Supplementing For Better Joint Health
In the world of supplements, you can find an endless array of shelves promising everything from muscle growth to pain management to libido enhancers. Although the industry caters to all walks of life, there seems to be a shift in marketing (and research funding) towards supplements that focus less on aesthetics (muscle building or hair growth), and more on health goals such as depression and pain alleviation.
With spring approaching and as people start exercising more, a lot more of our readers have been asking us specifically about joint health supplements. So here’s a quick overview of some of the most popular supplements in the market, and a potentially promising one.
Who should supplement for joint health?
There are four main groups of people who belong in this particular niche:
Athletes: experience pain associated with repetitive movement, high impact activities and overuse.
Labor workers: often suffers from ‘work-related joint stress’ associated with repetitive movement over long periods of time.
Seniors: people from this (rapidly growing) group typically suffer from common diseases related to aging, such as rheumatoid arthritis or osteoarthritis.
Overweight people: typically experience pain in joints such as their knees due to the added stress associated with weight gain. People in this category may also suffer from osteoarthritis.
When it comes to dietary supplements however, research for joint pain among the aging and the obese is quite common meanwhile research for stress-related joint pain in athletes and laborers remains limited.
What to take and why
If you’re suffering from joint pain, here are a few supplements worth considering: