How To Rebuild Your Cartilage

We’ve covered before the topic of wear-and-tear on joints such as:

Avoiding/Managing Osteoarthritis

But what of cartilage, in particular? A common belief is “once it’s gone, it’s gone”, but that’s not quite right.

Cartilage is living tissue (metabolically active, with living cells). Within this tissue, specialist cells called chondrocytes produce extracellular cartilage matrix and collagen fibers, which provide smooth joint gliding as well as shock absorption.

Is exercise good or bad for cartilage?

Yes, yes it is. Exercise is good or bad for cartilage depending on the details:

• High-impact exercise e.g. running, jumping) places stress on cartilage, which is broadly bad
• However, impact loading strengthens the subchondral bone plate (layer under cartilage)

Strengthening this bone layer can help in long-term adaptation for high-impact sports.

See also: Resistance Is Useful! (Especially As We Get Older)

So, how to do that without wiping out your cartilage first?

Building up

A gradual process is what’s called-for here:

1. Start with cyclic, non-impact moderate resistance exercises (e.g. cycling, rowing, swimming).
2. Gradually add soft-impact loading (e.g. fast walking, soft jogging).
3. Incorporate strength training to improve overall joint stability (e.g. leg press, for lower body joints)
4. Slowly transition to running and jumping over a long period to allow tissues to adapt.

How exactly you go about that is a matter of personal taste, but here are some illustrative examples:

• Indoor* cycling
• Cross trainer
• Leg press machine
• Tennis

*Why indoor? It’s so that you can control the resistance level at the twist of a knob, and get on and off when you want.

See also: Treadmill vs Road ← for similar considerations when it comes to walking/running. Outdoor definitely has its advantages, but so does indoor!

And the very related: How To Do HIIT (Without Wrecking Your Body)

Note that HIIT is High Intensity Interval Training, not High Impact Interval Training!

Strength from the inside

One of the most important things for cartilage is collagen. You can supplement that, or if you’re vegetarian/vegan, you can take its constituent parts to improve your own synthesis of it.

See: Collagen For Your Skin, Joints, & Bones: We Are Such Stuff As Fish Are Made Of

Another supplement that can be helpful is glucosamine & chondroitin, which is best taken alongside a good omega-3 intake:

Effects of Glucosamine and Chondroitin Sulfate on Cartilage Metabolism in OA: Outlook on Other Nutrient Partners Especially Omega-3 Fatty Acids

Want to know more?

This book is technically about (re)building strength and mobility in the case of arthritis specifically, but if your joints have more wear than you’d like, you may find this one an invaluable resource:

Yoga Therapy for Arthritis: A Whole-Person Approach to Movement and Lifestyle – by Dr. Steffany Moonaz & Erin Byron

Take care!