Joint supplements are a way to slow down or possibly even reverse the damage and pain caused by degenerative changes in your joints as you get older.
Typically, an effective joint supplement will include glucosamine, chondroitin, and methylsulfonylmethane (better known as MSM).
Each of these ingredients is thought to help with a variety of joint-related functions, like helping your cartilage retain more water, increase the rate of collagen synthesis in your joints, and fight inflammation.
There are a dizzying number of joint supplements out there, and not all of them have the ingredients you need.
Fortunately, our researchers have looked at what’s on the market and ranked the best joint supplements.
Our advisory panel and our research team rank the best health products and supplements based on performance, label accuracy, and the efficacy of the ingredients in the products.
- Best overall: VitaBalance ProJoint Plus
- Best to fight inflammation: Joint Support + by Nuzena
- Best for older adults: MoveMD by 1MD
- Best for runners: Schiff Move Free Joint Health
- Zenwise Advanced Strength Joint Support
Research
Rankings
Last updated: November 1, 2022
Joint supplements considered: 21
Hours of research: 50
Experts reviewed: 10
Scientific papers referenced: 28
| IMAGE | PRODUCT | |
|---|---|---|
Best Overall  | 1. VitaBalance ProJoint Plus
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Best to fight inflammation  | 2. Joint Support + by Nuzena
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Best for older adults  | 3. MoveMD by 1MD
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Best for runners  | 4. Schiff Move Free Joint Health
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 | 5. Zenwise Advanced Strength Joint Support
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 | 6. Vimerson Health Glucosamine Chondroitin Turmeric MSM & Boswellia
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 | 7. BioScience Nutrition Joint Support
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 | 8. Universal Nutrition Animal Flex
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 | 9. Arazo Nutrition Joint Support
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 | 10. Doctor’s Best Glucosamine Chondroitin MSM
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 | 11. New Chapter Zyflamend Joint Supplement
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 | 12. Garden of Life Wobenzym N Joint Health
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 | 13. U.S. Doctors’ Clinical Arthro-7
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1. Joint Support + by Nuzena
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Nuzena is a brand-new supplement company known for their potent formulas.
Nuzena’s Joint Support + formula contains 1500mg of glucosamine and 150mg of chondroitin— two well researched and scientifically backed ingredients for supporting joint health.
The Joint Support + formula also contains ingredients that act natural anti-inflammatories such as turmeric, boswellia, bromelain, and quercetin — vital for joint flexibility, mobility, and support with joint pain.
Easily the top overall pick.
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2. MoveMD by 1MD
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For those who’re serious about getting relief for joint pain, MoveMD is one of the top choices.
It contains three ingredients proven to promote optimal joint health: Longvida® Optimized Curcumin, UC-II® Undenatured type II collagen, and WokVel® Boswellia Serrata.
From alleviating joint pain to providing your body with more energy, EasyFlex is a good daily habit to build in the supplement space.
MoveMD also has no “additives.” All natural, and made in the USA in an FDA-approved facility.
3. Schiff Move Free Joint Health
Providing a strong dose of all four major joint supplement compounds, Schiff Move Free is the standard-bearer when it comes to mainstream joint health supplements.
Each tablet contains 500 mg of glucosamine, which is matched with 500 mg of MSM alongside chondroitin and hyaluronic acid.
For a joint supplement that most closely approximates what is being used in clinical trials to treat osteoarthritis-related joint pain, Schiff Move Free should be your choice.
4. Zenwise Advanced Strength Joint Support
Zenwise makes an excellent joint supplement that covers all of your bases. With regards to glucosamine, the most widely-studied joint supplement, each tablet provides 500 mg, alongside chondroitin, MSM and hyaluronic acid, which are considered the mainstay ingredients in joint supplements.
For fans of herbal remedies, it also includes boswellia and curcumin, which is derived from turmeric. Both of these are anti-inflammatory extracts that may be able to relieve joint pain in the short term.
5. Vimerson Health Glucosamine Chondroitin Turmeric MSM & Boswellia
This joint supplement from Vimerson Health has many of the ingredients you’ll see in other joint supplements, but it adds in quercetin, methionine, and bromelain, three uncommon ingredients that are not as well-researched.
If a standard joint supplement is failing you, it might be worth a shot to try Vimerson Health’s version, because these extras might do the trick for you. For people just looking for a solid source of glucosamine, chondroitin, and MSM, it’s pretty good too.
