Will supplementing with glucosamine increase my grapplig flexibility?

Ask this in the diet/supplement sub-forum.
 
No, flexibility has nothing to do with the joints, it has to do with stretch reflex, while it is possible to elongate the joints a little, its strongly advised against as it weakens it.

You can achieve gymnastic levels of flexibility without stretching the joints, in fact you "already have", its your brain the one that tells the body not to overstretch, that's why you see the ragdoll effect on knocked out people.

Now, about glucosamine, Mayo clinic cites the evidence for knee health as strong and general arthritis as good, personally i used it and saw improvement, the problem with most people is that the studies that show improvements usually have doses that are 2 to 3 times the ones you see on packages.

Mine said 1 dose of 500 miligrams a day, yet studiest cited by mayo clinic talk about 1500 to 2000. Chondroitin also has very strong evidence to be good against arthritis.

Basically, take them at a decent dose and wear and tear pain simply seems to go away, i doubt its placebo effect.
 
The only thing that will help with flexibility is stretching. If you lack "flexibility" due to stuff joints then glucosamine can help but I get great results from excessive amounts of vitamin d. I take 6000 iu a day. It was suggest by an elderly client of mine who has arthritis in her spine but hates pain meds. She switched to 6k iu of vitamin d, and noticed results in 3-4 weeks. I have a bad back from a Car accident a few years back, and noticed relief after 4 weeks of use
 
Glucosamine will not help you stretch. In fact the evidence that it can help at all is very weak. Many of the studies are poorly designed and there is some evidence that only studies that showed positive results were published (Canadian Family Physician, 2001). Many newer studies have shown that Glucosamine does not work any better than a placebo.
Remember with all "neutraceuticals" sold off-the-shelf in pharmacies, no standardization of product content and purity exists. So you may or may not be getting an equivalent dose to what was used in the studies.
 
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