Joint pain is a common problem today. It is also a very serious problem – a worryingly large proportion of people report chronic joint pain as a significant and problem in their life. Many say that joint pain is a major hindrance on their ability to enjoy life, and some studies have suggested that it is a major cause of depression (to say nothing of decreased mobility and obesity).
Joint supplements represent a readily available and simple solution to the ubiquitous problem of joint pain and poor mobility.
High-quality, professionally-designed joint supplements can make a dramatic difference to the health of your joints. The best joint supplements on the market today work to attack joint pain and poor flexibility in several different ways at the same time. This means they are designed to suit all needs, regardless of the cause or severity of your joint issues.
In this article, we’re going to look at the best joint supplements you can use today to reduce pain, protect joint health, and improve flexibility. We’ll explain who joint supplements are designed for, and what makes a great joint health stack. First, we’re going to take a look at who joint supplements are designed for exactly. Then we will go through the most effective supplements for joint health and flexibility. At the end, we’ll tell what what we think to be the best joint supplement on sale today. If you have any questions, please post them in the comments at the end of the article.
#1 Rated Joint Supplement Today: Physio Flex Pro
Physio Flex Pro is the best joint supplement on the market today, hands down. No other joint supplement comes anywhere near to offering the same kind of ingredient quality or value for money that Physio Flex Pro can give you.
If you’re looking for a natural supplement to help reduce joint pain, rebuild cartilage, increase flexibility, and protect your joint strength as you get older, you cannot do better than Physio Flex Pro.
This joint supplement has been specifically formulated by physiotherapists and orthopedic surgeons to provide full spectrum, comprehensive joint support. Each Physio Flex Pro ingredient has been clinically proven to ease joint pain, increase flexibility, and protect joint health as you get older. Check out the formula:
The reason we rate Physio Flex Pro so highly is that it covers all the most important bases, using the highest quality ingredients with robust backing from clinical data. Users of Physio Flex Pro can expect the following benefits:
- Increased flexibility
- Reduced joint pain
- Improved mobility
- Faster recovery from injury
- Better joint health over the long-term
- Increased bone strength
Somehow Physio Flex Pro manages to deliver all of this – in a 100% natural, plant-based manner – for less than $2 a day. This is exceptional value for money for what it is the most effective natural joint supplement on the market.
Read our full review: Physio Flex Pro review.
Check out the website for more details and prices: PhysioFlexPro.com.
Who Uses Joint Supplements?
Who uses joint supplements anyway? Who are these products designed for?
It might be tempting to think of joint supplements as something that only people suffering with severe joint pain, osteoarthritis, or rheumatoid arthritis might need to use. Good quality joint supplements can indeed help reduce joint pain and improve the symptoms of arthritis. But this isn’t all joint supplements can do!
The best joint supplements can preemptively protect and preserve your joints from repetitive strain or impact damage. They can also promote flexibility and mobility.
This means that the highest quality joint supplements stand to benefit an extremely wide range of people.
Joint supplements can and should be used by a wide variety of people. Here is a list of some of the types of people who would benefit most from using joint supplements:
- People with chronic joint pain
- People recovering from injury
- Runners
- Weightlifters
- MMA fighters
- Yoga practitioners
- Office workers (who spend all day sat down, typing and slouching)
- Manual laborers (who spend all day stood up, carrying things, and bending down)
As you can see, this is an extremely broad group of people. In fact, that covers just about everyone!
How Do Joint Supplements Work?
Obviously, different joint health supplements work in different ways.
If you’re talking about pre-made joint health and flexibility stacks, then these are likely to work in numerous different ways at the same time. On the other hand, if you’re going to use individual substances to try to reduce joint pain or promote flexibility, then the substance you use is going to work slightly differently to a different joint supplement.
That said, most effective, proven joint supplements can be clumped into a few categories in terms of their mechanism of action.
Broadly speaking, the most potent and reliable supplements for joint health work in the following ways:
- Reducing inflammation
- Stimulating repair and regeneration of connective tissues
- Restoring shock-absorbing fluids between joints
- Promoting osteoblasts (bone building cells) and suppressing osteoclasts (bone destroying cells)
- Inhibiting enzymes which destroy connective tissues
This is mainly how all joint supplements work. The exact mechanism of action will vary depending on the substance being used. But the ingredients in good joint health supplements usually fall into one of more of these categories.
