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What do you ladies use for joints?
I’m 34, overweight, and I have PCOS and endo. However, even prior to gaining weight, I noticed that my knees were protesting at work (I work a physical job with lots of up and down). Now every time I have to kneel down my knees make a bunch of obvious pops, and with each forward movement on my knees, they make crackling sounds. I also spent about a year on Lupron when I was 15/16, so not sure if that’s related.
Obviously losing weight will help some, but that could take a while. In the meantime what supplements should I be taking for my joints?
I am more than double your age and had more joint problems in the past than I do now. For me the best thing was just to walk, and then increase the distance a little every day. And, even better, if you can walk up and down stairs. Again, increase a few stairs every day.
Most of all, don't give up!
Edited, fixed my age...
Best thing I ever did for my knees was to start regularly lifting weights and walking inclines on the treadmill. All my pain went away.
Second this. I never liked any of the exercise I forced myself to do over the years. I was astounded to find, after about a year, that I actually loved lifting, and the improvement in how I felt in my body was magic. I had some injuries and let myself lose the habit, trying to get back to it now, and I definitely feel it in my knees and hips.
Omg i was going to recommend my brand of rolling papers and filters!!
lol - I clicked VERY fast, like 👍 FINALLY 🧐 I can help!
I've had arthritis and joint problems since I was a teenager and I drink chicken bone broth every day. A recent MRI showed the rate of degeneration isn't as severe as would normally be expected for my age. If you don't fancy making gallons of chicken bone soup then you can use glucosamine/chondroitin supplements, but they are too expensive for my budget.
Every month I use 1kg of chicken wings and the smallest, scraggiest, boniest chicken I can get at the supermarket. Roast them in the oven, strip off and discard the wing tips, parsons nose and skin. Remove all the meat, portion and freeze it, I usually get 6 portions of chicken for meals.
Then put the bones and cartilage into a large stock pot, cover with water, add black pepper to taste and gently simmer for two hours. Strain the broth into a jug to cool, pour that into silicon ice cube trays and freeze it. Cover the bones with more water and repeat another 2 times. It makes over a gallon of broth which lasts me a month, and costs about £5. The bones at this point are so soft they will crumble between your fingers, so I break them up and put them into my compost heap.
I also had physio at the gym in the spinal unit at my local hospital, and they gave me a load of exercises to do to strengthen my joints. Most of the crackling and popping noises are safe to ignore but I have one that might be an old injury and I have to avoid aggravating it, so it might be worth you seeing a physiotherapist.
A good Afghani landrace strain.
...but seriously: I see both glucosamine/chondroitin and curcumin (turmeric) mentioned all the time, both positively and negatively ("didn't help me.") I've tried both and didn't think they either hurt or helped, but others will swear by them.
I’ll give those a shot. I think my mom uses both so we should already have them in the house.
I'd say any physiotherapy is way better than any supplements. I got my meniscus torn when doing parkour and after that I'd occasionally have shoots of pain. I did all the required injections of chondroitin and mind you I am a vegan, but I thought ok, my health was important and I didn't want to have pain in my knee. Well 3 months of prescribed injections didn't help. Staying away from physical activity didn't help either. I then looked up some knee rehab exercises and started doing them and also slowly went back to my pre-injury routine and even started running. That helped way more than the injections. My knee doesn't hurt anymore. I ditched parkour, but I easily run 5k without any pain.
And a related anecdote: my friend had backache, she spent money and time on injections, and in her case the injections (according to her) made the pain even more acute, she then found a good physiotherapist and started doing exercise and she said it helped a lot.
Are you wearing compression socks? That might help your knee at work. And maybe even try some dr scholl shoes or inserts. I do find hibiscus tea helps me with menstrual pain. I drink a lot of Pu erh tea too to settle my stomach, it might help make you feel full. And like the other comment, i eat a lot of turmeric and ginger. It's super in curry! Maybe a calcium with magnesium vitamin could help? You got to be careful and make sure you get both. Now to make some homemade saag, yum!
I read that low vitamin D could also cause joint popping noises. I think that could be the cause for me at least (but there’s multiple factors of course! and depends on the person)
My thumb and middle finger 😎
Not a supplement, but cutting down/removing dairy from my diet really reduced my joint pain.
