Competitive over 30s, what are you taking for joints?

Subway Surfers wrote:

What supplements are you currently taking to alleviate joint pain? More importantly did you notice any gains/pain reduction? My joints are totally shot.

Red Bud Colombian.

Blueberries

Black Caviar wrote:

Subway Surfers wrote:

What supplements are you currently taking to alleviate joint pain? More importantly did you notice any gains/pain reduction? My joints are totally shot.

joints.

My man, 100 grand..

Subway Surfers wrote:

Hip pain, light almost ruptured itb wear, achilles (all on one leg), tibial issues on the other foot. I'm going a biomechanics expert but I was just looking for supplements to soften pain as I make any adjustments.

As a competitive 44 year old. I do YOGA every morning (30-35minutes) Foam Rolling IT bands 5-10 minutes, Eccentric loading of left Achilles (flared up just recently). I also take a regular dose (about 1500mg) Glucosmine SULFATE (if it is HCL it doesn't work). And although it seems like a broken record.....Stretching the hamstrings are a must! Basically reversed a longitudinal Meniscus tear, by religiously stretching the hamstrings (and yes doctor and MRI verified). I run about 40-50 miles a week. Raced Road miles specifically this summer.

I’ve had a similar success by switching to a low protein, low fat, high carb diet (all complex carbs no simple carbs). I eat a lot of vegetables and grains. Since cutting out dairy, fat and most meat I lost that “last 15 pounds” and more. I really leaned out and finally have a 6 pack. I have endless energy for my workouts, and sleep better than I ever have done. Generally I just feel great all the time now which I credit a lot to the vitamins, minerals etc. in my whole food diet. There are other healthy things in plants (vegetables) you can’t get in a vitamin pill. Carbs have made me a machine. Cutting out diary, meat and fat was the best thing I’ve ever done for my health and my running.

Subway Surfers wrote:

What supplements are you currently taking to alleviate joint pain? More importantly did you notice any gains/pain reduction? My joints are totally shot.

If the pain is truly in your joints, you probably want to do some research into the types of arthritis and the respective treatments and go from there. If the pain is simply due to weak muscles or imbalances, that's a different issue altogether and will require a different solution.

I take glucosamine. I don't notice a difference, but allegedly it "might" work for osteoarthritis in joints (as opposed to the myriad other supplements that have been shown not to work vs. placebos).

I also recently started drinking a milkshake with protein powder and turmeric after longer efforts and harder workouts. That seemed to help my muscle soreness, but I don't think I noticed any specific change in my joints.

Good luck either way, and let us know if you find the magical elixir to defy age.

Adequate food

Early 40s, been a runner since junior high. Did the whole cross country and track thing through college, and raced a dozen marathons and countless other road races since.

I am a veteran of one knee surgery and have generally achy knees and hips. Here's what I do to keep running:

1. Watch my weight. I've promised myself I'll never let my weight drift above 140 (I'm 5'7").

2. Diet - I eat a largely plant based diet 5 days a week, and allow for moderate cheat days on the weekends.

3. Cross training - I hit the gym 4 times a week for weights and stationary bike.

4. I take at least one day a week off from running. I go to the gym on those days.

5. Sleep 8 hours a night. I'm amazed at how many people don't get adequate sleep and then complain that their bodies hurt.

6. I minimize marathons to no more than one every other year, if even that often.

7. At the recommendation of my orthopedic surgeon, I take glucosamine condroiton MSM, triple strength Wal Mart brand. He said it can't hurt and it might help, and that the cheap stuff is just as good as the expensive brands. I don't know how much it helps, but I figure it's cheap and can't hurt, so might as well.

That's a lot of maintenance, but I still run around 40 miles a week, give or take, and race 30 or so times a year, mainly 5ks and 10ks. It keeps me on the roads and out of the orthopedist's office.

Ginger tea during the day.

And at night, a wine or gin.

If I'm really sore, an Ibuprofen before I go to bed.

And if that doesn't work, a full out anti-inflammatory diet for a week (no wine).

42 and no joint pain yet. I eat and drink pretty normal foods nothing special.

I'm the same weight I was when I was 22 so I think that helps.

Carbs all day wrote:

I’ve had a similar success by switching to a low protein, low fat, high carb diet (all complex carbs no simple carbs). I eat a lot of vegetables and grains. Since cutting out dairy, fat and most meat I lost that “last 15 pounds” and more. I really leaned out and finally have a 6 pack. I have endless energy for my workouts, and sleep better than I ever have done. Generally I just feel great all the time now which I credit a lot to the vitamins, minerals etc. in my whole food diet. There are other healthy things in plants (vegetables) you can’t get in a vitamin pill. Carbs have made me a machine. Cutting out diary, meat and fat was the best thing I’ve ever done for my health and my running.