Best Joint Supplement Ingredients
Which joint supplements really work?
This is a very good question. After all, every product on the market today claims to be “the best joint supplement in the world“. Most joint stacks claim to help with joint pain or promote flexibility. But unless you’ve done your research, it can be hard to tell which ones work and which don’t.
That’s why it is so important to look at the ingredients in each stack and evaluate their efficacy based on the available clinical evidence.
To help you on your way, we’ve listed the most effective joint supplements with the most robust scientific backing. These are the top joint supplements you can buy, and they’re the ingredients we look for in every stack.
The 10 best supplement ingredients for joint pain, flexibility, and mobility
Here arte 11 natural ingredients which have been found to be effective for improving some aspect of joint health and function, be it natural joint pain relief, decreased inflammation, increase cartilage repair, synovial fluid resotration, or some other joint enhancement mechanism:
- Curcumin
- Glucosamine
- Chondroitin
- MSM
- EPA/DHA/ALA
- Boswellia serrata
- Selenium
- Bromelain
- Garlic
- Ginger
1. Curcumin
Curcumin is a compound found naturally in turmeric; it is actually the reason why turmeric is currently so popular as a health supplement. Curcumin is a potent anti-inflammatory. This is partly what makes it such a good supplement for reducing inflammation-related joint pain. But it isn’t the main reason curcumin is good for joints. Curcumin inhibits Cyclooxygenase (also known as COX-2); an enzyme that produces pro-inflammatory messengers called prostaglandins. These prostaglandins are linked with chronic joint pain. By inhibiting them, curcumin can soothe achy, stiff, painful joints. Curcumin also has some pretty powerful antioxidant power, meaning it protects your joints from oxidative stress and free radical damage.
Perhaps more interestingly, Curcumin has been found to reduce advanced glycation end products. These are proteins which become glycated when exposed to proteins; they are a distinct marker of ageing and they are implicated in many degenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s and arthritis. Studies have found that advanced glycation end products are more prominent in the joints of people with some forms of arthritis and those suffering from chronic joint pain.
2. Glucosamine
Glucosamine is an amino sugar. It is a vital structural component of tissues integral to joint health and normal joint functioning. For instance, glucosamine is a primary component of your synovial fluid; the fluid which surrounds, protects, and cushions your joints. Increasing glucosamine availability promotes the production of this synovial fluid, which in turn improves your joints’ ability to absorb impacts.
Glucosamine is also a key component of proteins which form connective tissues like ligaments, tendons, and cartilage. On top of that, studies have found that glucosamine supplementation supports chondrocyte cells, which repair and regenerate your cartilage “from within”. All of this makes glucosamine an extremely important, effective and reliable joint supplement.
3. Chondroitin
Chondroitin is easily one of the best joint supplements in existence. This complex molecule is “woven” throughout the extracellular lattice of your cartilage. Here chondroitin acts as a kind of scaffolding; with a strong negative charge, chondroitin attracts and binds to water molecules, hydrating and bolstering your cartilage, helping it to absorb shocks and impacts.
Chondroitin also – as the name suggests – promotes chondrocyte cells which are responsible for repairing and regenerating your cartilage. In our opinion, this is why every good joint supplement needs to provide some chondroitin; it promotes joint health directly, and promotes healing on a cellular level.
4. MSM
MSM, or Methylsulfonylmethane, is another vital ingredient in any good joint supplement. MSM is a basic structural component of both glucosamine and chondroitin, as well as cartilage and collagen. As such, you might think of MSM as the basic building block of all your connective tissues!
Studies have found that MSM supplementation greatly improves joint mobility, protects joint health, and helps reduce chronic, injury-related joint pain. It seems like the main driver of these effects is the fact that MSM slows down the gradual erosion of cartilage that comes from repeated impacts or repetitive strain. MSM supplementation may be able to maintain rapid cartilage and collagen regeneration, preventing the kind of joint pain that comes when these tissues are degraded.
5. EPA/DHA/ALA
EPA, DHA and ALA are the three main omega 3 fatty acids; the ones important for human health. Omega 3s are inherently anti-inflammatory, and powerfully so. Consuming these omega 3s will signifciantly reduce systemic inflammation, including inflammation of the joints. EPA and ALA will also act to “lubricate” the joints, improving flexibility and mobility while simultaneously easing joint pain caused by inflammation.
