Wear makes hiking difficult, what can I do?

Question:
After sifting through your site I can’t seem to make a choice (Arthro-5, ASU Forte?), and I hope you can help me after reading some information.

I am a woman, 56 years, on the skinny side, love hiking and cross-country skiing (of course only during vacations) and lead a normal active life: I bicycle every day, do yard work, play tennis once or twice a week, and I am a flutist in a symphony orchestra.

Six years ago a cyst formed in my knee, which disappeared on its own. Ever since then I get fat knees after pressure in the mountains. At first only after 5 to 6 days, now it’s after 2 to 3. I don’t feel any pain, but when I get up after a break (especially a squat), I can stretch my knees again after stumbling for fifteen minutes. It’s like a bunch of rubber bands are very tight in both of my knees. At night my knees are fat with fluid, in the morning it has dwindled down again. I can’t figure out if it has to do with climbing or descending or both. I’ve been walking with canes for 5 years now. This winter I made a cross-country trek, this sudden overload caused fat lower legs after a week. After a few days of rest everything had shrunk again.

On the advice of a physiotherapist I have taken glucosamine and chondroitin for some time, I can’t really say if that worked. A visit to an orthopedist wasn’t helpful.

So wear, menopause, lack of exercise? Your products sound like wonder drugs, it would be great if my knees can take me through the mountains for a few other years (I really enjoy it). Therefore, I hope that my story gives you a clear enough picture for a confident advice.

Answer:
Chances are great that the problem lies in the knee cartilage getting worse. This could lead to fluid in the knee when there’s too much pressure. Also cyst formation may occur.

The best ways to keep the quality of the cartilage up to date and improve the load capacity are glucosamine, chondroitin and ASU. These supplements are slow acting. With knee osteoarthritis it often takes 2 to 3 months to note the effect on the pain. Sometimes may take a little longer. The load capacity of the joint may also improve. This may occur after a week, but it could also take many months. This depends whether the improvement of the joint lubrication helps with the load capacity, or wait for structural improvements in the cartilage.

The pain doesn’t go away with everybody. But there are indications that some of the people that still experience pain the cartilage remains protected. Unfortunately it is difficult to use something and not notice any results. Thankfully ASU helps in about half of the people that don’t notice the effect of glucosamine, but still feel a reduction in pain.

ASU Forte is a good supplement, but Arthro-5 is significantly better. Even if you don’t notice much from glucosamine and chondroitin, Arthro-5 is the best supplement to use. There are few people who do not notice anything. We know a few people who’ve been taking glucosamine and chondroitin and with some the joints improved and others the joints remained painful. After using Arthro-5 for about 6 months they were completely free of pain. Arthro-5 is the closest thing to a wonder drug, but unfortunately its effectiveness differs from person to person.