Glucosamine Isn't Just for Old Folks!

What is Glucosamine?

Glucosamine is a lubricating protein your body makes to let connective tissues glide, particularly your joint cartilage. It is often found with other glycosaminoglycan proteins MSM (aka methylsulfonylmethane), chondroitin, lubricin, and a wealth of other proteins found in between your connective tissues.

This space is where the fascia connects your other connective tissues. This means you have to support healthy glucosamine function alongside the rest of your entire connective tissue system. If you have painful joints or tendons, just taking glucosamine is not enough.

What Does Taking Glucosamine Do For The Body?

Even though your body can make glucosamine by itself, people who have overuse injuries or inflammatory conditions like arthritis may feel a benefit when they supplement. When you take it as a supplement, the glucosamine that makes it past digestion gets used by your collagen-making cells. What you supplement can fill in the gap between what your body makes and the amount your body thrives on for pain-free mobility.

Almost all research studies on glucosamine are on people with arthritis: over a dozen look at pain or injury recovery in the knee. One study looking at back pain showed no effect, suggesting that glucosamine may only work in damaged articular cartilage. On the other hand, plenty of pre-clinical research shows that it may be effective for tendon injuries. Unfortunately, we don't have great supportive data yet.

It is not just effective for knee osteoarthritis — anecdotally, it may work for a spectrum of connective tissue injuries or musculoskeletal inflammatory conditions. One study shows that it may even delay the progression of osteoarthritis. If you experience tendon or joint pain during activity or at rest, or during your rehab, you might consider taking glucosamine to see if it enhances the healing process. 

When Is The Best Time To Take Glucosamine?

Glucosamine should be taken with a meal to help with absorption.Research studies typically use multiple doses per day. Take it at night to support the repair and restoration process during sleep, when you wake up so that you can meet the day with your best foot forward, and during periods of high strain, like before or after exercise, to help with the post-exercise inflammatory and remodeling process of your connective tissue.

What Else Should You Take With Glucosamine?

Other supplements also target the same symptoms alleviated by glucosamine. For example, other lubricating proteins are often combined with glucosamine. The most common are chondroitin sulfate and MSM (aka. methylsulfonylmethane). These work in tandem to soothe the bone-on-bone feeling of damaged connective tissues.The one supplement to take with glucosamine that has the most research is hydrolyzed collagen. Numerous high-quality studies have shown Collagen supplements to reduce pain, prevent injury, accelerate recovery, and improve joint mobility. It only makes sense that since your joint cartilage is 70% collagen, and the hard part of your bone is 90%, that taking collagen alongside glucosamine has the potential to enhance the benefits of both.

Collagen peptides support your connective tissue system in two ways. 

1. They provide the supportive building blocks that your body uses directly to make more healthy collagen.
2. They also send an anti-inflammatory signal to damaged and inflamed cells to tell them to stop breaking down and start building up your collagen tissue.

And collagen is the common building block of your soft and hard skeleton. But your body needs other nutrients to support healthy collagen and glucosamine function.

•Vitamin C
•Iron
•Zinc
•Copper and other nutrients are all involved

Source: Resync Article