Most people consume large quantities of omega 6 and 9 fatty acids every single day. These fatty acids raise inflammation throughout the body, including the joints. While you can consume plenty of omega 3s from food, almost nobody consumes optimal amounts. If you struggle with joint pain and flexibility, introducing some omega 3s to your supplement regimen might be a good idea.
6. Boswellia serrata
Boswellia serrata is a top joint supplement, and in our opinion it should be in every single joint health stack on sale today.
This simple desert tree produces a gum resin rich in boswellic acids (as you might have guessed from the name, Boswellia serrrata is the only source of boswellic acids). One boswellic acid, AKBA (3-O-acetyl-11 keto-ß-boswellic acid) is particularly effective for promoting joint health. AKBA inhibits the enzyme 5-LOX which slowly erodes your cartilage. The effect is not immediately noticeable, but over many months and years having elevated 5-LOX will eat your cartilage away and leave your joints completely unprotected, immobile, and in chronic pain.
As if that wasn’t enough, boswellic acids from Boswellia serrata also inhibit another enzyme: MMP, or matrix metalloproteinase (MMP). Like 5-LOX, this enzyme breaks down your connective tissues over time. Inhibiting its action will greatly reduce connective tissue erosion, thereby strengthening your joints and protecting them over the long-term.
7. Selenium
Selenium is a mineral with a broad array of functions in the human body. It is a vital mineral, involved in everything from DNA production and thyroid function to immune system function and fighting free radicals. Selenium is also a general anti-inflammatory; taking selenium supplements has been shown to drastically reduce biomarkers of inflammation. This has immediate and significant ramifications for joint pain and long-term joint health. Clinical trials have found that selenium supplementation can reduce joint pain, particularly that associated with inflammation, such as wirth rheumatoid arthritis. That selenium fights free radicals also means that it protects connective tissues – cartilage, tendons and bone – from free radical damage over time.
8. Bromelain
This is not a common ingredient in joint supplements, but many of the top joint supplements on the market right now are starting to incorporate bromelain into their formulas. Bromelain is an enzyme found naturally in pineapples. Interestingly, Bromelain is a potent anti-inflammatory. This explains why bromelain has been found to be so effective at relieving joint pain associated with inflammation. In one study, bromelain has been found to be more effective than the pain killer diclofenac at relieving osteoarthritis knee pain. This is pretty spectacular, since bromelain is 100% natural, non liver toxic, and not associated with any serious side effects. Other studies have similarly shown that targeted bromelain supplementation is associated with decreased pain and swelling around injured or sore joints. This is a must-have ingredient for all good joint supplements, especially those marketed to athletes.
9. Garlic
Garlic is a commonly eaten food, but don’t let that fool you; garlic is also a fantastic joint supplement. The reason garlic is so good for alleviating joint pain is that it is a potent anti-inflammatory. In simple terms, garlic limits the effects of pro-inflammatory cytokines. These cytokines can exacerbate joint pain. What’s more, chronic inflammation from these cytokines can damage your connective tissues (such as cartilage); cytokines can therefore even cause joint pain themselves through persistent inflammation of the joints. In suppressing these cytokines, garlic reduces systemic inflammation and protects the joints from inflammation-induced damage.
Most professional joint supplements do not contain garlic. However, using a garlic supplement to promote joint health may be a good idea since eating sufficient amounts of garlic to reduce cytokine levels may prove difficult for some.
10. Ginger
Ginger has been used in traditional medicine for millennia; it has long been used to treat a range of conditions, such as high blood pressure, anxiety, nausea, and – you guessed it – joint pain! Ginger root is an incredibly rich source of anti-oxidants and anti-inflammatory compounds. Unlike so many “traditional medicines”, it appears that ginger is actually highly effective for the treatment of joint pain. Clinical trials show that consuming ginger on a daily basis is a highly effective way to reduce the severity of joint pain. Some studies have also shown that regular ginger consumption may help completely prevent cartilage erosion, tendonitis, and joint pain associated with some types of arthritis. Ginger should be a primary ingredient in all of the best joint supplements on the market today. Using ginger alongside turmeric and bromelain will deliver maximum inflammation-fighting results.
