Bikewer

I'm 59, and have been riding without any injuries to speak of (occasional mountain-bike dings) since the mid-70s.
I do bike patrol for my department, for about the last 10 years, and have owned a variety of bikes, road, mountain, and recumbent.

Just in the last couple of years I've had occasional knee aches, and just did the usual NSAIDS route...

Finally got bad enough that I complained to my doc, and he ordered up a set of X-rays. Says the left knee appears pretty normal, but the right is starting to show some minor arthritis. He's reccomending cortisone injections for the right one, and I'll probably go ahead and do that.

I'm a "spinner" rather than a pedal-masher, and I just started using the granny on the police bike to give the 'ol joints a break. (had to take the front DR apart, I hadn't shifted off the middle chainring in so long that it was frozen!)
I'm considering trying glucosamine/chrondroitin. Rather skeptical of supplements in general, but even Consumer Reports says that a fairly large percentage of users report at least some benifit.
Ah, the joys of aging.... Beats the alternative, though.

jppe

I had some knee pains and my Orthopedic Doctor swears by glucosamine/chrondroitin. He says he's been taking it for several years and it has eliminated some knee pains for him.

will dehne

I am very suspicious of any chemical or medicine. I have heard too often that there are side effects later when it is too late.
I suffered a knee injury about 3 years ago. Doctors prescribed Vioxx. It helped masking the pain, no doubt. I substituted Advil as soon as possible. Six months later I stopped Advil and did self therapy with no load spinning.
I just completed a 3000 mile tour at respectable speed with no pills and no ill effects.
BTW, I am diagnosed also with Arthritis and I am 64.

mtnroads

I used to be a trail runner (still miss it) and had both knees scoped for meniscus tears in my early 40's (I just turned 51). In order to avoid any more of that, and after seeing the benefit to both my Labrador Retrievers in their older age, I started taking the stuff about 2-3 years ago. Between that and regular biking, my knees have been pretty strong and pain-free. I did have an incident last summer while working on my property (I was carrying a giant chunk of concrete and took a mis-step) that hurt one knee and took several months to clear up, during which time I learned to spin, not mash, the pedals on hills.

I think a regular dose of the stuff helps, and I get 500mg Glucosamine, 400mg Chondroitin in my packet of Emergen-C everyday. I haven't heard of any real side-effects. Also make sure your seat height is set correctly and use orthotics for arch support when hiking if you need them - that helped my knees quite a bit also.

GrannyGear

Ditto the glucosamine. Ski crashes, too many miles and years logged running before I turned to cycling, and general youthful folly at middle age, left me with "sensitive" knees. Regular cycling and sensible application of gears have also helped. Knees may occasionally twinge.....but feel and perform better and more consistently than some years ago. I'm 59. I doubt there's a day where something doesn't twinge ... but most of the time they are things that don't really impede me. I find inactivity promotes more stiffness and twinges than regular, sensible work. Most stuff I just work through...occasionally I take a little time off-- which is the hardest thing to do. I can never tell whether ibuprofen helps or not.

Velo Dog

Be careful of possible drug interactions. I have a couple of friends, one a nurse, who've been taking gluco/chondroitin for years, and they think it helps. I have some knee problems, probably from 20 years of running, and I thought about trying it--but it turns out the supplements can interact with one of the drugs I take for a minor heart arrythmia. If you're on ANY prescription meds, at least do a search for interactions, and it wouldn't be a bad idea to check with your doc or a pharmacist.

Monoborracho

My knee stories are horrendous. You don't want to hear them. Looks like I lost a knife fight with a midget. Six surgeries so far, beginning at age 26 and including an ACL transplant at age 48, which is now becoming loose again. Oseoarthritis in one knee that perpetually grinds. Probably one or two surgeries to go, maybe a replacement some day, but the pain will have to get much worse. I walk without limping, but they pretty much always hurt somewhere. I quit the long distance runs in my early 40's. I should have quit them in my mid-20's, or as soon as I got out of the service.

I took supplements for a while some years back with no improvement in the pain. My knees may have been too far gone.

But I can still cycle on a level where I am comfortable.

"......and then the wheels came off"

Bud Bent

My knees are just about the only joints I have left that give me no trouble. Like many, I take glucosamine for my many other joint issues, and seem to get a small benefit from it.

BTW, Vioxx and Advil (ibuprofen) do not mask pain. They, like the other NSAIDs, work by suppressing the body's production of prostaglandins, which is the chemical that causes inflammation. That means they actually reduce the inflammation.

I am more of an expert on this than I'd like to be, because I have taken NSAIDs for years for inflamed nerves in my back caused by bad discs. Since my NSAIDs come from the VA, the Bextra and Celebrex I used to take have been replaced by etodolac. I rarely fill the prescriptions I get for other types of pain pills; reducing the inflammation always seemed like a better strategy to me.

Sheesh, I've wandered off topic again. We 50+ers are forgiven for that, right?

Mr. Fierte

Pretty much same story here. Fractures into the tibial plato, two ACL reconstructions, cartilage removed several times. Told about 10 years ago I'd be on knee replacements in 5 years. I tried the supplements and found they did nothing. The absolute best thing I ever did for my knees was to discover cycling! They havn't felt this good since I was 40.