The Best Supplements for Cartilage and Knee Joint Pain

You don’t have to bow down to knee joint paint. You can live a normal, active life even when your knees creak and your ankles send jolts of pain at every step. Taking the right high quality vitamins and minerals can go a long way in helping you manage your joint pain. USANA Procosa is a specially formulated blend of ingredients that provide the support ageing or overused joints need to recover and keep you active.

Before we take a look at the best vitamins for joint pain, here is a look at what causes joint pain.

What Causes Knee Cartilage and Joint Pain

After the age of 35, 7 out of 10 women suffer from knee cartilage pain, says OAFI (Osteoarthritis Foundation International.) A large number of women in this age range stop being able to exercise normally. A combination of regular wear and tear, and additional pressure from weight gain can contribute to knee joint paint.

In men and women, joint pain can also be caused by a sports injury. Conditions like rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, general body infections, gout, reactive arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, fibromyalgia, and spondylitis (curving of the spine) may also cause joint pain. The pain is not limited to one structure of a joint but it can be related to any of the following elements:

• the bones near a joint or of the joint
• the lining of the joint
• tendons, muscles, or ligaments around a joint

Of the different types of joints in the body, the synovial joint gives you the greatest range of motion by connecting bone or cartilage with a fibrous capsule that is an extension of the bone being connected to. There are six types of these joints: hinge joint (at the knee), the ball-and-socket joint (at the hip and the shoulder), pivot joint (at the neck and the wrist), gliding joint (at the ankles and wrists), (at the base of the fingers and the wrists), and the saddle joint (in the thumb, heel, middle ear, and thorax.)

Synovial joints have a narrow space between bones that are filled with synovial fluid that’s largely made of hyaluronic acid. Yes, the stuff that is used to keep skin moist in modern cosmetic products helps you wave to your friends, swim, run and dance up a storm at 2am.

However, when the health of the cartilage, ligaments, and tendons that keep the joint stable is compromised, joint pain can begin.

But the good news is you can improve joint pain and delay age-related problems with the right kinds of muscle-strengthening exercises, a healthy diet and the right supplements. This information discusses the supplements that are effective for improving joints.

There are plenty of studies that have looked into vitamin and mineral supplements for joint pain. As a result, there are plenty of products in the market for joint pain. When buying a supplement for joint pain, however, it’s important to make sure that the vitamins and minerals present are bio-available. In other words, your body should be able to use them and you should get what you pay for.

The majority of store bought knee cartilage pain supplements on the market do not have the correct balance of ingredients, nor the quality of ingredients that will be effective for improving the joints in the body.

Here’s a list of the most important vitamins and minerals for joint support, all of which are present in USANA Procosa.

Vitamin C for Supportive Collagen

Too much Vitamin C can potentially make osteoarthritis worse. But enough of it can help you fight rheumatoid arthritis. As long as you eat enough fruits and vegetables that give you your daily vitamin C dose, you’ll be safe from inflammation in the joints. But our busy lifestyles often prevent us from eating the fully balanced meals that we should be eating every day. That’s where vitamin supplements come in.

High Quality Vitamin C is also essential for producing collagen. Collagen is the stuff that helps wounds heal and makes up the cartilage that caps the ends of bones at joints. Collagen helps bones move smoothly against each other. Experts recommend vitamin C for arthritic symptoms. If you are wanting to add a high quality Vitamin C to your diet, try USANA Booster C600. Booster C was recently featured on Dr Oz for it’s potency, uniformity and disintegration guarantees.

Manganese for Synovial Fluid Support

The mineral manganese, which you can usually get from oysters, whole grains, soybeans, leafy vegetables, nuts, spices, and tea, is needed for producing an important amino acid that plays a major role in collagen formation. You can safely take up to 11 mg of manganese per day as an adult.

Manganese has another important role in the proper function of joints. It helps in the production of synovial fluid. Studies have found a link between manganese deficiency and lower hyaluronic acid levels.

Manganese also helps in the absorption of glucosamine, another important chemical in the body that works to build ligaments, cartilage, and tendons.

Glucosamine for Healthy Knee Cartilage Function

Glucosamine is produced in the bodynaturally, and good joint-support supplements also carry effective amounts of it. USANA Procosa delivers 1500 mg glucosamine hydrochloride in every three tablets (a daily dose) Glucosamine helps to keep joints well-supplied with synovial fluids which keep the joint moving freely and helps reduce the pain. As you age and the synovial fluids tend to dry up and pain may start to develop so the role of glucosamine becomes even more important.

There’s research to support the use of glucosamine supplementation for joint trouble. Several European studies show patients with osteoarthritis are better after taking glucosamine supplements.

Glucosamine is usually derived from shellfish, in the form of chondroitin sulfate. But USANA Procosa derives glucosamine HCL from vegetarian sources and blends it with magnesium sulfate and potassium, improving results.

The form of glucosamine present in USANA Procosa is more effective than the form usually derived from shellfish. Glucosamine is also more effective when it’s present along with curcumin.

Bioavailable Curcumin Complex for Antioxidant Support

Studies show that glucosamine hydrochloride and bio-curcumin together make a potent joint-support complex. Curcumin is the compound present in turmeric, that gives the spice its powerful antioxidant properties.

The Meriva Bioavailable Curcumin Complex in Procosa is designed to give your body more bio-available curcumin and absorb a lot more in the knee cartilage and other joints. To make it easier (by as much as 30 times) to absorb through the cell membranes, the manufacturers of this complex have combined curcumin with a lipid derived from soy lecithin.

The Bottomline

Together the ingredients in USANA Procosa provide support for knee cartilage building and repair, healthy joint ageing, a healthy recovery after exercise, and antioxidants.

The tangential benefits of USANA supplements include benefits for the skin, hair and since both vitamin C and glucosamine moisturize and maintain the firmness and elasticity of the skin we encourage vitamin supplement use for your body to be on a daily basis and in conjunction with healthy diet and moderate exercise.

USANA Health Sciences. Salt Lake City UT