Does cod liver oil help?

[T.M.H.N.E.T]

True

I'd also like to reword my post above.

"Why treat pain which is a sign that damage has been done/is being done, when you could look to preventing the pain/damage itself?"

Technically, inflammation is a protective response post damage. My choice of wording was slightly off.

 

[malcermie]

It could well be. If OP could confirm he had no knee trouble before taking up cycling, it would narrow it down a bit.

Had slight knee pain before taking up serious cycling so think it is more likely me than than bike

 

[T.M.H.N.E.T]

Had slight knee pain before taking up serious cycling so think it is more likely me than than bike

See a professional,at the very least for an ok to continue cycling. Wouldn't do any harm to stretch either, in particular the ITB

 

[cyberknight]

In cw last week it said to buy good cod liver oil as the cheap generic stuff misses out on some of the good stuff due to the farmed fish not eating krill etc , from a sky nutritionist i think it was.

 

[T.M.H.N.E.T]

They missed the bit where cod liver oil is squeezed from the livers of fish and bottled or made into capsules for human consumption.

Unless there is an underlying issue, the lubrication(synovial fluid) of human joints is secreted within the joint. Buying CLO of any quality,with a view to lubricating joints may well be throwing money at something that isn't a fix.

 

[cyberknight]

They missed the bit where cod liver oil is squeezed from the livers of fish and bottled or made into capsules for human consumption.

Unless there is an underlying issue, the lubrication(synovial fluid) of human joints is secreted within the joint. Buying CLO of any quality,with a view to lubricating joints may well be throwing money at something that isn't a fix.

 

[ayceejay]

If God had been an engineer he would have given us grease nipples on all our joints so that we could get the lubrication where it is needed most, at least these nipples would be more use than the two I have on my chest.

 

[ColinJ]

Unless there is an underlying issue, the lubrication(synovial fluid) of human joints is secreted within the joint. Buying CLO of any quality,with a view to lubricating joints may well be throwing money at something that isn't a fix.

But ... what are those secretions made from?

There is an awful lot of anecdotal evidence about the effects of CLO. I know it might not be scientifically valid, and the placebo effect might be a factor but there are also a lot of people saying that their crippled dogs started walking or even running again after being given CLO. Dogs don't know anything about placebos! (I don't believe that someone would imagine that their dog was crippled before taking CLO but wasn't after taking it.)

 

[T.M.H.N.E.T]

The most common issue in dogs is arthritis - CLO contains lots of omega 3 - of which there is only flaky, suggestive evidence that it provides any relief of symptoms.

But Omega 3 contains plenty of

EPA - thought/known to inhibit inflammation


Now. We don't actually know if the OP has arthritis but we do know he is not a dog, so can at least trust that he won't lick us to death.(hopefully)

What we can trust in, is that the OP probably has a doctor - and can visit that doctor for further advice.



I'm starting to think I should have just said "go to holland and barratt's and buy 1 of everything"

 

[HovR]

Now. We don't actually know if the OP has arthritis but we do know he is not a dog...

Do we though?

 

[T.M.H.N.E.T]

I'm starting to think I should have just said "go to holland and barratt's and buy 1 of everything"

Yep. I really should have just said this

 

[DooDah]

Why treat inflammation when damage has been done, when you could look to preventing the damage itself?

Errrr, because the damage has already been done?

 

[T.M.H.N.E.T]

Errrr, because the damage has already been done?

Um

I'd also like to reword my post above.

"Why treat pain which is a sign that damage has been done/is being done, when you could look to preventing the pain/damage itself?"

Technically, inflammation is a protective response post damage. My choice of wording was slightly off.

 

[DooDah]

Oh, OK, sorry, I got carried away as usual

 

[T.M.H.N.E.T]

The bit about remedies like this that I don't understand is: You swallow the oil, it goes into your stomach where it's acted on by very efficient gastric acids, then it somehow knows that it needs to survive that unscathed and go directly to your (knee) joints and act as a lubricant? Something about that doesn't quite ring true to me, and sounds like sympathetic magic (which has been shown to work almost universally in all sorts of ways, it's true) so maybe I'm just being naive here.

Cod liver oil's cheap, but glucosamine and the like isn't, and that's the bit that worries me. Why not take a teaspoonful of sunflower oil every day, even cheaper and just as effective as a placebo perhaps? Before condemning that idea, just test it?

That's the thing. It doesn't act as a lubricant. The acids in particular EPA(when broken down) act as an anti-inflammatory.(supposedly as I haven't thoroughly read the science as yet,but we'll assume the dog anecdote is correct)

Inflammation is a response to a stimulus (ie: burns,chemicals,physical injury,arthritis yada yada )which is there to protect the area and allow healing.ie: you break a metatarsal, it will hurt to walk on and it will swell. Pain and swelling are a sign that something is wrong, but you wouldn't pop remedies to remove it and carry on running. You would go to A&E, have an xray and don some fetching plaster for a few weeks.