Injury prevention

[mysteryguest]

One key area we all struggle with is joint pain and knee injuries. I am a firm believer in Glucosamine supplementation. It works to rejuvinate your cartilage. As we get older, the cartilage takes a pounding and gets flatter for lack of a better term, and it works to make it spongy again, simply put. Thing is, this is not an FDA controlled substance yet, so be careful what you get and where you get it. I take a Glucosamine with MSM supplement and have for 4 years. I notice a dramatic difference and have avoided injury--I believe a direct result of my taking it. Find one that works for you. For me, I found it troublesome to take 2 capsules, 3x a day. So I found a reliable brand I can take once in the morning with my other vitamins and be done with it. Give it a go. If your interested in more info. let me know. Remember to give it at least a month and a half to two months before passing judgement on its effectivenes for you. It takes time to turn around the degradation.

Additionally, regular exercise, even for 10 mins. will help as well general stretching, done right, will help.

 

[DougMXer]

Mystery, do you believe that glucosamine assists in the repair of menisci (the disk shaped pieces of cartilage between tibia and femur), or just improves that state of the undamaged meniscus. I would be interested to hear of people who think Glucosamine has helped in the body's repair of torn meniscus.

 

[mysteryguest]

To an extent, yes, I do believe it does. Let me qualify that though. Will it bridge a gap? No. Will it act as stitches reapairing torn menisci? Not necessarily. However on a structural level, surface imperfections can, I believe, be reapired and maintained by contiuned use. What we are effectively doing is maintaining. Is more better? I don't know. I have not experimented with the notion, and would caution that in many case more is not better. I believe 1500mg a day to be the comon max dosage. Beyond that, I do not know if the body has the ability to process it appropriately. I have equated glucosamine use with calcium intake in women. The body loses its ability to sustain the meniscus and other cartilagenous features over time. Glucosamine supplementation aids in this cause. It works for me. Try it. There are some brands that are reputable that you can get for $20-$25/ month. Try it for two months and see for yourself. $50 for some if not alot of improvement is worth it isn't it? I think it is. Remember to stick with it and take it religiously. Good luck.

 

[01HondaCR]

Got any advice on preventing lower arm and wrist breaks? I seem to have a problem with this. I've had three in the last 4 years. Any ideas?

 

[mysteryguest]

Don't crash? Just kidding. No not off the top of my head. I would be curious to know how it's happening. Do you have handguards? Are they like th EE or FRP type or brush guards? I have heard of folks with handguards and deflectors getting their hands caught and wrists broken.

I do not know that there are really preventative measures for some breaks. Some bracing can be worn, but these can be cumbersome and tough to adjust to. Furthermore, often times they transmit the break to the edge of the support, further away from the wrist. Back in the day Scott made plastic boots. Great for support right? But the weak link then became the knees. Clearly, weight training to strengthen muscles and joints locally, and a regular stretching regimen would help. But if you plant yourself because you come up short on a 60 foot gap and case it, I don't know much that prevent that. On the other hand(bad pun), RC is showing what conditioning can do for you. By all rights, some of the get-offs he's had this year should have hurt him.

 

[01HondaCR]

I'm 15 and I think I have pretty good forearms for my age but maybe it wouldnt hurt to get a little more meet on them. The first break I dont know how it happened because I got a concussion. The second one I over jumped a double and bottomed the front end. Didnt crash though. And this last one which I still have a cast from I tried a double and went over the bars after the rear suspension decided to buck me off. I landed on my arm when I hit the dirt. So I guess your right "Quit crashing!"

 

[mx547]

Originally posted by mysteryguest
I am a firm believer in Glucosamine supplementation.

i have been taking 2000 mg daily of glucosamine sulfate at the recommendation of another rider for about the last two months. unfortunately, i was recently injured (see other post, this forum) before i could reap it's beneficial effects. is this (glucosamine sulfate) the proper type of supplement? if not, what is? i know there are several other varieties of glucosamine. should i continue supplements during recovery? may i ask, what is your background on this, mysteryguest?

 

[mysteryguest]

Sure you can ask. No worries. In this area I am a self-educated patient, by necessity. I have played soccer and other sports as well as bikes, for years and was plagued by arthritis in my hands, and knees in particular. Nothing really helped. I was turned on to this by a former physician of mine who swore by it herself. In the past 4 years of use, I have had little to no pain, notice when I have missed multiple days, and have been fortunate to have not been the victim of more injuries. I have taken Glucosamine Sulfate with MSM and have not had the same results as with Glucosamine Hcl. So, find what works for you. So, in short, I am not a doctor and I don't play one on TV. But I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

 

[mysteryguest]

Originally posted by 01HondaCR
I'm 15 and I think I have pretty good forearms for my age but maybe it wouldnt hurt to get a little more meet on them. The first break I dont know how it happened because I got a concussion. The second one I over jumped a double and bottomed the front end. Didnt crash though. And this last one which I still have a cast from I tried a double and went over the bars after the rear suspension decided to buck me off. I landed on my arm when I hit the dirt. So I guess your right "Quit crashing!"

I think it's great that you're hanging it out and pushing it, but that's not always the fastest way around the track either. (Contrary to what RC is doing these days). I don't mean to insult you by saying this, but maybe throttle it back a bit until you get your "smoothness" down. If you have watched Jeremy McGrath in the past, you'll know he is one of the smoothest guys out there, always "flowing" instead of fighting it. Hours and hours of practice, seeking for perfection on any type of obstacle has gotten him that far. Make no mistake, he can muscle the bike when he needs to though. I believe if you work on smoothing out your technique and learning the smoothest way through or over obstacles, you'll find you're actually going faster with less effort. Also, I don't think that meat on the bones is the only answer but would encourage some conditioning, and in particular work on what's putting you on the ground first. You could be built like a linebacker but if you're making like a potted plant every set of doubles, it's doing you no good. Right?

 

[01HondaCR]

I dont really think that I hang out. I just need to learn the art of falling. The second one was just an error in judgement as it was the first double I had ever jumped and that I had only jumpd it 3 times. It probably didnt help that I was on a 300EX fourwheeler and we all know they dont have the greatest suspension. The first one again I was on a little KX60 and I dont know what happened really there were no jumps are so I dont really know. And the last one I shouldnt have tried. The jump face was really steep and i didnt give it enough gas so it was like messing up a seat hop. That one hurt the most. I guess just learning not to fall and learning how to fall when I do. I know I have had one concussion and I actually I had another mild one with this last wreck. So I know thats not good either. What do you mean by conditioning?