The Best Joint Supplement: Top 5 Over The Counter Joint Supplements That Actually Work! - Orlando Magazine (2023)

Joint pain supplements are quite common place, we’ve all seen the advertisements promising the world, unfortunately not all supplements for joint pain are created equal and some are far better than others. Not all supplements contain ingredients that have been scientifically backed and to make matters worse a lot of supplements that do actually contain the right ingredients to reduce joint pain and support joint health, but don’t contain enough of the ingredient to be effective. Fortunately there are some joint health supplements that do however get things right. That’s where this list comes in.

Our Top Joint Supplements

FlexAgain – Best Joint Supplement Overall

Physio Flex Pro – Best Joint Supplement Without Omega 3

Osteo Bi Flex – Best Amazon Joint Supplement

Nuzena Joint Support – Best Budget Joint Health Supplements

Do Joint Supplements Work?

Yes and no, firstly it depends on the supplement itself, but also it depends what sort of condition you’re taking joint supplements to help. For example we should note that over the counter joint supplements work well for joint health, and are quite often dosed in a way that should be effective for osteoarthritis, however, they aren’t always effective for more severe arthritis pain relief. For example if we look at studies of Ginger (active ingredient gingerols) 1000mg has been shown to reduce hip and knee pain in OA [1], but for similar results 4000mg is required for rheumatoid arthritis pain relief. That’s equivalent to 4 large capsules, meaning it’s quite difficult for combined supplements to effectively target rheumatoid arthritis. However, for mild to moderate issues a joint pain relief supplement can be quite effective. There are some supplements that come close to the ideal RA doses and they’ll definitely help, but RA sufferers should be aware of this in advance, rather than listening to the overpromised marketing of some joint supplements.

FlexAgain – Best Joint Supplement Overall

FlexAgain is by far the best fully comprehensive joint pain health supplement, it covers all the bases, has more high quality ingredients than anything else on the market and for 90% of people we wouldn’t recommend anything else.

It’s been formulated in a way to cover as many of the best joint supplement ingredients on the market, whilst making sure to actually include the effective dosages without cutting costs. And the really interesting thing is that they’re not even the most expensive on this list, despite certainly costing the most to produce having 11 fully dosed ingredients that all have plenty of scientific backing. The fully dosed bit is the important element here, a lot of joint pain relief supplements do actually include scientifically backed ingredients, but a lot of them don’t contain high enough volumes to actually relieve joint pain.

They’re relatively new to the USA, having only been available in the UK before 2022, even still they still have glowing customer reviews across the board.

FlexAgain Ingredients

FlexAgain contains Omega 3 fatty acids correctly dosed at 110omg to cover your recommended daily requirements for joint health. [2] It’s also been shown to improve joint function and reduce joint pain in sufferers of osteoarthritis with study participants requiring less pain medication when combined with omega supplements. A lot of other supplements for joint pain don’t actually contain enough.

Their vitamin blend is quite well designed for joint health, with vitamin D deficiency effecting nearly half of the US population and joint pain being a common symptom of said deficiency. It’s also essential for long term joint health. [3]

As for Vitamin K2 [4] it’s also essential for maintaining joint health, and it’s also a common deficiency.

250mg of Eurovita 77 [5] which is a highly concentrated ginger extract that is equal to 3grams of ginger, this is actually quite interesting, it’s the only supplement on the market right now with this extract, and most do contain ginger, the catch is that whilst ginger has been shown to be effective at reducing inflammation and joint pain relief, it needs to at a dosage of 3 grams a day to be effective at relieving joint pain.

400mg glucosamine hydrochloride is the more expensive and more effective version of this collagen which is in a lot of the best joint supplements for joint pain. [6]

250mg chondroitin sulfate [7] is often combined with glucosamine to maximise the effect of the combined supplements, however as a stand alone it has not been shown to be particularly effective at treating joint pain.

100mg bromelain is also correctly dosed, whilst this is a good thing a lot of the other best joint supplements contain a similar amount as well, it’s been shown to be effective at treating arthritis pain and joint pain in general. [8]

100mg Boswellic acid works to block the enzymes which attack jointsand other tissues in the joints. It’s been shown to be effective at treating arthritis pain and joint pain, at 100mg, but for rheumatoid arthritis requires a dosage more than 10 x higher. [9]

100mg resvertarol is an uncommon ingredient for a joint pain relief supplement although it has been shown to be effective in multiple studies [10], it’s quite pricey though, which is probably why it’s not been included in many others. Like omega 3 it’s also particularly good for brain health and has been shown to improve focus, and promote healthy aging of the brain.

500mg curcumin extract is another ingredient that makes it into a lot of the best supplements, a 500mg dosage has been shown to be effective at treating arthritis symptoms [11] (OA, double is required for RA).

Overall Rating 5/5

FlexAgain is out top over the counter joint supplement for a reason, it covers pretty much every angle for supporting chronic joint pain and overall joint health. A lot of supplements contain similar ingredients, but not all of them, and not in the correct dosages. If anything is likely to work, it’s this supplement. If it doesn’t then the only other thing that we’d recommend trying is that MSM could’ve been more highly dosed (but, there isn’t any more space in their 4 capsule a day dose), so if FlexAgain doesn’t work that could be worth trying. FlexAgain is a definitive 5/5 and without a doubt the best joint supplement on the market right now to support joint health and alleviate joint pain. It’s not the cheapest and it’s only available direct from their website, but they’re the only complaints that we have about FlexAgain.