Congratulations, that is exactly where I was 40 years ago. I ran some decent times on the roads, between injuries, before my deteriorating health on a whole-grain based vegetarian diet nearly hospitalized me with IBS, injuries, arthritis, respiratory infections, etc.. Carbs taken in high quantities are a powerful system metabolic stimulant (although I had a typically emaciated veggie runner's skinnyfat musculature). By keeping insulin jacked up all day, and in particular IGF-1, you are revved up and killing workouts while accelerating aging and tumor growth. Fast track indeed.

You are on a straight and narrow road to a predictable end. Enjoy as best you can.

Masterblaster13 wrote:

42 and no joint pain yet. I eat and drink pretty normal foods nothing special.

I'm the same weight I was when I was 22 so I think that helps.

I'm convinced the weight thing is huge. It's so easy to gain an extra pound or two every year without even noticing it.

They say that every extra pound of body weight puts an extra 4-5 pounds of pressure on your knees. Multiply that out over a 5 mile run, and that's A LOT of unneeded pressure on the joints.

I see you are aging graciously... NOT

Coevett wrote:

Subway Surfers wrote:

Hip pain, light almost ruptured itb wear, achilles (all on one leg), tibial issues on the other foot. I'm going a biomechanics expert but I was just looking for supplements to soften pain as I make any adjustments.

As a successful fogey competitor, 79 years old yesterday (I celebrated with a 7.9 mile run mostly through the snow with almost 1000 ft. elevation gain), I have been running nearly every day and competing regularly for around 65 years. I have suffered no particular problems except achilles tendinitis, which was entirely eliminated with asymmetric stretches after every run (dropping heels but not pushing back up). I do find that longer runs, half marathons and above, which used to be my staple, take increasing time for recovery. I am now focusing on 15K and below. I suspect that runners with all those joint pains have flaws or hitches in their stride that result in frictional or overuse injuries.

I think you should consult a physical therapist for some kind of running analysis. Having a chain of issues like that is probably from a single issue such as a hip problem and other muscles end up trying to compensate for it. This is not normal and you shouldn't be trying to avoid the pain, try to find the source of it.

injury experienced wrote:

I think you should consult a physical therapist for some kind of running analysis. Having a chain of issues like that is probably from a single issue such as a hip problem and other muscles end up trying to compensate for it. This is not normal and you shouldn't be trying to avoid the pain, try to find the source of it.

You definitely should be looking to find/address the cause. The injury and resulting pain is a symptom.

I'm not sure if all PTs would know about running analysis, but ask around and go to a PT who is recommended by runners.

If I were you, I'd try a radical change in shoes AND an off-the-shelf orthotic, such as the Hoka Bondi with a Superfeet insert. This *might* address your tibia, hip, and Achilles issues. If you think of shoes as physical therapy instead of shoes, the cost becomes minimal.

For inflammation, my go-to drug for years was ibuprofen, but now I take Tart Cherry Extract... either the Solgar or the Life Extension brand. It works as well as ibuprofen for most pain and significantly better for arthritis pain. I've tried other brands and they didn't work.

Finally, do NOT CONFUSE rehab with prevention. When you're seriously injured, you need to rehab ONLY. After you're mostly well, you can turn to prevention steps. There is a lot of bad advice on LetsRun with posters recommending strengthening/prevention steps before allowing the injury to rehab enough to handle prevention steps.

Carbs all day wrote:

I’ve had a similar success by switching to a low protein, low fat, high carb diet (all complex carbs no simple carbs). I eat a lot of vegetables and grains. Since cutting out dairy, fat and most meat I lost that “last 15 pounds” and more. I really leaned out and finally have a 6 pack. I have endless energy for my workouts, and sleep better than I ever have done. Generally I just feel great all the time now which I credit a lot to the vitamins, minerals etc. in my whole food diet. There are other healthy things in plants (vegetables) you can’t get in a vitamin pill. Carbs have made me a machine. Cutting out diary, meat and fat was the best thing I’ve ever done for my health and my running.

Each person has a diet or diets that work best for that person. While this diet might work for some runners, carbs are more inflammatory than healthy fats.

I went to a low carb/high healthy fat diet last summer with intermittent fasting (4-5 days/week of fasting from 7PM to 1PM or so with only a tablespoon of coconut oil in my morning coffee. I did this to address an inherited tendency towards hypoglycemia, but it also works for my other running friends.

YMMV wrote:

By keeping insulin jacked up all day, and in particular IGF-1, you are revved up and killing workouts while accelerating aging and tumor growth. Fast track indeed.

You sir are hilarious. IGF-1 is affected most by animal protein. But I am sure you know that since you are just trolling with this nonsense.

fisky wrote:

Each person has a diet or diets that work best for that person. While this diet might work for some runners, carbs are more inflammatory than healthy fats.

I went to a low carb/high healthy fat diet last summer with intermittent fasting (4-5 days/week of fasting from 7PM to 1PM or so with only a tablespoon of coconut oil in my morning coffee. I did this to address an inherited tendency towards hypoglycemia, but it also works for my other running friends.

This LCHF diet trend is nonsense. You should look up 'blue zones' and then try to explain why these people eating a mostly vegetarian HCLF diet are the longest lived people in the world and not LCHF dieters.