Glucosamine Sulphate

Discussion in 'General Forum' started by carlol, Jan 13, 2004.

  1. carlol

    carlol Regular Member

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    I've been playing social / intermediate badminton 2-3 times a week for about 3 years now, and lately, my knees have been feeling some pain, not during playing, but when resting.

    Anyway, to make a long story short, I had my knees checked by a doctor, and he told me that my knees are already starting to feel the effects of wear and tear... something that would ultimately lead to osteoarthritis.

    Im 27, 5'6, 145lbs, playing 2-3hours 2-3x/wk. I use patella support straps on both knees.

    Anyway, the doc gave told me to lose a lil more weight, streghten my leg muscles, and gave me a supplement, Glucosamine sulfate, which is supposed to build cartilage.

    I also lessened my playing to just 2x/wk, 2hours to reduce the strain on my knees. :(

    Anybody else in this ship? How did it affect your play? Does Glucosamine work? (for you at least...) :)
     
  2. LazyBuddy

    LazyBuddy Regular Member

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    Re: glucosamine sulfate & aching knees

    Errrr... this surely make me worried a little bit. I am a little bit taller than u, but my weight... hmmmm... feel shame to metion it. :( Plus, I play 7-15 hrs a week (mainly weekend), depend on my work vs club schedule.

    Yeah, sometimes my knee bothers me after intensive sessions, and I have to wrap them up during sleep to keep warm. I guess i should put a little bit more time in biking exercise to strenghten my leg muscle, and consider playing a little bit less during current cold cold winter time.
     
  3. Neil Nicholls

    Neil Nicholls Regular Member

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    Someone at my club had a shoulder problem and he said Glucosamine Sulphate helped. Other than that, I don't know.
     
  4. Cheung

    Cheung Moderator

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    Re: glucosamine sulfate & aching knees

    Anybody, doing any physical activity will get osteoarthritis. Even people who do not do sports can get osteoarthritis.

    Doing sports can mean osteoarthritis earlier in life, but that goes for most sports with strenuous activity. (but you still see people doing marathons, triathlons, ironman, hill walking)

    If you have had an injury to the knees, osteoarthritis is likely to come earlier. Injuries doesn't mean aches and pains;)

    i.e. you cannot prevent osteoarthritis by not doing sports.

    Glucosamine can help, but not in everybody.
     
  5. cooler

    cooler Regular Member

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    It is still nonconclusive, there are studies that say it help and some that say no benefits. Like cheung said, it may help some but not everyone. The best is still get it from natural source.
     
  6. Neil Nicholls

    Neil Nicholls Regular Member

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    There's more. My sister had a work related injury to a joint, and her doctor prescribed Glucosamine Sulphate. This is very recent, so I don't know if she has seen any effects.

    For those in the UK region that want/need Glucosamine, check out website health4u.co.je

    Far cheaper than supermarkets. They are based in Jersey to avoid import duty or VAT or whatever. Similar to www,play.com for DVDs.
     
  7. cooler

    cooler Regular Member

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    watch out for Glucosamine Sulphate derived from mad cows, you might get funny bones and joints.:p
     
  8. mnanchala

    mnanchala Regular Member

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    I am 27, 5'6"/7", 158, already have bad knees which pop most of the time, play 2+hrs 2X/wk, my mom has osteoarthritis. You surely didn't need to tell me this.. :-(
     
  9. bigredlemon

    bigredlemon Regular Member

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    Glucosamine is usually takin together with Chondritin to alleviate joint problems. It's not clear how effective this is because you need to take it for a long time before it shows its effects and its effects are generally small, so it's hard to tell whether it is working for you or not. The pattern does seem to be that it does work, albeit poorly.

    Have you tried flax seed oil? There are promising experiements that show that very high intake of flax seed oil (about 4-5 tablespoons a day) will ease joint pain. Its effects are immediate and very pronunced. I myself have seen far better results from flax seed oil than glucosamine... but the results from both are not that great. But i've only been taking flax seed oil for a week at one table spoon a day though, and the crack of joints when i twist my wrists have gone down noticably.

    Both are fairly expensive for how little they do imho. Then again, i never had serious joint problems so the room for improvement for me is small.

