Maintaining healthy joints

[wyojdubya]

I'm in my mid-40s and in generally good health (6'3"/220, packing about 5 more pounds than I should). In the last two years, I've noticed increasing joint pain after hard days on the mountain, particularly in my hips and knees. It's not surprising--those joints have taken lots of abuse over the years. But it sucks when I hit day 3 of a hunt and I find myself thinking through every step, especially downhill, because it hurts. What have you done to deal with this? Are there any supplements or exercises that have helped keep your joints in good shape?

 

[huntnful]

2000mg Krill oil daily and ibuprofen BEFORE and after big hikes. That’s all I can contribute.

 

[wyodan]

I am now using Voltaren on my joints before and after big hikes. It's probably not keeping them healthy, but it sure helps with the pain.

 

[ianpadron]

Mobility plus strength equals no joint pain.

I dramatically overhauled my leg training about 5 years ago, incorporating lots of old school Poliquin style training (now popularized by Ben Patrick aka knees over toes guy). Instead of trying to be as strong as possible, the goal became unlocking more range of motion with the same weight/load, and becoming legitimately flexible.

Most dudes have a flat-out sad amount of flexibility, and spend all their time strength training with very limited ranges of motion.

Within a few months the aches in my knees, hips, feet after long hikes/hunts was gone entirely and didn't come back until this past year when I had to take 3 months off due to a fractured knee cap snowmobiling.

Incorporating the same stuff as rehab and almost back to 100%...it really does work.

Skip the pills and injections, toxic to your body long term, eats cartilage alive, and doesnt address the underlying issue.

Get strong and get flexible

 

[mtnbound]

I'm in my mid-40s and in generally good health (6'3"/220, packing about 5 more pounds than I should). In the last two years, I've noticed increasing joint pain after hard days on the mountain, particularly in my hips and knees. It's not surprising--those joints have taken lots of abuse over the years. But it sucks when I hit day 3 of a hunt and I find myself thinking through every step, especially downhill, because it hurts. What have you done to deal with this? Are there any supplements or exercises that have helped keep your joints in good shape?

What kind of pain? Where is it located? Both knees and both hips? What is your current fitness plan?

 

[Tilzbow]

I turned 60 this year. I’ve had 3 knee surgeries, major lower back and neck surgery, a dislocated right ankle and a broken left leg just above the ankle so my lower body has some miles and abuse. I’ve also had five upper body surgeries I won’t go into since they don’t affect my knees.

My knees feel better than they have in 30 years. Some of this has to do with the lower back surgery I had a year ago which has helped tremendously with my lower body flexibility and strength. In addition I’ve been doing the Mountain Tough workouts for 2.5 years which focuses on hip strengthening and mobility along with lots of movements that many believe are harmful to knees such as squats, deadlifts and lunges. These movements aren’t bad for the knees. A hard foam roller is also a great tool to build healthy knees, the specific movements are covered in a knee segment on the Mountain Tough app. The “Knee Over Toes Guy” is another good resource.

I think Mountain Tough is running a special right now. At a minimum a trial membership would be a great first step but you’ve got to do the work. Mobility (flexibility) and strength is the solution however you decide to get there.

 

[North of 60]

A few ideas to consider:

I would drop a lot more weight...losing a bunch of weight reduces stress on joints. Think about the literal impact of carrying a 20, 30, or 40 Lb pack everywhere/all day long. Dropping weight has greatly reduced chronic pain in my back/hips.

What type and how much are you training to get into shape/maintain it? Is it not enough training? The younger i get the more important stretching has become.

I would get checked out by a physical medicine doc for overall guidance as you may have arthritis setting in...in various joints and some PT may be in store.

Knee braces have helped me at times, especially with reducing pain in knees for descents. Strengthening your medial quads may help stabilize those knees: https://totalshape.com/training/best-vastus-medialis-exercises/

Are your shoes/boots optimized?

 

[willtim]

Lose weight, strength train, and increase range of motion. Take Motrin as needed.

 

[jayhawk]

I eat lots of fatty bacon just to keep everything lubed up

 

[Poser]

The inflammatory aspects of your diet will become increasingly noticeable in your joints during your 40s and beyond. Once you cut out inflammatory foods for a period of time, this will become extremely noticeable to you.

