How to protect joints and ligaments

To protect your joints and ligaments, you need, firstly, a balanced and nutritious diet. It is known that the body receives everything it needs from food. But there are 2 main problems.

The first is that very often a person who works out in the gym pursues the goal of losing weight and burning fat, which means that he limits his diet in some way. By creating a calorie deficit, very often people get a deficiency of nutrients.

The second problem of our modern society is that we have begun to eat little food that helps strengthen joints and ligaments. We buy beef or pork tenderloin, and we are careful not to let the sellers slip the bones into our hands. Namely, the bones and cartilage of animals contain a large number of substances that strengthen our bones, joints and ligaments.

In this mode, special supplements that can be bought at a pharmacy or in sports nutrition stores will help keep joints and ligaments healthy.

1. Glucosamine sulfate is the most effective and widespread component among athletes for the restoration and strengthening of cartilage and articular ligaments. It promotes the formation of interarticular fluid and prevents its dehydration and fragility. The average dose for a person per day is 700 mg.

2. Chondroitin sulfate – the drug consists of cartilage of large animals, and performs the function of lubrication in the joints. Usually the drug is used in combination with glucosamine, as they complement each other perfectly and provide better protection for the joints.

3. Collagen is the main component of our body, our skin and bones, cartilage and joints. A protein that is produced by our body to maintain the elasticity and strength of our shell. Strictly speaking, collagen, which is sold as a special dietary supplement, is nothing more than edible gelatin. Many athletes know this and use about 10 grams of gelatin daily to maintain the elasticity and flexibility of the joints.

4. Calcium and vitamin D are an auxiliary pair for our skeletal system. Where there are healthy bones, there are healthy ligaments, since the composition of bones and ligaments is the same. Calcium strengthens bones, and vitamin D promotes better absorption of calcium in the body.

Preventive measures:

Every athlete knows that before starting to train for real, it is necessary to warm up the muscles and, most importantly, prepare the joints for stress, otherwise injuries cannot be avoided.

So, in order to keep your ligaments healthy, follow a few basic rules:

1. Be sure to warm up before training. Start calmly and measuredly and gradually increase the intensity, reaching the state of warm muscles. And only after that proceed to the exercises with the load.

2. After each workout, do a little stretching. But do not be too zealous, otherwise you can only make it worse by injuring the ligament, which is more mobile and supple after physical exertion. The pain during stretching should be slightly aching, but not sharp.

3. Take special drugs that will keep your joints healthy, especially if you follow a strict diet that excludes certain types of foods from the diet.

4. If you have received an injury to the joints or ligaments, you must stop exercising until complete recovery. I’m only talking about mild forms of injury. If you feel a sharp, never-ending pain that prevents you from even moving, you should immediately consult a doctor.

5. To avoid re-injury, try to eliminate the exercise that caused the injury. If this is not possible, then do the exercise in such a way as to involve the damaged part of the body as little as possible. For example, if this is the front of the thigh, then do not squat too deep and do not do too deep back lunges.

I recently encountered this problem myself. My hip joint hurt, but I continued to train, thinking that the pain would go away on its own. But after one sleepless night due to a sore joint, I decided to give up training for a while. One week was enough for me. After that, I did a workout, avoiding exercises that load the sore leg. As long as I feel good. But I made a firm decision that it is necessary to take sports nutrition to protect the joints and ligaments, since I simply do not have the strength to give up sports. I’m addicted.