    Do you eat a lot of fish? Or try fish oil? I've heard good things about the omega fatty acids and EDA present in fish oil.

    I've heard lots of good stories about people recovering from joint pain so I hope you don't feel too down. Everything i said relates to my wrists since I've never had any knee problems, but the same should apply.

    ps. in hindsight, i guess the effects of flax seed oil is very good considering how little i've taken and how recently i've started taking it. It's still not popular yet but it's use is exploding very fast right now.
     
  10. clownboat

    clownboat Regular Member

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    ive had the same problem for many years as well. I started playing and training in badminton very early on. And almost right away i twisted my knees quite badly. Since hten they have been on and off, but i am certain that i have done some damage to it.

    Lately ive been playing a bit more and running, last week i had difficulty walking without pain in both knees

    oddly enough i saw the doctor today and he too perscribed glucosamine sulfate. From what i was told it is a "herbal" treatment with some proof that in the long run it helps rebuild cartilage

    without a doubt badminton is a fairly high impact sport with all the jumping and lunging. As well you are subjecting your body to various positions that are not natural

    so the stress of it causes wear and tear on your joints and this causes the pain as your cartiage wears out

    im probably going to stay on the glucosamine sulfate for a while yet as it maybe years before any effect is seen if at all. But for what its worth (the risk of being old and in pain) i think that its better to try to get better

    (i only skimmed through this thread, forgive me if i have repeated alot)
     
  11. taneepak

    taneepak Regular Member

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    Re: glucosamine sulfate & aching knees

    I have worn- out cartilage on my right knee( a result of my punishing sporting past), my left foot is flat-footed and my feet are at incorrect angles when striking a walking or running surface.
    About 16 years ago an orthopedic surgeon gave me a series of glucosamine sulfate injections and I was ok for about 9-10 years. Then my right knee started to give me some real trouble again-sometimes I couldn't even walk for a day or two, although this happened only once or twice a year. I then went back to glucosamine and it did help somewhat. But I then found another replacement, which I think is much better than glucosamine. It is black ants from China. I take black ants in both tablet form(highly concentrated) and roasted whole ants which I grind with a coffee mill. You can buy empty capsules to fill the black ants powder, but I boil them with a bowl of special rice congee. The special rice congee is just a table spoon of unpolished brown rice that is soaked in warm water of about 35 degrees C and left to ferment for 24 hours until there is a slight fermenting smell. After cooking the congee I sprinkle 2 teaspoonful of ground roasted organic flax seed on top. In case you think I am nuts on this brown rice stuff, let me tell you that this is from a research done by a highly respected university in Japan that I got from a Cancer newsletter-Can Survive-in Hong Kong. I have stopped taking glucosamine 5 years ago and have been on this black ants plus congee since. Besides helping your joints, black ants are good for man too, if you know what I mean! They are also good for women as their hair will be darker and will have more sheen.
    But about nine months ago I started to have knee pain again (not as bad as the pre-ants days) as well as back pain. I then had my feet tested and found out that I had flat foot on my left foot and over-pronation on both my feet, the latter causing the knee and back pain. I then had 2 pairs of foot orthoses, one for outdoors and sports and one for the home. To accommodate the orthoses I had to discard all my shoes (including badminton shoes) and buy new ones. It took my body a while to adapt to the orthoses. Now, I can play badminton without any braces. I have knee braces with steel supports, back braces as well as shoulder braces but all these are not needed now.
    Yes, I am still having my black ant congee for lunch.
    Hope my sharing is informative.
     
  12. carlol

    carlol Regular Member

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    Interesting.... black ants huh?

    where do you get em? Can they be found in the corner drugstore?
    :p

    If they available in easy to use caspule or tablet form, why do u bother making congee? is it because u love congee or is there better effect that way?
     
  13. carlol

    carlol Regular Member

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    I know its quite expensive, considering the minimal gains, but if it will buy a lil more service life for my beleaugered knees, im sure it shoulbd be worth the cost. If i can spend on feather birdies, i might as well spend on unproven supplements that may help.

    Flax seed oil? I'll look it up. Along with the ants... maybe after I give glucosamine some time to show its power... Coz i wouldnt know wch one worked best if i tried all 3 at the same time.

    Thanks for the advice guys.

