Vitamins D and K are both important for bone strength, and vitamin K is involved in cartilage structure. Supplementing these two nutrients may be helpful if you're deficient in them. When you take supplements as directed and under your doctor's supervision, they're generally safe.
Glucosamine is one of the substances in your body that is used to build cartilage. Osteoarthritis is the most common type of arthritis.
Glucosamine sulfate and chondroitin sulfate are components of normal cartilage. These nutritional supplements are available in pharmacies and health food stores without a prescription. They are the building blocks for proteoglycans and appear to stimulate chondrocytes to make new collagen and proteoglycans.
Studies on vitamin C have found that it can stimulate the production of collagen and proteoglycan (both of which are important parts of joint cartilage) and can protect against the breakdown of cartilage in animal studies.
Can damaged cartilage be repaired? Repair of one's damaged existing cartilage cannot usually be performed. Yet, there are treatment options in which damaged articular cartilage may be replaced or reconstructed using cell-based or tissue-based strategies.
THE ROLE OF GLUCOSAMINE SULFATE
Glucosamine supposedly plays a part in the repair and maintenance of joint cartilage, stimulating cartilage cells to produce GAGs and proteoglycans.
In several imaging studies, vitamin D deficiency is associated with decreased cartilage thickness (Table 3).
The regular movement of a joint, such as a person walking, can cause the PLLA scaffold to generate a weak but steady electrical field that encourages cells to colonize it and grow into cartilage.
Garlic administration was discovered to have anti-arthritic effects, stopping the degeneration of cartilage and lowering inflammation. Ginger, which has been used in Asian medicine and food for generations, has anti-inflammatory qualities.
Evidence suggests that omega-3 PUFAs may protect against cartilage loss in OA and can decrease inflammatory markers within the joint synovial fluid.
Collagen is a nutritional supplement made from animal or fish materials. It's rich in amino acids that play an important role in the building of joint cartilage and it may have anti-inflammatory effects.
Cartilage repair can be done when cartilage has begun to wear away but has not yet worn down to bone-on-bone arthritis, at which point more extensive surgery such as joint replacement surgery may be needed.
Rest, Ice, Compression, and Elevation. Your doctor may recommend the RICE regimen—rest, ice, compression, and elevation—to treat a knee cartilage injury. Resting your knee can help reduce the symptoms associated with the injury.
When the articular cartilage is damaged, surgical procedures can effectively repair and restore the tissue. In general, healthy individuals younger than 40 with minor articular cartilage injuries have the best outcomes and often successfully return to pre-injury activities.
As you recover from surgery, the cartilage cells regenerate, forming new tissue to replace worn-out cartilage. “Healthy cartilage helps cushion the bones in your knee and give you better movement, but when it erodes, it causes pain which can be severe,” Wang says.
Cartilage loss caused by a direct injury can result from blunt trauma to the joint. This can be from a severe car accident or even a very bad fall where the joint makes direct impact with the ground. If you're an athlete, sporting injuries are also a cause of cartilage loss.
Cartilage cells are slow-growing and can take up to 18 months to fully form new cartilage.
Green tea is generally viewed as the most beneficial because of its active ingredient “epigallocatechin-3-gallate” or EGCG. EGCG has been shown to have antioxidant activity 100 times stronger than vitamins C and E, helping to preserve cartilage and bone.
The anti-inflammatory properties of turmeric can be especially helpful for those with arthritis. This includes both degenerative arthritis (osteoarthritis) and inflammatory arthritis (rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, psoriatic arthritis, gout, or others).