Maintaining healthy joints is a serious subject for the high number of baby boomers concerned with living a high quality life. Ligaments, tendons and connective tissue hold our bones and muscles together and synovial fluid and cartilage provide the necessary cushioning we need to move fluidly and naturally. Ligaments make joints strong and limit movement in certain directions consisting of dense bands of fibrous tissue which links bones together forming our joints.
Tendons assist in the pulling action of our muscles and are made of bundles of collagen fibers.
They are flexible but do not stretch. Cartilage consists mainly of chondroitin sulfate and is dense connective tissue which is capable to large degrees of pressure. This response causes redness, swelling due to histamine release and an increase in the supply of white blood cells to the affected injured area. Histamine is released in high quantities after injury or trauma. With the vast amount of research available today we are learning that drugs commonly used may not necessarily be the most appropriate first line of treatment.