jonathanf2

I just want to add I'm a big supporter of glucosamine + chondroitin supplements. Even though it's marketed towards seniors, I started using it because I like heavy powerlifting, especially deadlifts (sumo and conventional) and barbell squats when not cycling. Though I found the same joint relief and repair benefits also help when riding a bike. It allows me to pound out some hard out of saddle hill climb sprints and high cadence spinning. I can feel the supplements kick-in within a week and my recovery time is much faster. Usually when I run out of the stuff and don't replenish right away, I can feel my joints taking longer to recover. On top of that just having good sleep so your body can repair itself. For food I like to eat anything that has collagen or will help on collagen production.

DaveLeeNC

My personal physician told me that (in his experience) glucosamine/chondroitin supplements help about half of the patients who try it and that you have not really completed 'trying it' until you have taken it for at least 3 months.

I was in the half who get no benefit. I have a sister who finds it quite helpful.

dave

Carbonfiberboy 

I'll add a caveat to that - I've looked at a lot of studies. The ones which found no benefit all used glucosamine hydrochloride. The ones which found at least some benefit all used glucosamine sulfate. There's a decent chance that it's just the sulfur. I haven't found a study which found chondroitin beneficial. Agree about the length of time. Joint stuff takes time. I've been using the sulfate form for 40 years or so. My knees are fine. I had a meniscus repair, but that's not the knee's fault. I've also been taking MSM for the past 10 years.

It's one of those things - the possible result of not taking it can be a lot worse than the result of taking it and it doing nothing, especially when the result you want to see is . . .nothing.