Joint pain can be extremely frustrating. Creaky knees, achy ankles, and pain when you extend your arms. Sometimes it’s a result of aging and lack of physical activity/health, and sometimes it happens as a result of an injury. It doesn’t help that our bodies decrease its natural production of collagen once we hit our 20s.
The latter situation applies to me. In 2017, I had a running injury that resulted in severe knee pain. This led to a downward spiral, physically, mentally, and emotionally as I’m a group fitness instructor and teaching fitness has been my dream. I thought my career of teaching fitness was over forever and I wasn’t even 30 years old yet! I do high impact exercise every day so this knee injury was a set back and limited my mobility for the next eight months. Even with physiotherapy, yoga, a knee brace, and stretching, nothing seemed to be helping and I couldn’t work out the same. C’mon, I mean explosive squats and plyometric lunges are my jam! I felt hopeless and there were a lot of tears shed during this rehabilitation period.
Thankfully, with the help of an amazing chiropractor (shout outs to Dr. Linda Thomas in Scarborough, ON) who performed acupuncture, provided guidance on my posture and stance, and had custom molded orthotic inserts made for my shoes. All of these things really helped and made a dramatic difference in my knee pain and I was able to resume high impact exercises with a full range of motion. However, I still had the odd twinge of knee pain and awareness that my knee had an issue, which made me cautious and paranoid knowing that it could get worse as I age.
That’s when I started researching more about collagen, this popular buzz word that we keep hearing about in the media, with claims that “collagen supplements can help reduce joint pain”. I was intrigued. Could this actually help my knee? How long would it take? How would I know it’s working?
After taking a high-quality collagen powder supplement for more than one year, I can say from personal experience that it has made a big difference to my joint health. I still exercise daily so this allows me to recover quickly, feel minimal soreness post-workout, and do lots of high impact exercises without pain. It’s also a source of protein! I can easily add a tablespoon to my green smoothies or sprinkle it on my breakfast. Of course, if I put pressure on my knee during a set of lunges the wrong way, it’ll definitely twinge with my knee saying “hey, be careful down here” but it’s nothing that I can’t work through and easily recover from within a day because my joint health has been great since I’ve started including collagen powder into my daily diet.
If you have joint pain, you may want to consider the benefits of taking collagen powder to help reduce pain. Here’s what you need to know!
What is collagen?
Collagen is protein in our bodies that contains a high level of amino acids. It forms the connective tissues that make up our tendons, ligaments, muscles, and skin. It gives those things structure, strength, and elasticity. As we age, at some point in our mid-20’s, our bodies decrease its natural ability to produce collagen. This can affect skin elasticity, hair colour, joint motion and flexibility, and bone strength.
So why all the buzz about collagen?
Supplementing with collagen can help to stimulate collagen production to help with what’s been broken down, and improve our collagen levels.
Aside from its other recognizable benefits, such as improving nail and hair strength, improving skin’s appearance and elasticity, preventing bone loss, supporting gut health and cardiovascular health, it can also help reduce the frustrating joint pain that many of us experience.
In one study, among two control groups the results show a decrease in joint pain for 73 athletes who consumed collagen daily for 24 weeks compared to the group that did not.
In another study, a group of patients with knee osteoarthritis were treated with a daily collagen supplement, in which the results showed a significant improvement in joint mobility and quality of life after three months compared to the group that did not.
What Kind of Collagen Supplement Should You Take?
Collagen is found in the connective tissue of mammals. Therefore, the bones and skin of chicken, beef, pork, and fish all contain collagen. Most collagen supplements are made from these parts, commonly from cows or fish.
There are a ton of collagen supplements on the market, and there are many quality reputable brands but there are also other brands that aren’t.
Here’s what you should look for when choosing a collagen supplement. Ensure that it is from:
Organic and grass-fed sources (applicable for cows).
You want to consume a clean and sustainable source of bovine (cow) or marine (fish) collagen. This ensures your product is free from pesticides, heavy metals, and growth hormones.
Ensure it is dairy-free, gluten-free, non-GMO, and free of other common allergens like corn, eggs, and soy. These items can trigger inflammation in the body, and can be unknown allergens for many individuals.
Bonus points if it’s third-party tested for quality assurance.
The only ingredient should be pure collagen. It should contain no artificial ingredients.
You can take collagen in both pill or powder form. It’s tasteless and odourless, which is why it can easily be added to soups, stews, smoothies, and other beverages. What you want to look for is hydrolyzed collagen (aka collagen peptides), which in plain English means that the collagen has been broken down into smaller molecules that can easily be absorbed by the body.
The brand that I consume daily is Organika Enhanced Collagen Original powder. I use this because it’s easily available to me, as it’s sold in most health food stores in Canada. There are a few other good brands that I have seen at Healthy Planet and Whole Foods but I cannot vouch for them, as I haven’t personally tried them.
