Ligaments and tendons are two important types of connective tissue in the body. The health of your joints, ligaments and tendons is particularly important if you’re sporty or take part in regular physical activity, or if you work in a job that is physically demanding and/or physically repetitive (yes, typing counts).

Ligaments link bones to bone, while tendons connect bones to muscle. Ligaments and tendons are both essential components of every major joint in the body and, when tendons and ligaments are compromised, movement can become more challenging. If you’re concerned about joint health, or suffer from tendinopathy, tendonitis or other chronic pain that impairs the function of one or more of your joints, you may want to consider supplementing for improved joint health.

There are steps that everyone should take to ensure that you keep the connective tissues of your body healthy, including taking the right supplements and adopting an anti-inflammatory diet that’s high in the vitamins, minerals and nutrients required for sustained joint, ligament and tendon health. If you’re wondering how to treat joint pain then look no further. These are the very best supplements for connective tissue healing and repair, including dietary sources and a round-up of the best foods for joint, tendon and ligament health:

When you receive an injury to a ligament or tendon, it almost always involves some form of inflammation. In fact, inflammation is a necessary part of the healing process. But problems can arise when inflammation becomes sustained and when levels remain too high for too long. When this happens, the healing of tendons and ligaments can actually be impaired and recovery slowed down.

Curcumin can help to fight excess inflammation and speed up your recovery.

Curcumin is a powerful anti-inflammatory and antioxidant that works by inhibiting the formation of new blood vessels. Perhaps surprisingly, this is desirable when a tendon injury has been sustained. Supplementing with curcumin, therefore, can be a great option for people suffering from strained or torn tendons, or from tendonitis.

LYMA contains HydroCurc® which is not only the most bioavailable and effective form of curcumin on the market, but it’s also transported via the fastest delivery systems. The fully patented curcumin has been clinically proven to reduce inflammatory markers by up to 48% in athletes who supplemented compared with those who took a placebo.

Curcumin is the active compound present in turmeric root and can thus be consumed dietarily. However, the curcumin in HydroCurc® has been shown in scientific studies to be up to 250% more bioavailable to the human body than curcumin that has been absorbed through diet alone. This is a major limitation of relying on generic curcumin for healing. HydroCurc™ offers a solution through LipiSperse™, a cutting-edge ingredient scientifically proven to increase absorption and to deliver 2.5 times more active curcuminoids (the active part of turmeric) than generic curcumin.

HydroCurc™ is the world’s first 100% cold water dispersible turmeric extract, meaning that the curcumin particles freely disperse in the digestive tract, further increasing bioavailability and the speed and efficiency with which the active compounds are able to get to work on healing the injured area.

The bottom line: if you’re looking for a world-class anti-inflammatory with ligament and tendon healing potential, look no further than HydroCurc® as formulated at a clinically-backed daily dose of 250mg in LYMA.

Tendons are composed largely of collagen. Fibrous connective tissues composing the tendons are made of over 90% collagen and the ends of tendons, which connect directly to your muscles and bones, are composed almost exclusively of collagen, up to 99%.

LYMA contains Lycored Lycopene™ which inhibits something called ‘collagenases’; the enzymatic breakdown of the body’s natural collagen reserves. This breakdown is a natural part of the ageing process and starts to happen around age 35, but by supplementing with Lycored Lycopene™, as formulated at a clinical dose of 30mg in LYMA, you could put a halt to this seemingly inevitable process and keep your joints supple for longer.

If you plan or desire to continue moving pain-free through your latter years (as I’m sure you do) Lycored Lycopene™ could be the simple preventative supplement you’re looking for, and perhaps your saving grace.

Lycopene is the compound that lends certain foods their red and orange colour. Dietary sources of lycopene include saffron, tomatoes, grapefruit, papaya, red peppers, red cabbage and mangoes.

Lycored Lycopene™ also has a number of additional anti-ageing and beauty-boosting benefits.

