Gone are the days where you turn to glucosamine and chondroitin supplements to improve the health of your joints.
There are better ways to improve the health of your joints and one of them that is often overlooked is collagen supplementation.
Collagen has a gel-like consistency that can literally ad oil to your creaky joints.
Many of you may have already heard of collagen for its anti-aging qualities, as it can impact the health of your hair and skin, preventing wrinkles and creating more firmness. I will save the anti-aging properties for another post, but for today let’s focus on what it can do for arthritis and joint pain.
Collagen is found in connective tissue, such as ligaments, tendons, and joints. If you haven’t seen the older video I did on how to make a bone broth, check it out below. I add chicken feet because these are loaded with collagen and will break down nicely in a long slow boil.
You can get adequate collagen from your diet, however, most of us don’t eat the foods consistently enough to get these effects. When we aren’t getting an essential component for health in our diet we must supplement to get the benefit.
Without getting into the details, here are a few studies that show the effectiveness of supplementing with collagen.
First, a study looking at collagen supplementation’s effect on functional daily activities. When comparing the collagen group with a group that took glucosamine and chondroitin supplements and there was a major difference in pain reduction and function changes.
Another study that reviewed the available literature at the time, looked at collagen’s effectiveness with osteoarthritis (OA). When the research studies available on the topic were reviewed the authors concluded that it was safe and showed improvements in function and pain for both men and women with OA.
Finally, a 24-week study done on athletes and joint pain found statistically significant improvements in joint pain when at rest, while walking, standing, and both lifting and carrying objects.
I try to intake collagen daily. One tip that I recommend is if you are making a bone broth, freeze large ice cubes of broth so you can grab 2 or 3 a day to heat up quickly. If you aren’t able to do that, then taking a hydrolyzed collagen supplement is going to be your best option.
I usually put my collagen supplement into a smoothie and since it has no taste, I don’t even know it’s in there. Another thing that can be done is simply mixing with water.
The other way I will supplement with collagen is I sometimes use a coffee “creamer” which provides protein and MCT (a good source of fat), which will help curb your appetite in the morning.
I hope this helps to give you some clarity for a natural way to improve joint pain. It will not only reduce pain and increase function, it will help support your joints proactively as well.
