What are the best supplements for joints?

Our daily activities like walking, bending, climbing, running, lifting a baby, and so many of our daily activities require a healthy joint. Joint connects bone within our body, bear weight, and enables us to move. Joint pain is very common among elders and one of the most reasons to visit a physician. Usually, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID) like diclofenac, aceclofenac, piroxicam, indomethacin are prescribed by a physician to control joint pain. But, long term use of NSAID is associated with side effects like gastric ulcer and Kidney failure.

Thus, we must try to find out a suitable option which can keep our joint healthy without affecting other organs. A number of health supplements are available in the market and choosing the right product is not an easy task. Here, I will help you to choose the best supplement by elaborating the underlying cause of Joint pain, the structure of a healthy joint and the selection criteria of choosing the best joint supplement.

Structure of a healthy Joint?

The surface of a bone at a healthy Joint is covered with a type of tissue called cartilage. Cartilage acts like a cushion that helps reduce the friction of movement within a Joint. Synovial fluids in a healthy Joint lubricates and nourishes the cartilage. It makes sure that the surfaces of the Joint glide smoothly over one another, and acts as a shock absorber. Overall, a healthy Joint contains strong bones covered with smooth cartilage and sufficient Synovial fluids for smooth gliding of bones.

The underlying cause of Joint pain

Cartilage destruction is the major underlying cause of Joint pain. Its destruction may be due to

any of the below reasons:

Aging affects cartilage and bone structure

Joint health gets disturbed with aging due to loss of bone structure and increased stiffness of ligament (connects two bones). Further, with age cartilage starts degrading and the ability of cartilage to compensate stress declines. Loss of cartilage increases the friction between the bones of a joint leads to joint pain and disability.

Excess body weight cause degeneration of cartilage

Weight plays an important role in Joint wear & tear, so when people are overweight, it puts stress on their weight-bearing joints like knees and hips. It has been observed that every pound of excess weight exerts about 4 pounds of extra pressure on the Knee Joint.

Excess weight frequently contributes to soft tissue damage and leads to progressive wear-and-tear disease of the Joints i.e. Osteoarthritis.

High-intensity Exercise & Sports

Studies have suggested that vigorous exercise and certain activities like repetitively lifting or carrying heavy objects, awkward work posture may increase the risk of Joint damage.

Sports which includes Joint to repetitive high levels of impact and loading increases the risk of Joint injury and degeneration.

Criteria for a Joint supplement to be the best supplement

A Joint supplement can be considered as the best supplement when it plays below roles:

Involved in cartilage synthesis

Cartilage covers the end of bones and provides a smooth gliding surface for the Joint. A healthy Joint move easily because of a smooth and slippery articular cartilage. As the cartilage wears away, the symptoms of inflammation like pain & swelling occur more frequently. Glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate are important basic natural components of cartilage and synovial fluid. They help in the synthesis of cartilage and prevent its degradation.

Should enhance smooth gliding of bones in a Joint

Articulating bones (Joint) should move smoothly against each other without damaging the underlying bone tissue. Synovial fluid lubricates the bones in a joint and reduces the friction between the bones of the Joint. This gives the ability of the bones to move smoothly against each other. Hyaluronic acid (HA) is particularly abundant in the synovial fluid and has been shown to improve Joint lubrication because of its viscoelastic properties.

Building bone strong enough

The main function of bone is to provide mechanical integrity for movement. Bone mass and architecture are adjusted to control the strains produced by mechanical load and muscular activity. Without sufficient mineralization, bones will deform under load.

Vitamin D is important for boosting bone health and build muscle & weight gain. Research has shown that inadequate vitamin D intake over a long period of time can lead to bone demineralization and weaken the architecture of bones.

Should control joint inflammation

Inflammation of Joint leads to the destruction of chondrocytes and suppresses their regeneration, thus producing a net cartilage loss. The progressive inflammatory Joint damage is not only painful but also leads to a severe reduction in the quality of life.

Here, I am naming a few top products for joint health and will try to explain the role of each ingredient present in these products also. These top products are Joint Expert (Glucosamine Chondroitin with MSM), Inlife Joint supplement (Glucosamine, MSM With Calcium & Vitamin D3), and Healthvit Jointneed-GCM (Glucosamine, MSM, Chondroitin Calcium & Vitamin D3).

Common ingredients present in all these products are Glucosamine, Chondroitin, and MSM which are required for healthy cartilage. In addition to glucosamine and chondroitin, Calcium and Vitamin D are also present in Inlife Joint supplements and Healthvit Jointneed-GCM. Both calcium and vitamin D is crucial for bone formation. Thus, all three products may be beneficial to improve cartilage synthesis and in making bones stronger. But, as discussed above only making bones strong and improving cartilage synthesis are not sufficient to keep a joint healthy.

Here, I would like to add one more product named as TrueBasics Joint Ease by Truebasics (from the family of Healthkart) which contains:

• Glucosamine & Chondroitin: Important for cartilage synthesis.
• Hyaluronic acid: Lubricate bones in a Joint and helps reduce friction between the bone Joints for smooth mobility and flexibility.
• Vitamin D3 and Boron: Help in making bone stronger by ensuring better calcium absorption and its utilization.
• Phytonutrients: Specifically added to control joint pain and inflammation.

Thus, TrueBasics Joint Ease can be the best supplement for Joint, as it improves cartilage synthesis, enhances lubrication of bones in a Joint, making bone stronger and controls Joint pain & inflammation.