You may have heard of keratin - it’s a protein and key structural material in the formation of skin, hair and nails. But keratin is not only the most exciting ingredient in nutricosmetics right now, it is a member of a family of fibrous structural proteins known as scleroproteins that makes up the major structural component of tendons.

Keratin sulphate is an important component of the cartilage that makes up joints. Therefore, Cynatine® HNS has the potential to play a key role in maintaining healthy connective tissues, like tendons, and keratin supplements can be a useful treatment for tendonitis and pulled or stiff ligaments.

So whilst Cynatine® HNS is most often discussed with regards to its beauty-boosting potential, it has some real benefits for tendon and joint health too.

Most people living in the northern hemisphere are deficient in vitamin D. Vitamin D deficiency can have a negative impact on the complete healing of ligaments and tendons, and can slow down the recovery process if and when an injury is sustained. Therefore, if you're physically active or suspect an injury you need to make sure you’re getting enough vitamin D, and adequate vitamin D3 in particular.

Clinical studies have shown that low levels of vitamin D3 can impair the speed of recovery, and the long-term strength of the knee joint, following anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury or surgery.

Certain foods such as oily fish, red meat, liver and egg yolks can all help to boost Vitamin D levels, but when compared with taking a supplement, the health benefits associated with obtaining vitamin D through food are negligible.

Vitamin D is sometimes called ‘the sunshine vitamin’ because your body has the ability to manufacture it in response to sun exposure. However, Vitamin D3 is fat-soluble and is very difficult to obtain from either sunlight or diet. Most people find they need to take a supplement.

LYMA contains Vita-Algae D3™ at a scientifically prescribed dose of 2,000 i.u. (as opposed to the commercial standardised dose of 600 i.u. that can be found in many generic supplements). Vita-Algae D3™ is a fully peer-reviewed and patented form of Vitamin D3 and has been implicated in augmenting areas of health as diverse as immunity, mood, bone health, reproductive health and weight management.

Whether you’re looking to cure or to prevent injury to your joints, tendons and ligaments, LYMA is here to help. With patented peer-reviewed ingredients that have been formulated with you and your physical, mental and emotional wellbeing in mind, LYMA is unrivalled by any supplement available today. Our commitment to taking an evidence-based approach and refusing to compromise is why our subscribers come back month after month, grateful for our support, and thanking us for helping them to reach their true potential.

The reason we’re so dedicated to your health? Because we know that there’s no better feeling than feeling your best, and we also know that we’re in the unique position of having the knowledge and expertise to get you there and pride ourselves on providing our subscribers with support when they need it most. When your health needs it most, trust LYMA.

LYMA’s latest formula upgrade was to include the Levagen®+ to our groundbreaking all-in-one formula.

Dozens of clinical trials and peer-reviews have proven that the PEA protein Levagen®+ can help to reduce pain and inflammation in the joints as well as to lower levels of stress and anxiety.

Levagen is a fatty acid which, as children, we produce huge amounts of however the amount of PEA in our bodies depletes as we get older.

The PEA protein is naturally produced by our bodies and can be found on egg yolk and peanuts but it is impossible to get the right daily amount we need through diet alone. This is why we have included this nutrient to the LYMA Supplement.

The numerous benefits of Levagen on the body and mind include:

Levagen can relieve pain, boost immunity, regulate stress, aid to fall asleep, promote joint health as it supports osteoarthritis, joint function and joint comfort, reduce muscle damage, support muscle recovery (process known as muscle protein synthesis) as well as reduce lactate levels during intense sport efforts.

“PEA is one of those internal buffering compounds: it makes life tolerable, it makes life possible"

Also known as the “bliss molecule due to its ability to instil a feelgood sensation in those who take it, Levagen works in harmony with curcumin extract HydroCurc® to tackle inflammation and with both Sensoril® Ashwagandha and affron® to support mental health and resilience to stress.