6. BioScience Nutrition Joint Support
BioScience Nutrition has a pretty solid joint supplement that’s got all the usual suspects. The ratio of glucosamine to chondroitin is a little greater than some of the very best supplements, and it doesn’t have any unusual or interesting ingredients, but it’s still a solid joint support supplement with a strong dosage.
7. Universal Nutrition Animal Flex
Animal Flex is unique in that it comes in individual packs of tablets that provide a range of nutrients related to joint function. Universal Nutrition takes wide aim, providing vitamin C, vitamin E, zinc, selenium, and manganese, alongside traditional joint supplements like glucosamine and chondroitin.
The wide range of compounds in the supplements might help with recalcitrant cases of joint pain that are not responding to a more standard joint supplement. If you don’t need all the extras, though, there are other supplements that don’t take the firehose approach.
8. Arazo Nutrition Joint Support
Arazo Nutrition Joint Support is a joint supplement that’s very straightforward in its design and provides a wide variety of effective ingredients.
It’s based on the same mix of glucosamine, chondroitin, and MSM you’ll find in other supplements, along with boswellia and hyaluronic acid as secondary ingredients which are becoming increasingly popular.
9. Doctor’s Best Glucosamine Chondroitin MSM
Doctor’s Best checks most of the right boxes with regards to ingredients—it’s got glucosamine, MSM, and chondroitin—but falls short on dosage.
The formulation is solid, but with so many better options out there, Doctor’s best can’t exactly compete with the best.
10. New Chapter Zyflamend Joint Supplement
New Chapter’s Zyflamend takes a decidedly different tack. It’s more of an herbal supplement, with no less than ten different herbal extracts.
Some, like green tea and turmeric, are familiar, while others are quite obscure.
Many of these ingredients don’t have solid clinical evidence behind their usage, so most people should stick with a joint supplement that includes clinically validated ingredients like glucosamine.
Category winners
Best joint supplement overall: Joint Support + by Nuzena
Joint Support + by Nuzena is our all-around top pick thanks to its potent formulation, which includes glucosamine, chondroitin, and MSM for rebuilding cartilage, and quercetin and turmeric to combat inflammation. The wide-ranging ingredients and their powerful dosages makes Nuzena an easy pick for the #1 spot.
Best joint supplement for runners: Schiff Move Free Joint Health
Protecting joints during high-impact activities like running requires strong, healthy cartilage. Schiff Move Free Joint Health provides glucosamine, chondroitin, MSM, and hyaluronic acid directly to that end: it’s your best shot if you are looking for a joint supplement to support your running.
Best joint supplement for older adults: MoveMD by 1MD
Joint pain and inflammation tend to get worse with age. That’s why we recommend MoveMD by 1MD for older adults—its combination of astaxanthin for inflammation plus collagen and hyaluronic acid for cartilage integrity make it well-suited for older adults.
Best joint supplements to fight inflammation: Joint Support + by Nuzena
Looking for high-powered anti-inflammatory effects in your joint supplement? Look no further than Joint Support + by Nuzena. With boswellia, turmeric, quercetin, methionine, and bromelain, you get fantastic anti-inflammatory power, alongside cartilage support from glucosamine and chondroitin
Best joint supplement with hyaluronic acid: MoveMD by 1MD
Lubricating joint surfaces with hyaluronic acid is easy with MoveMD—it provides one of the highest doses of hyaluronic acid on the market, alongside two different forms of collagen and the powerful antioxidant astaxanthin.
Best joint supplement for knee pain: Joint Support + by Nuzena
Most often, knee joint pain is caused by damage to cartilage or inflammation surrounding the knee joint cartilage. Nuzena combines a wide range of ingredients to fight both of these causes of knee pain.
Who should buy a joint supplement?
Joint supplements are great for anyone who’s having stiff or painful joints. Often, people with joint pain fall into one of the following categories:
People with osteoarthritis. Osteoarthritis is a degenerative condition that affects cartilage, and it’s the primary use-case for joint supplements. Many people use joint supplements to slow or reverse the deterioration of cartilage inside their joints, or to cut down on the inflammation that’s associated with this deterioration.
Older adults. Joint degeneration is a slow process that happens over decades, so even people who haven’t been diagnosed with arthritis may benefit from a joint supplement if their joints are starting to get stiff or inflamed.