I have found that you can get some moderate long term improvement with some supplements:

Fish oil
larger doses of Vitamin D + K
Boron
Magnesium Glycinate
Tumeric + Curcurum
Boswellia Extract
Zinc
B3/Niacin

But, I would note that these probably won't help you at all if you're eating inflammatory foods and not strength training consistently. You have to do all 3 and supplements are likely contribute the least.

 

[5MilesBack]

I played a lot of sports, and continued basketball almost into my 40's. That and I'm an adrenaline junkie. When I got married my wife said "you know, there's something to be said about being able to walk when you're 40". Well, 40 was 20 years ago. Ya, the down hills suck. No two ways about it. Bone on bone knees, reconstructed left ankle, knee surgeries, multiple herniated discs, and currently a torn labrum in my hip. To this point I've just sucked it up. My mind and attitude is stronger than my body, but that does take a toll. At 60 I'm a little less motivated to push the envelope every day.

I used to really like the original Wilderness Athlete Hydrate & Recover. I'd use 4 scoops spread over each day while elk hunting, and it really made a difference for my joints. The down hill knee pain would just disappear. Then they changed the formulation and now it's like taking placebo sugar pills. I haven't found a good replacement.

 

[ChrisA]

For a little reference I'm 52, 5'10", and 180lbs. I eat pretty darn clean, do stretches nearly every morning, a set 50 to 60 push-ups and 12 squats, curls and overhead press with 85 lbs every other morning. Really need to incorporate cardio but I'm very active on the farm.

That said, I've recently discovered that artificial sweeteners increase my joint pain tremendously. It's predictable, if I drink a C4 "energy drink" to snap out of a funk while at work, I'm sore the next day. Especially if I have C4 or pre-workout drinks several days in a row.

 

[Poser]

I played a lot of sports, and continued basketball almost into my 40's. That and I'm an adrenaline junkie. When I got married my wife said "you know, there's something to be said about being able to walk when you're 40". Well, 40 was 20 years ago. Ya, the down hills suck. No two ways about it. Bone on bone knees, reconstructed left ankle, knee surgeries, multiple herniated discs, and currently a torn labrum in my hip. To this point I've just sucked it up. My mind and attitude is stronger than my body, but that does take a toll. At 60 I'm a little less motivated to push the envelope every day.

I used to really like the original Wilderness Athlete Hydrate & Recover. I'd use 4 scoops spread over each day while elk hunting, and it really made a difference for my joints. The down hill knee pain would just disappear. Then they changed the formulation and now it's like taking placebo sugar pills. I haven't found a good replacement.

Looking at the ingredients for H and R, mind you the new recipe not the old one, Glutamine seems like the only ingredient with a dose big enough to have helped your joint pain. The other electrolyte ingredients such as 40 mg of magnesium citrate are all pretty small doses. I imagine the Glutamine dose is mostly to ease any digestive issues, though there is a joint correlation, too. Have you tried just taking that as a stand alone supplement?

L-Glutamine alleviates osteoarthritis by regulating lncRNA-NKILA expression through the TGF-β1/SMAD2/3 signalling pathway - PMC

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a heterogeneous condition characterized by cartilage degradation, subchondral sclerosis, and osteophyte formation, and accompanied by the generation of pro-inflammatory mediators and degradation of extracellular matrix. The ...

pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

 

[5MilesBack]

Have you tried just taking that as a stand alone supplement?

Not on its own, no. But I did add it to my homemade electrolyte mix. The only ingredient in the original H&R and not in the new one is glucosamine. I also added that to my homemade version this year, but I don't have enough testing with it yet to see if it works as well or not.

 

[Poser]

Not on its own, no. But I did add it to my homemade electrolyte mix. The only ingredient in the original H&R and not in the new one is glucosamine. I also added that to my homemade version this year, but I don't have enough testing with it yet to see if it works as well or not.

I take glucosamine as well, but many joint experts don’t have it near as high on the priority list as they used to. You’ll generally find fish oil, vitamin D, Boswellia, turmeric and magnesium recommended more as a priority these days.
It does seem that Glucosamine supplements can improve the quality of your synovial fluid, but it’s debatable to what extent.