     
  14. taneepak

    taneepak Regular Member

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    Why not have your feet checked if the angle they strike on the ground as you walk is within acceptable tolerances. You may be surprised how many knee and back problems spring from your feet for not properly supporting your load. It is like a car with wheels out of alignment, which wears out your tires and suspension in no time.
    If you are into glucosamine I would suggest you get the injection type instead of capsules. The glucosamine is injected into your knee cartilage. Yes the needle is quite massive and its painful. But you get no more than 5-7 shots on consecutive days. You can buy the injectable glucosamine from the chemist, I believe. They are freely sold in Hong Kong. I had an orthopedic surgeon to do it for me, but any doctor should be able to do it. The injectable glucosamine is much more effective than the capsule type.
    The scientific name for this special type of black ants is "Polyrhachis vicina roger" and it is better than glucosamine in capsule form. They come in tablet form, in 2 grades, normal and highly condensed (by 5 times), and they also come in raw form (meaning real dead ants). I take both the highly condensed tablets (3 per day) and the raw ants. The highly condensed tablet costs me US$1 for 3 tablets. I take the raw ants because they are much cheaper, but they stink when cooked. However cooking them with 3-4 cloves magically removes the smell.
     
  15. Neil Nicholls

    Neil Nicholls Regular Member

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    I have just come across some research involving flaxseed oil and other fatty acids.
    I'll start a new thread when I get round to typing it up.
     
  16. Average

    Average Regular Member

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    off Track

    hey guys,

    i have a wrist injury(sorry i no this is a lil off track, didnt wanna start another thread jus to ask this) which hasn't healed 100% as it seems dat da bone is a lil outta place which sumtimes cause my wrist to lock up and hurts really bad, i no i should c a Dr. but im jus 1dering can any1 tel me if the glucosamine sulfate or sum other stuff will help in my wrist recovering.

    thanks, any help will b appreciated
     
  17. ants

    ants Regular Member

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    There is one product called ART from E.Excel International.. its is very good for the bones and joints. i've tried it and very effective.. it nourishes your body o do the repair and strengthn it.
     
  18. JChen99

    JChen99 Regular Member

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    Re: glucosamine sulfate & aching knees

    I also had knee/elbow/shoulder problems just half a year back, but then I started weight training and now it doesn't bother me much anymore.

    Lose a few pounds to start with, goto the gym and strengthen the muscles supporting your knee joint. Glucosamine works, but it'd work better if you take it with vitamin C.
     
  19. coupii

    coupii Regular Member

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    There is a systematic review published recently which now suggests that glucosamine (in particular glucosamine sulfate since other compounds were not tested) is relatively well-tolerated and effective in the management of osteoarthritis. However, there is no information on long-term effectiveness and toxicity nor differences in manufacturing quality, so this info must be considered with an awareness of its limitations.

    Published abstract includes:
    "Collectively, the 16 identified RCTs provided evidence that glucosamine is both effective and safe in OA. In the 13 RCTs in which glucosamine was compared to placebo, glucosamine was found to be superior in all RCTs, except one. In the four RCTs in which glucosamine was compared to an NSAID, glucosamine was superior in two, and equivalent in two."

    The reference is here:
    Towheed, TE. Anastassiades, TP. Shea, B. Houpt, J. Welch, V. Hochberg, MC. Glucosamine therapy for treating osteoarthritis. [Systematic Review] Cochrane Musculoskeletal Group Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 3, 2003.

    But as Cheung said, it will not work for everybody.

    RCT = Randomized Controlled Trial
    OA = Osteoarthritis
    NSAID = Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug
     
  20. SeanA

    SeanA New Member

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    I went to see a Harley Street specialist having played badminton for a number of years he recommended high doses of Glucosamine (1500mg) and Chondroitin (1200mg). Apparently he recommends this to a lot of professional footballers. At the end of the day it eased the pain slightly but the only thing that has enabled me to carry on has been 200mg Ketoprofen tablets (anti-inflamitary) even ibuprofen has not worked. The tablets are expensive £40 for 28 tablets and you take 1 a day before bed. I had discussed another op. on my knees but the medical profession now believes these only have a 50/50 chance of success - my first op did not work. You may also want to try orthotics which will help some of the pressure on the knees arising from mis-alignment.

    Hope you sort it out soon
     

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