For me, it's cutting back on sugar that helps my joints, and I say that as someone who can pretty much survive on only Coke and Mountain Dew, like a hummingbird.
Oh jeez. I love sugar. It’s my only vice.
Samesies. I've decided to let myself give in a few times a week, because I already gave up cigarettes, hard drugs, and drinking, and I gotta get through this life.
I love sugar too but I don't treat it as a vice. Sugar is a source of energy. I think as long as you make sure that you get enough protein or other nutritients, sugar is fine.
Yeah but I wanna eat all the cakes, all the puddings, and all the chocolates. At the same time.
Oh that's entirely different. Too bad we can't just eat cakes only and stay healthy.
Supplements work better for some people than others, depending on the cause of joint pain (e.g., osteoarthritis vs. injury & inflammation). So you have to figure out what is the source first.
If your joint pain is because of inflammation there is strong evidence that fish oils or gamma linoleic acid (found in evening primrose oil, borage/starflower seed oil, and blackcurrant seed oil) work well.
If your joint pain is more because of osteoarthritis then the supplements with the most evidence of being moderately effective are glucosamine, chondroitin, ginger, and green-lipped mussel extract.
I've got quite a few old injuries from motorbike crashes, etc, for me, i have to keep moving, gentle stretching to keep my muscles from knotting up, and fish oil/ evening primrose oil capsule every other day.
Turmeric with black pepper.
https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/wellness-and-prevention/turmeric-benefits
When I was overweight and my knees hurt, this was the only thing that got rid of the pain, while I started a exercise/lifting routine to lose weight.
This even worked for my dad's 83 year-old knees (he was looking for something else cuz Advil was hurting his kidneys and stomach.)
I'm not some essential oils loon either, this was recommended by my Dr.
Go look at the YouTube channel Precision Movement. The owner of it also has an app I subscribe to called ROM Coach, but the free stuff he puts on YouTube is excellent. I had hip pain for months despite physio and his approach worked within a few weeks. I started with his video about elbow pain which I also had for nearly a year despite a LOT of physio and which cleared up within days.
Oof, I feel your pain. All that crackling could indicate a meniscus tear, which is worth investigating. It's fixable, but it might need more than physical therapy and supplements. The extra weight doesn't help, either.
It’s crackling in both knees, though. How likely would it be that I’d have torn both of them?
I've had bilateral meniscus tears. But hey, who knows how common that is?
Honestly I could actually see that being the case here. I used to do some pretty stupid and aggressive lunges to strengthen my thigh muscles. I would majorly overdo them.
Yeah, I fenced in high school and college, then ended up in a career that involved a lot of heavy lifting. Part of our physical agility test involved carrying 70lb up and down a staircase backwards, if that's any indication of the wear and tear my knees experienced.
Might be worth discussing it with your GP if it's troublesome. They can be fixed with arthroscopic surgery; I had it done as a part of some major knee surgeries, but I think a meniscus tear alone isn't a surgery that takes a lot of recovery time.
Massage! A lot of times popping joints are because a muscle somewhere else is knotted up. I started getting weekly massages and after a few weeks I realized my knuckles were cracking all the time. Learned to do my own trigger point releases too. Once you work out the trigger points, strengthen the muscles that were knotted.
no supplement recs, but do you already use knee pads or those pants that you can insert pads into?
I’ve recently started using knee pads! They help a great deal when I’m doing kneeling stuff but I also have a lot of stiffness and soreness when walking up stairs, which pads can’t help.
I want you to know, I am so old - I read the title - as you needing advice about marijuana, lol
(as for joints, joints, I recommend weight training :)
That was my first thought too 😂 “idk i’m sure they have some good wraps or cones at the smoke shop?”
Team bong 🤧
I don’t like smoke in the house and the bong lets me just blow it out the window 😂
Inhaaale, exhaaaale, I just got an ounce in the mail 😶🌫️
Omg, yes! I recommend organic with a dry herb vape, but I'm an old lady, so what do I know? 😶🌫️
I thought the same thing!
I was going to recommend a vape pen.
😂
Conversely, smoking might help your joints 😆