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Physio Flex Pro – Best Joint Supplement Without Omega 3

Until FlexAgain released in the USA Physio Flex Pro was our number one joint pain supplement, it’s a good blend that doesn’t contain omega 3. Typically a lot of other joint supplements contained omega 3 and little else to justify a price tag higher than a store brand fish oil pill. Physio Flex Pro is particularly good if you are on any blood pressure medication as this means you shouldn’t be supplementing with Omega 3. They’ve got a good history of customer reviews and offer a money back guarantee.

Physio Flex Pro Ingredients

It’s contains a good dose of Bromelain, Glucosamine Hydrochloride and opts for a hefty dose of Selenium, which is where it’s a little bit different to other supplements. Selenium is particularly interesting as it has been shown to reduce joint inflammation, and isn’t something that we see in other supplements. [12]

They have a decent dose of a high strength ginger extract which is good for chronic pain and joint inflammation, and the Turmeric supplement is also properly dosed and again well studied to help with joint pain. It also contains Bioperine, which doesn’t actually help with joint pain, but it does improve bioavailability [13], meaning your body will absorb the vitamins and extracts in the supplement more effectively. Lastly it contains MSM [14], but the dosage is too low to be particularly effective.

Overall Rating 4/5

Unfortunately as compared to FlexAgain they do miss out on a few key ingredients for optimal joint health. That said, if you can’t take an omega supplement it’s particularly good for joint inflammation and will definitely work to reduce pain. As far as natural joint supplements go, Physio Flex Pro is a good option. It’s just simply been beaten out by the recent release of Flex Again. The price point is OK, but it’s only really worth it if you get one of their bulk deals.

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Nuzena Joint Support – Best Budget Joint Health Supplements

Nuzena joint support makes it onto our best joint supplements list due to it’s price point, it’s not the best in terms of ingredients, but it is definitely the best joint supplement available for under $40. Something that’s true of a lot of Nuzena’s range is that they’re good value for money. They use a lot of the ingredients we see in other supplements, some are very well dosed with only one ingredient bromelain being under the ideal range. The supplement seems to be more focused on reducing joint pain rather than optimising health, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. We’d recommend taking Nuzena joint support with an omega 3 supplement.

Nuzena use a heavy dose of curcumin from turmeric extracts and a heavy dose of glucosamine and chondroitin. They also nail the dosage of Boswellia which has been shown to be good for joint arthritis, particularly inflammation with trial participants showing notably improved mobility. The interesting ingredient for Nuzena is Quercetin which works by inhibiting the release of inflammatory cytokines [15] meaning that your joints won’t swell as much. It’s been tested specifically for arthritis rather than for all around joint health. All in all Nuzena make great joint supplements, and the missing ingredients can easily be explained by their lower price point.

Overall 4/5

Nuzena joint support is a really good value product, we’d have liked to have seen a better dosage of Bromelain but all in all we can’t say too much bad about them for the amount of proven health benefits the ingredients have against the cost of the product.

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Osteo Bi Flex Triple Action – Best Joint Supplement On Amazon

Osteo Bi Flex is a collagen focused joint pain supplement, it’s mostly designed to target pain rather than mobility and isn’t bad supplement, it’s just a little bit dated. With them being a large brand sold predominantly in supermarket’s this causes issues for updating the formula as there’s always a lot of stock to clear. If you can’t get any of the other supplements on this list then Osteo is fine.

As with a lot of other supplements Osteo Bi Flex has glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate together. They’ve been shown to not do much when it comes to keeping joints healthy, but they do reduce pain. It’s a particularly high dosage of glucosamine as far as joint pain supplements go and whilst particularly effective at these high dosages.

It can cause some nasty side effects if your not tolerant of glucosamine, with a lot of people reporting nausea. Those that didn’t however, had particularly good responses to Osteo Bi Flex with most customers stating it did relieve joint pain.

Generic Omega 3 Supplements For Joint Pain

If you’re on a budget, the smartest thing you can do is take an omega 3 fatty acids supplement. The vast majority of people don’t get nearly enough in their diet. It doesn’t make a massive difference whether it’s from fish oil supplements or from algae, flax, krill etc. There are some minor differences in bioavailability, but the ones that are less bioavailable (how easily your body digests the supplement) tend to be more densely packed with the 2 most important omega 3 fatty acids DHA and EPA and most tests show that they balance each other out. As a result, the expensive versions of omega 3 supplements aren’t really worth the money. And if you’re looking for something you can take that’s cheap and simple. Taking a fish oil capsule will be one of the best joint supplements that you can take for maintaining healthy joints for the long term.

Ingredients Not Common In The Best Combined Joint Supplements

Methylsulfonylmethane

Methylsulfonylmethane is a good ingredient, the problem is that it is typically only effective in very high dosages, with a lot of studies showing that it has to be between 2000-6000mg to be effective to treat joint pain.

Glucosamine Sulfate

Glucosamine Sulfate supplements are a worse version of their glucosamine hcl counterparts, they’re less bioavailable and take 5X as much to have the same impact [16]. It’s also a lot cheaper, so using this is designed to make it look like you’re getting more for your money, not that you actually are.

references

1 – https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7019938/

2 – https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Omega3FattyAcids-HealthProfessional/

3 – https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6413222/

4 – https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7281970/

5 – https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5660798/

6 – https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2686334/

7 – https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/glucosamine-and-chondroitin-for-osteoarthritis

8 – https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC538506/

9 – https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6747466/

10 – https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5295089/

11 – https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5003001/

12 – https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7423502/

13 – https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7353321/

14 – https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5372953/

15 – https://molmed.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s10020-022-00432-5

16 – https://www.versusarthritis.org/about-arthritis/complementary-and-alternative-treatments/types-of-complementary-treatments/glucosamine/