Had a buddy of mine tell me to check this site out and liked what I saw so signed up.
I am just getting back into training. Am nursing a shoulder injury at the moment (strained pec tendon and rotator cuff) and am going to physio twice a week until I get it back to “normal”. I am 39 and during my younger days I played alot of contact sports and sustained several injuries, broken bones etc which I can still feel, So my training lately has been extremely light weights to get my old busted body into some sort of condition before I start to really push things too hard. Currently am doing a 2 day split with chest, tric, and shoulders one day, legs, back and biceps the next with a rest day then repeat. Since my shoulder injury(hockey) the physio told me no shoulder or chest excercises until I heal up. Other than cardio which I do 6 times a week and a leg workout I am kinda SOL for another month.
Anyway - I was told that Glucosamine supplements may help with joint soreness etc. Any truth to this?
although you wont find much encouragement for endurance sports on this site, i workout to train for mountaineering, and so i do a lot of trail running with a pack on as well as weight lifting. since i tend to get a lot of ankle and knee issues going on, i take cytosport’s joint matrix which is a glucosamine/chondroitin blend, and it seems to really help keep the joint pain down during the training months. i’ve put on some decent miles this season and have had no problems. so i would say it’s worth giving a shot.
PS i thought no one was supposed to be talking about T-Nation!
Whether or not glucosamine will help your shoulder is going to depend on what the issue(s) are. People do tend to think of glucosamine and joints as if the two go hand in hand, but what glucosamine does is repair/rebuild cartilage if you’re suffering from arthritic wear-and-tear type.
However, if you have rotator cuff issues or tendonitis because of impingment syndrome or bursitis, I would probably recommend a good proteolytic enzyme to help with protein turnover and maybe some MSM. Both would help with inflammation and reduce pain. For a proteolytic enzyme, either look at Wobenzym or bromelain (2000 or 2400 GDU). You can take both supps “aggressively.” Don’t take MSM too late at night, though. It can be mentally stimulating/energizing, causing problems with getting to sleep.
Good luck with the rehab! And if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask.
Just to chime in, I have read and heard several studies showing that the combination of glucosamine with chondroitin is really no better than glucosamine alone. They just throw in the chondroitin more as a marketing tool. You might be able to save some $$ by just getting a stand alone glucosamine supp.