Best Joint Supplements For Knee Cartilage
Knee cartilage is perhaps the joint tissue that people worry about the most.
There’s two reasons for this. First, knee cartilage is the joint tissue which takes the biggest beating from high-impact sports activities; if you’re lifting weights, running on hard surfaces, grappling in BJJ, or taking big tackles to the legs, then your knee cartilage is taking a pounding. Even if you’re not doing a sport competitively, knee cartilage injuries are still much more common than other cartilage injuries. This is why top joint supplements for athletes will always focus heavily on cartilage protection and repair.
Second, knee cartilage injuries are among the most painful that people can experience. Almost everythign you do on a day-to-day basis involves your knees: walking, running, standing, getting up, sitting down, walking up stairs – all of it requires you to have functioning knees. Having eroded or damaged knee cartilage makes all of these things extremely painful.
Finding joint pain relief when you have a knee cartilage injury is extremely difficult. Normally, the only way to get joint pain relief from knee cartilage damage is surgery or painkillers. But the best joint supplements can really make a difference!
The best supplements for knee cartilage are chondroitin, glucosamine and MSM. Chondroitin protects your knee cartilage by blocking the enzyme 5-LOX, which breaks down cartilage slowly over time. Both glucosamine and MSM support the formation of new, healthy cartilage by providing the body with the basic building blocks it need to make new connective tissues.
Both turmeric and omega 3 can also help support healthy cartilage by reducing inflammation, and therefore reduce stress on the joints.
Best Joint Supplements For Osteoarthritis
Osteoarthritis is a type of arthritis caused by a gradual erosion of the cartilage which cushions the ends of your joints. Osteoarthritis can happen in any joint but usually affects your fingers, thumbs, spine, hips, knees, or big toes. Osteoarthritis is more common in older people, but it can absolutely affect younger people too. That said, osteoarthritis usually only occurs in younger people who have subjected their cartilage to intensive erosion and damage through sports.
Osteoarthritis is one of the leading causes of joint pain. Finding joint pain relief from osteoarthritis is nothing short of an obsession for a lot of people. What is particularly difficult is finding natural joint pain relief supplements that are effective for osteoarthritis.
Thankfully, high quality joint supplements have been found to be effective for relieving joint pain in people suffering fro osteoarthritis.
The best joint supplements for osteoarthritis are glucosamine, chondroitin, and omega 3 fatty acids. Of these, glucosamine and chondroitin are the most important as they promote healthy cartilage repair and generation. Osteoarthritis results from the breakdown of cartilage over time; by bolstering your cartilage with glucosamine and chondroitin, you can reduce the severity of oseteoarthritis symptoms.
Best Supplements For Cracking Joints
Joint craxcking is often thought to be a sign of inflexible, damaged joints. Many people have told us that they believe it to be an early sign of arthritis, or that it might contriubute to worsening arthritis symptoms. However, this isn’t true in the slightest. Cracking joints is not associated with joint damage or the risk of developing arthritis; at least not normally!
The joints you are able to crack are the synovial joints. Synovial fluid surrounds and lubricates joints like your fingers, neck and vertibrae. Thsi synovial fluid is full of gasses, including oxygen, nitrogen and carbon dioxide. When you move these joints further than they normally move, it stretches the synovial fluid and creates lower pressure, which leads to the gasses in the fluid rapidly escaping. These escaping gasses form a bubble, which quickly pops, causing a crack.
However, some instances of cracking or popping joints can be caused by the connective tissues or bones actually rubbing up against one another. This will usually cause more of a scraping than a popping sound, but the two can be confused. If this is the cause of your joint cracking, it is likely to be accompanied by significant pain in the joint, and you should seek help from an orthopedic surgeon immediately.
The best supplements for cracking joints are glucosamine, chondroitin, and omega 3 fatty acids. Glucosamine and chondroitin promote healthy cartilage and synovial fluid production, while omega 3 reduces inflammation. These natural substances will effectively prevent joint pain and craking joints. For those wanting an all-in-one solution, we recommend Physio Flex Pro.
-Visit PhysioFlexPro.com-
Side Effects: Are Joint Supplements Safe?
Are joint supplements safe to use?