Athletes or former athletes with sports injuries. Though much of the initial research on joint supplements focused on arthritis, some newer scientific studies suggest that many joint supplements could also help alleviate joint pain in athletes who have long-standing joint injuries or old joint injuries that never fully healed.
In all use cases, joint supplements aim to work through the same two mechanisms: repairing cartilage or cutting down on inflammation.
How we ranked
When formulating our rankings of the best joint supplements on the market right now, we looked closely at all aspects of each supplement’s formulation: the ingredients, their quality and sourcing, and the overall supplement design.
Proven ingredients for cartilage repair, backed by science. Based on our review of the scientific literature on supplements for joint health, we had several key compounds we were looking for. These included glucosamine, chondroitin, MSM, and hyaluronic acid, to name just a few. Each of these have multiple scientific studies supporting their use to improve joint health.
Powerful anti-inflammatories. In addition to cartilage-focused ingredients, we also looked for supplements that complemented these ingredients with compounds that cut down on inflammation, like quercetin, turmeric, and boswellia extract.
Effective dosage. When comparing different products, we took into account whether each ingredient was delivered at an effective dose, based on the latest research into using these supplement ingredients for joint health.
Joint supplements with lots of ingredients at the expense of high dosages got tossed.
Clean supplement design. At this point, we also tossed out any supplements that had too much in the way of binders, fillers, and unnecessary additives, in keeping with BodyNutrition’s overall philosophy of clean and effective supplement design.
For example, Instaflex Advanced didn’t make the cut because of its inclusion of titanium dioxide and FD&C Blue #1—these synthetic coloring agents don’t make any difference in the efficacy of the supplement, and some activists have raised questions about the safety of these compounds.
Our top-performing supplements provided effective doses of key compounds for joint health, as well as innovative perks like trace minerals and highly bioavailable forms of herbal extracts.
FAQ
Q: What is the most important joint supplement ingredient?
A: In terms of specific ingredients in a joint supplement, we think that glucosamine is perhaps the key, non-negotiable ingredient in a joint supplement.
It’s the most studied of all of the joint supplement ingredients out there, and there’s pretty good evidence from animal models, cells under the microscope, and clinical trials in humans that it improves cartilage integrity, reduces joint pain, and cuts back on inflammation.
That’s why all of our top-ranked joint supplements include a high dose of glucosamine. You could make similar arguments for the efficacy of chondroitin, and perhaps to a lesser extent, MSM and hyaluronic acid.
In practice, a good joint supplement will include all of these, and other ingredients with a good track record of scientific research backing their efficacy for treating joint pain.
Q: Is glucosamine good for joints?
A: Yes, glucosamine has been shown in multiple studies to be an effective way to reduce joint pain. To take just one example, consider a study published in 2003 in the British Journal of Sports Medicine (1).
The study recruited people who had regular knee pain, likely as a result of cartilage damage or arthritis. The volunteers were split into two groups, one of which received a placebo, and the other of which received two grams of glucosamine per day.
After twelve weeks, the participant receiving the glucosamine supplement had experienced substantial improvements in joint pain and quality of life compared to the people in the placebo group.
This study was notable because it included a standardized and validated questionnaire to assess knee function at the beginning and end of the study, but there are plenty of other studies that have also found a beneficial effect of glucosamine supplementation on joint health, pain levels, or quality of life.
Q: Are joint supplements good for sports injuries?
A: Yes, new research suggests that taking a joint supplement that includes glucosamine can improve pain caused by sports injuries in athletes (2).
This finding runs contrary to previous wisdom that joint supplements are only useful for arthritis: clearly, the usefulness of joint supplements for sports injuries suggests that some of the benefits extend to joint pain generally (perhaps as a result of the anti-inflammatory action of joint supplement ingredients).
Related articles
Recap
Joint supplements show a good deal of promise when it comes to reducing joint pain and slowing the progress of arthritis, and may well work even better for lesser joint problems.
The magnitude of improvement is not miraculous, though, so don’t expect a complete reversal of your joint problems. Rather, they can help get you more active and back to enjoying the lifestyle you want to live.
As for dosage, shoot for a glucosamine content of at least 500-1000 mg, and nearly as much chondroitin, if possible.
As for the content of MSM, quercetin, and other compounds that are emerging as potentially useful ingredients in a joint supplement, the research is less clear, but they do appear to hold some promise, so it’s worth trying a joint supplement that has these extras.
For BodyNutrition‘s #1 joint supplement recommendation, click here.
