Yeah, the gold standard for joint lubrication and also one of the most mild in terms of notable sides. But it's evil-incarnate; you're suppressed (HPTA) for up to a year or more.
Read a lot about Steroids this year, was contemplating starting some later in the year but that doesn't seem now likely to happen anytime soon. It's true nandrolone has a very good reputation to alleviate joint pain. Deca durabolin is the long ester of nandrolone, which apparently causes some people to face troubles restarting their HPTA. NPP is a shorter ester of Nandrolone with the same qualities and less recovery issues. But this is a moot point if you chose to start using anabolic steroids at over 50, as it is much more likely you will than opt for TRT between cycles, hence won't have to worry about restarting your HPTA. It seems the older one get, and the more cycles one have done, the more difficult it becomes to restart a good natural testosterone production. Even without using steroids natural test production worsens with age, hence the popularity and apparently overall positive medical literature for TRT when one get old. Fwiw as we are mentioning unorthodox methods, BP157 and TB500 peptides are very popular for joint and tendon pains, quite a bit of info available on the net - I've tried TB500, with moderate success, both peptides used together are supposed to be more efficient. https://www.steroid.com/Deca-Durabolin.php https://www.steroid.com/Nandrolone-Phenylpropionate.php
I'm a long time martialist and in my experience the best supplements for keeping your joints in good shape are, in this order: 1. Stay away from bad form movements. Unfortunately, many old-school martial art masters require you to do excercises that damage your joints. Many of my old karate masters/buddies have their hip/knee joints ruined today. I saved myself by refusing to do the excercises that were painful with the form they were teaching me, then by studying and researching on my own and changing to proper form. Typical example in karate: "Keep your butt always tucked in!" it's terrible advice. Deadly, if you have coxa vara. See this link: http://www.fightingarts.com/reading/article.php?id=13 2. No training when any body parts is aching. Stay away from dojo/gym until the soreness is gone. 3. I also recently discovered glucosamine sulphate, as someone else mentioned above. Also it seems to have the added bonus to mimic a ketogenic diet (no excuse for bingeing on carbs).
Unfortunately, regarding number 2, it takes so long to heal that if I stayed away I'd be out for weeks. I've definitely taken #1 to heart - I don't do simple training stuff that my body isn't designed for anymore (like going down on my knees and rolling, etc). Fortunately, I get to teach more nowadays. I've noticed that ginger seems to work well. Hemp oil too.
>>> it takes so long to heal that if I stayed away I'd be out for weeks >>> Well, it depends on the severity of the injury. A couple years ago I got my meniscus cracked and could barely walk, let alone going to the gym. I had to stop training for like 4 months. If I had insisted in training, I would only have made the situation worse. But for minor injuries that do not compromise general motility you can still train, avoiding that specific movement that causes pain.
Oddly enough, I've been using kinesthetic tape recently on the knee and shoulder and it's actually worked wonders. Chiropractor said it allows for increase blood flow and as such, healing. Made sense to me when he explained it. It's not gotten me back to 100%, but a hell of a lot closer since I've taped it regularly.
Really? I was quite skeptical about that. Is it to be used once and leaved there, or placed/removed at each workout? Are there specific pattern the tape has to be applied in?
There is a pattern, I guess you can call it that. And I leave mine in place for three or so days - at that point it begins to really annoy the crap out of my skin. But you can shower with it, etc. The pattern really depends on the joint, but what you're trying to do is pull back the skin to create a pocket of blood flow over the injured area. https://www.theratape.com/education-center/kinesiology-tape-benefits/ Look at the effect from taping a massive bruised area from a patient who suffered a fall: