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"I'm starting to take Glucosamine and fish oil because of osteoarthritis in my knees. Since I just started to take these products, I have not marked any effect yet. Now I have read several places that one must take MSM together with Glucosamine, so I would like to know something more about.

We live in a House with three floors, and I'm going to go backwards down the stairs. I have asked my doctor if it would be advantageous to move to a one-level House, but he just replied that the fact that there are stairs, da keeps me going. Can you tell me about if this could worsen the condition in my knees."

Answer: the Stairs might be hard for the knee joints, especially if you weigh too much. Just think how many kilos that presses on the knee joints, and then you have to move those kilos many meters upwards, when you go up a flight of stairs, and when you go down them together with pressing against the cartilage. So it will definitely be an advantage for you to move to the ground floor or an a-plan House.

If you weigh too much, it often goes beyond the knee and hip joints. Only twenty kilos overweight is similar to that of you walking all the time with a bucket full of water in each hand. It is hard for your joints to cope. So it is fine, the doctor has advised you to lose weight so you must.

It's fine that you take Glucosamine, which helps your cartilage in the joints to get it better and attenuates the pain in the cartilage. But for Glucosamine to be able to work, it must go to the joint cartilage, and it gets there via joint fluid. You need to keep active for your body to create joint fluid (when moving its joints), so it is important that you use your knee joints but without overloading them. your doctor is right in saying that it is important that you keep yourself active.

The best thing you can do is to cycle two times twenty minutes daily on an exercise bike that you can have standing in your living room.

It is not necessary to take MSM together with Glucosamine or chondroitin sulphate, but if there pain, the MSM can work better pain reliever than the two other drugs. It's fine that you also take fish oil, also works for pain suppression. Other good things against osteoarthritis is rosehip powder, vitamin C and ginger.

You can also buy orthotic insoles that help as shock absorption and will put less strain on your joints when you walk. The orthotic insoles will also provide support and spread the pressure evenly that can build up on your heel. Orthotic insoles can be bought online quite inexpensively.
Orthotic insoles have built in arch supports as well which will also stop plantar fasciitis.