Joint supplements are generally safe. Most natural joint supplements might be a safer option for people who can’t take nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). The best joint supplements are 100% natural, plant-based, and have been thoroughly tested in human clinical trials.
That said, you need to judge the safety of joint supplements on a case by case basis. Every joint supplement is different, and some are far better than others in terms of efficacy, purity, and safety.
Putting it all together: Our Top Rated Joint Supplement
If you’re really serious about optimizing your joints and promoting flexibility going forward, then the most effective method is to combine several of the ingredients from the list above and to use them together, consistently, over many weeks and months.
This is a very important point – you cannot fix chronic joint pain overnight! It takes a long time to repair and regenerate connective tissues. You cannot reduce severe, impact-induced inflammation in a few days.
To properly optimize joint health, you need to be consistent and use high quality joint supplements on a regular basis over a long period of time. Even the best joint supplement will take several weeks to really start making a difference. In fact, we’d go as far as to say that any joint supplement which claims to be able to cure joint pain or reverse joint damage in a couple of days is a scam! The top joint supplements will always make it clear that it takes week to see results, but when results come, they’re very noticeable.
So what is the best joint supplement on the market today?
Best joint supplement of 2021: Physio Flex Pro
After reviewing dozens of joint supplement stacks, we think the answer to this question is unarguably Physio Flex Pro. This is the most complete joint supplement money can buy right now. It enhances every aspect of joint health, helps manage joint pain, and can protect against long-term joint damage.
Using Physio Flex Pro on a daily basis for weeks and years will produce a range of benefits, including:
- Reduced joint pain
- Joint protection over the long-term
- Improved flexibility
- Accelerated repair of connective tissues
- Increased bone strength
- Better shock absorption
A major selling point of Physio Flex Pro for us is the fact that it is being used by real physiotherapists today to enhance recovery and promote joint strength. Leading joint specialists, physios and coaches today are using Physio Flex Pro on their patients and athletes to reduce injury risk, eliminate pain without drugs, and strengthen joint tissues over time.
To top it off, Physio Flex Pro costs less than $2 a day, has an incredibly safe side effect profile, and uses the highest quality form of each ingredient available (without charging you an arm and a leg for pointless branded ingredients).
Learn more from our detailed Physio Flex Pro review.
Visit the Physio Flex Pro website for more info and the latest deals: PhysioFlexPro.com.
FAQs
Do any joint supplements really work?
Yes, many joint supplements work wonders for reducing joint pain and increase flexibility. However, which joint supplements will work for you depends on your particular circumstances, or more specifically, the cause of your joint pain. Some joint supplements work for some people and not for others. This is why we recommend comprehensive, multi-ingredient joint stacks. The best joint supplements attack joint pain and mobility issues from all angles while providing future joint protection.
What is the best vitamin for joint pain?
The best vitamin to take for joint pain is vitamin D. There is a very simple reason for this; Vitamin D promotes the absorption of calcium in your bones. If you are deficient in Vitamin D – and most people have nowhere near enough vitamin D since they spend little time in the sun – then your bones will not be able to absorb and utilize calcium at an optimal rate. Supplementing with Vitamin D has been shown to increase bone density and joint health. Many top joint supplements contain Vitamin D.
How long do joint supplements take to work?
Fixing joint pain and increasing flexibility is not an overnight process. Even the best joint supplements take a fairly long time to start showing significant results. This is because it takes time to repair your connective tissues, replenish synovial fluid, and increase osteoblast numbers. Many joint supplements also work by protecting the joints, so you will not see immediate returns (but rather dividends from better protected joints). That said, a top joint supplement should deliver returns within 4-6 weeks.
What foods help repair cartilage?
Unfortunately, no foods can help repair cartilage. In most cases of serious articular cartilage damage, there is nothing you can do to naturally repair the cartilage in question. In cases of minor cartilage damage, then some supplements can significantly accelerate cartilage repair and regeneration. But these substances are not naturally found in any foods; at least not in amounts that are physiologically meaningful. To repair cartilage, you need to use the best joint supplements available. Extreme cases require medical intervention.
What is the best vitamin for cartilage?
Vitamins are not good for healing cartilage. Other supplements, such as glucosamine, chondroitin, omega-3, and green tea, are effective for supporting cartilage health. Glucosamine helps keep the cartilage in joints healthy and may have an anti-inflammatory effect.