Sore, Stiff Joints Trashing your Motivation? Take it Back...
Updated: May 14, 2024
You are crushing your longevity fitness goals and feeling apex strong! Then, for no reason, you wake up with stiff, sore fingers that throb anytime they bump something. Your joints have betrayed you! Being motivated to stick with your exercise routine can be tough, even when you’re a feeling great, and painful joints can quickly sap your drive to workout. Even worse, for many of us, exercise is a BIG part of our mental and emotional wellbeing. Without it, life gets tough fast. Let's give you a natural advantage over pain and de-motivation.
Like any contest, you want to stack the odds of winning in your favor. Getting rid of pain is a tactical advantage in the battle to maintain motivation and, depending on the level of pain you experience, can be a game changing advantage. Like many people I have experienced increased pain as I've aged and sustained injuries, some of which have become chronic. My goal is to be uber active, healthy and pain free for as long as possible. So I'd like my pain relief plan to be effective, natural and have as few side effects as possible.
At the age of 46 I started learning the #Gracie_Humaita_JiuJitsu martial art. You can imagine that I was very sore those first few months, especially in the fingers, which are used to grip your opponent. Sore, stiff fingers pushed my brain to make excuses not to train with regularity and, as you know, learning anything requires consistent practice. I had to find an edge on this pain, but where to turn? It had to be safe for daily and long term use. I had heard about the medications Glucosamine and Chondroitin and seen them heal our dog's injured ACL, without surgery!
First, I wanted to know what they are? Glucosamine and chondroitin are two popular supplements commonly used to promote joint health. Taken together daily they help alleviate joint pain and improve joint function. But are they natural? Yes! They are naturally occurring parts of your joint cartilage. Glucosamine is a cartilage building block and Chondroitin improves resistance to joint compression. And they can be taken together daily and report only rare mild potential side effects. This sounded promising.
There is so much research and conjecture out there today it can make gathering real data difficult. That's why I like a combination of meta-analyses, which compare the overall findings of multiple studies, and self-experimentation. Here's one of the excellent meta-analysis of Glucosamine and Chondroitin which turned out to agree with my two personal experiments of 12 weeks on a daily dose followed by 2 weeks without. With both break periods, I noticed my finger joints go from pain-free to noticeably sore and painful within a week but, vanished again within a week once I restarted. I was sold!
Here are your 6 key benefits from daily dosing with Glucosamine and Chondroitin:
Consistent use of glucosamine and chondroitin supplements over time may provide long-term benefits for joint health and overall well-being. Especially in maintaining the cartilage and joint gap you currently have. Healthy longevity is our goal and these safe medications are strong allies.
Glucosamine and chondroitin are known for their ability to support joint health. They help to maintain the integrity of cartilage, which is essential for smooth joint movement and flexibility. This translates into more years of doing the exercise you love with more flexibility and smooth movement.
By supporting cartilage health, glucosamine and chondroitin can improve joint function and mobility. This can be especially beneficial for individuals who experience stiffness or limited range of motion in their joints. Any increase in range of motion or smooth movement could be game changers for you, maybe the difference between being able to do an exercise or not!
Glucosamine and chondroitin are believed to stimulate the production of cartilage components, which can aid in the repair and maintenance of damaged cartilage in the joints. Especially important as age reduces healing speed and effectiveness. If your sport is tough on joint health, you need all the healing power you can get.
Glucosamine and chondroitin are natural substances that are found in the body. When taken as supplements, they are generally considered safe with few side effects compared to traditional pain medications. An easy pairing with your daily protein shake.
Many individuals use glucosamine and chondroitin supplements to help manage joint pain, particularly in conditions like osteoarthritis. These supplements help reduce inflammation and provide relief from discomfort. Even more importantly, reducing pain increases your motivation to enjoy the exercises you love!
Summary
You've experienced the frustration of de-motivating joint pain and lost valuable training time, despite being committed to your fitness goals. Maintaining motivation and emotional well-being through regular exercise is a vital part of your longevity plan. You deserve solutions to less pain, faster healing and smoother joint action using natural remedies. Glucosamine and Chondroitin supplements are effective solutions grounded in research and, in my case, personal experimentation.
We are all made differently and experiences with these remedies will vary by individual, but you won't know how much they can help until you courageously experiment with them yourself. I've outlined six key benefits of daily dosing with these supplements, including long-term joint health, improved function, and pain relief, while also emphasizing their natural and safe nature. There's no pressure or downside. If they don't work for you, stop taking them and look for another advantage. The power to improve your life rests in your hands alone.
When you are ready to improve your motivation and decrease your joint pain, here are my product recommendations:
Doctor's Best Glucosamine and Chondroitin with OptiMSM priced at $0.11 per capsule
This is the product I settled on and use daily. Other products range in cost from $0.07 per capsule up to $0.76 per capsule. Doctor's Best is a great balance of reasonable price and quality product from a trust worthy brand. Easy win. Two capsules once a day
(Reminder: this is not your doctor's advice, it is my opinion and experience with this product. Also note that this brand, along with almost every brand out there, sources some or all of their ingredients from China. Possible business opportunity for American produced products?)
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