Many products will tell you that they’re good for the joints. Companies claim that their supplements will help to ease the pain, improve movement, and reduce inflammation. In truth, you can just end up taking pills full of ingredients that either causes more harm or leave you with uncomfortable side effects.
Making sure anything you take does as it says is important. Not all joint supplements are made equally. Here’s a look at absolutely everything you need to know about joint supplements to make sure you protect your overall health.
You Can Protect Your Joints Without Supplements
Let’s start with the fact that you do not necessarily need joint supplements to protect your joints. There are plenty of natural ways to help improve your joint health.
Most joint problems are linked to inflammation, which is a natural immune response. Your immune system can think there’s a threat and send the inflammatory response to start the healing. The problem is there’s not a problem affecting your health. The inflammation sticks around and causes pain.
A proper diet will help to limit the inflammation. If you are allergic or sensitive to food, it’s worth avoiding them from your diet. Otherwise, you’ll want to look at foods that are known for their anti-inflammatory properties and drink plenty of fluids.
Exercise is also good. You can improve the flexibility in the joints and reduce the tension and pain felt.
However, what about when you start considering joint supplements? After all, dietary and natural options are not always successful or easy to add to your life. Supplements can initially help you get more exercise and improve your diet to help gain long-term benefits.
You need to make sure you get the best options for your health and your joints.
Not All Joint Supplements Are Permanent
Many supplements will only offer you temporary benefits. They help to ease the symptoms, rather than treating the exact problem. The ingredients in the supplements will help to cover the pain you feel, rather than reducing the inflammation in your body. These are the most common types of supplements that you’ll get over the counter.
Sure, the supplements can help to mask the pain quickly. You can find yourself back on your feet and able to do as much as you want daily, but that relief is only temporary. Once the supplements wear off, you have left with the feeling of pain again. Sometimes the pain can be worse than it initially was, since you may have pushed yourself harder than you would have done without the feeling of relief.
If you only want temporary relief, that’s fine. The choice is completely up to you. However, if you want to relieve the actual problem, then you will need to consider the supplements carefully. Make sure you get those that offer permanent relief.
Drugs that help to relieve the actual problem include herbs. They will treat the reason for the inflammation, reducing it to help improve the health of the nerves and tissues. These supplements work on rebuilding the tissues, improving flexibility, reducing pain, and getting rid of all reasons for the joint pain.
The options that fix the problem will take longer to work. They usually take one or two months to improve the tissues and increase the amount of fluid in your joints. You can find that you still suffer from the symptoms in the earlier stages.
Pain is essential, however. It’s important not to get rid of all pain in the body. This is the sign for your body to tell you that something is wrong. It’s the sign for you to stop what you’re doing and rest your joints. Pushing them any further can make your condition worse. It makes it harder for your body to repair the damage and improve the health of the tissues and fluid. You can find yourself taking supplements for longer because you masked the pain and did too much.
Know the Reason for Your Joint Problems
Before you start taking any joint supplement, you need to know what kind of pain you have and why it’s there. While you can take supplements to help improve the joint, you need to know how to improve the joint. There’s no point treating pain due to trauma when the pain is linked to natural deterioration.
Trauma requires a different type of healing. There’s a chance that you can completely repair all the damage and get the joint back to what it was. You need supplements that will help to support this healing and regeneration.
When it comes to deterioration due to natural means, you’ll want to help improve the health not just to manage the condition but prevent further decline. Some issues can come from running, daily movements, and long-term health conditions. Too many of the counter medications will just help to deal with the symptoms, but you want long-term supplements that will help to slow down the degenerative process.
The problem is some of the joint supplements that are supposed to help can make the damage worse. They can make the joints deteriorate faster.
Steroids Are not Necessarily the Best Options
Let’s start with steroids, which are the most commonly used supplements for the joints. They’re supposed to help reduce the deterioration and reduce inflammation, but they can affect the healing of the tissues within the body. While you mask the pain, they change the way workload is distributed among your joints. The healing process is slowed down and in some cases halted. You can find you never actually heal.
Instead, you end up continually needing the steroids to get through the day. Your intake is increased as your joints get worse, which then just makes the cycle worse.
To top it off, the steroids affect the way your joints can use sulfur. Sulphur helps to improve the elastic strength of the joints, making the more flexible. When you stop the joints from using the sulfur, they lose their flexibility and stamina, meaning you cannot do as much as you’d like or as they used to. You increase the risk of injury and worsen the degenerative disorder.
