees in a couple of ways.
First, it reduces the levels of C-reactive protein, a protein that has been repeatedly correlated with inflammation. Second, fiber increases satiety, which makes you feel fuller and therefore prevents you from overeating.
Computer-generated image of C reactive protein
So, you should focus on getting more fiber in your diet, as the best foods for your knees include loads of them. This can be achieved through fibrous vegetables , as well as minimally processed cereals and whole-grain products.
Ways To Prevent Joint Stiffness
Do your knees crackle and pop? Are your joints stiff when you get out of bed or when you rise from a chair? You arent alone. By the time were in our 60s and 70s, most of us will experience some joint pain and stiffness. How do you prevent and relieve joint stiffness?
As we age, the connective tissue and cartilage that provide cushioning between the joints wear down and become thinner, leading to conditions such as osteoarthritis that can cause pain and inflammation. Genetics and age are primary factors in joint deterioration, but there are steps you can take to extend the life of your joints and protect knee or hip replacements.
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What Is Osteoarthritis Of The Knee
Osteoarthritis is the most common form of arthritis, and the knee is one of the most commonly affected joints.
Everyones joints go through a normal cycle of damage and repair during their lifetime, but sometimes the bodys process to repair our joints can cause changes in their shape or structure. When these changes happen in one or more of your joints, its known as osteoarthritis.
A joint is a part of the body where two or more bones meet in your knee, its the thigh and shin bones. There is also a small bone at the front of the knee called the patella or kneecap.
The ends of our bones are covered in a smooth and slippery surface, known as cartilage . This allows the bones to move against each other without friction, and protects your joint from stress.
Your knee also has two other rings of a different type of cartilage known as menisci or meniscus, which help to share weight evenly across your knee joint, and theres also cartilage underneath your kneecap.
Osteoarthritis causes the cartilage in your knee joint to thin and the surfaces of the joint to become rougher, which means that the knee doesnt move as smoothly as it should, and it might feel painful and stiff.
Osteoarthritis can affect anyone at any age, but its more common in women over 50.
Injuries or other joint problems, such as gout, can make people more likely to get osteoarthritis. The genes we inherit from our parents can also increase the risk of the condition developing.
How Cherry Supplements Reduce Knee Pain
are a rich source of antioxidants, including vitamin C, carotenoids, and rich purple-red anthocyanin polyphenols. Together, these have an anti-inflammatory, pain-killing action that mimics that of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs but without the same side effects.
Drinking sour cherry juice can reduce muscle and joint pain and inflammation in people with osteoarthritis, and in athletes with injuries.
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What Makes Joint 33x The Right Choice For A Joint Health Supplement
Thankfully, all hope is not lost. Just because many other joint health supplements miss the mark doesnt mean we did too.
In fact, we developed a joint health supplement to address the three main factors to promote joint health and function, and we call it Joint 33X, a 3-in-1 joint health formula that features three patented, joint-nourishing ingredients that have been demonstrated to support joint health, mobility, flexibility, and function in more than a dozen human studies.
1. Support Healthy Levels of Collagen with UC-II®
For starters, Joint 33X joint health supplement features UC-II®, which provides a unique, highly effective form of undenatured type II collagen. Remember, collagen is the primary structural protein in connective tissues in the human body, including bones, cartilage, skin, and tendons, and its the wearing down of type II joint collagen that is associated with reduced joint health and function.
Four separate studies have tested the mettle of UC-II®, which has been shown to support joint health and mobility by supporting healthy levels of collagen. Even more, UC-II® has been shown to be more effective at improving joint flexibility and function than the popular joint health supplement ingredients glucosamine and chondroitin in head-to-head research.
2. Support Joint Comfort with Mobilee®
3. Support Healthy Levels of Collagen Enzymes with AprèsFlex®