Organic Options Are Not Always the Best
Just because you see something is organic, doesn’t mean it’s going to be the best option. Opting for all-natural supplements are not always going to fix the whole problem.
Did you know many supplements use herbs that don’t help the condition? While the herbs can reduce some inflammation, they do not help to overcome the full problem. They do nothing to aid the improvement of the tissues and prevent further degeneration. Some of the herbs can even be harmful to the health! Some natural ingredients affect the way the body works, because of the chemicals used to protect against animals and insects.
However, surely that’s what you choose organic for? Well, sure, organic gets rid of the unnatural chemicals. However, they do not get rid of the natural harm to the body. Some organic ingredients attack the body,or the immune system views them as a threat. They end up causing more inflammation, rather than getting rid of one of the reasons for joint pain and discomfort.
It’s also important to talk to your doctor before taking any joint supplement, even herbal remedies. They can interact with other medications or affect the development of a fetus. Your doctor will consider the herbs, your other medicines,and health conditions, and make sure everything is safe for you to take.
What Are the Most Common Types of Joint Supplements?
There are many options on the market, but most of them are made up of similar ingredients. They have many similar active ingredients for helping to deal with joint pain.
Glucosamine is one of the most popular and necessary for the development of cartilage. It’s often made synthetically, but you can also get it through shellfish. You will be able to find out from the label if the natural formed is used, and will be necessary if you have a shellfish allergy. Improving the health of the cartilage can help to prevent the rubbing of the joints together, easing the pain and reversing some of the conditions.
However, not all glucosamine is worthwhile. If you see N-acetyl-glucosamine, then you may as well not bother taking the supplement. There is no actual benefit from it.
Likewise, glucosamine HCI is not worth bothering with. There are no studies that show positive results for your joints.
So, what do you need? You’ll need to look at supplements that include glucosamine sulfate. The sulfate will help you get the sulfur that your joints need to improve their elasticity while healing. Not only do you help to rebuild the cartilage, but you can reduce the risk of further injury.
Arthrosamine is one of the trademarked products that offers the glucosamine sulfate that you want. It will help you get the building blocks to healthier joints, rather than just masking the pain. It’s economic and fast acting, although will take a month or two to see the results that you want.
This is something you can take before total deterioration. Talk to your doctor at first sign of joint problems so that you can restore the health as soon as possible. It’s best used as a preventative measure.
While glucosamine can help with the cartilage, chondroitin is often used to help to improve the movement within the joint. It’s another ingredient that can help to enhance the amount of cartilage and increase flexibility. This will help you decrease the amount of pain you feel. It works both short and long-term for better joint health.
Studies have also shown that the ingredient can help to add more water to the joints. The ingredient draws the water in, filling up the space between the joint and offering lubrication. This actively deals with the reason for a lot of the pain and inflammation around the area.
Existing cartilage is also protected. The chondroitin helps to avoid the deterioration of cartilage for all types of reasons, including natural degenerative conditions.
The problem with this ingredient is the time that it takes to heal the condition. It can take four months for the initial results to appear. You’ll need something to help deal with the pain that you feel in your joints while it gets to work.
Some Natural Joint Supplements Are an Option
While not all organic options are made the same, you’ll want to consider some. There are natural ingredients that can help to reduce inflammation and pain in the body.
Ginger and turmeric are two of the best natural ingredients. They work quickly, helping to get rid of the reason for the inflammation by supporting the immune system. When you get rid of the swelling, you put less pressure on the nerves.
Omega 3 fatty acids have also shown benefits for reducing inflammation throughout the body. In fact, doctors highly recommend fish oils and castor oils for lowering bone and joint problems. You can take fish oil capsules or just eat more oily fish on a weekly basis.
While they help to reduce the inflammation, studies have shown that the natural ingredients can also help to heal the tissue. You’ll want to focus on an overall healthy and balanced diet. Add more vitamins and minerals to help support the development of new tissue and reduce the destruction of old tissue.
It’s Not a Case of One Size Fits All
Like many supplements, joint supplements are not a case of one size fits all. You’ll want to consider your goals for your joints and make sure the supplements will help. There’s no point taking something that will just mask the pain when there is something that could help to reverse the condition and improve the tissue development.
At the same time, discuss your options with your doctor. Make sure they are safe for your medical condition and help for your goals.
