Classic
Du Huo Ji Sheng Tang
Angelica Pubescens Decoction
4.6 · 5 reviews
Fourteen herbs, about 1,400 years old, and still a clinic favourite.
£24.50
Joints & comfort
Joint Care Supplements
Five classic Chinese formulas for the bits of you that creak. Stiff knees on a cold morning, a back that complains after gardening, shoulders that have done too many years at a desk. Herbalists have had recipes for all of it for centuries. The quick quiz below helps you pick.
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Where does it grumble?
Find your joint supplement
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Traditionally chosen
Du Huo Ji Sheng Tang
Fourteen herbs from the Tang dynasty, around 650 AD. Herbalists' first thought for the damp, chilly, older-joint kind of stiffness.
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5 formulas
Shop joint supplements
Classic
Cooling
Guan Jie Yan Wan
Mulberry Leaves & Job's Tears
A modern blend of eleven herbs, with turmeric among them.
£24.50
Best seller
Shao Yao Gan Cao Tang
White Peony & Liquorice
Two herbs, written down by Zhang Zhongjing around 200 AD. Hard to beat for simple.
£24.50
Moving
Shen Tong Zhu Yu Tang
Hookweed Root & Szechuan Lovage
From Wang Qingren's 1830 book. Eleven herbs including safflower and peach kernel.
£24.50
Lower back
Yao Tong Pian
Eucommia Bark & Japanese Teasel
Ten herbs. Eucommia is a tree bark that snaps into silvery threads when you break it.
£24.50
Side by side
Comparing our joint care supplements
| Compare | Du Huo Ji Sheng Tang | Yao Tong Pian | Shao Yao Gan Cao Tang | Shen Tong Zhu Yu Tang | Guan Jie Yan Wan |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Herbs | 14 | 10 | Just 2 | 11 | 11 |
| Best known for | Cold, damp stiffness | The lower back | Cramps and tight muscles | Aches that wander | Warm, puffy joints |
| How it feels | Warming | Warming | Relaxing | Moving | Cooling |
| First recorded | Tang, around 650 AD | A modern recipe | Han, around 200 AD | 1830, Qing | A modern recipe |
A bit of history
Supplements for joint pain: the old way of seeing it
Creaky joints are nothing new. Joint pain, arthritis, bad backs and stiff necks fill some of the oldest Chinese medical books going, and herbalists have been writing recipes for them for about two thousand years.
The way they saw it, wind, cold and damp sneak into your joints, more so as the years go on. Cold stiffens you up. Damp makes everything feel heavy and a bit swollen. Wind? That's when the ache won't sit still. Ever met someone whose knee knows it's going to rain before the forecast does? The old herbalists would've nodded along.
What's inside
The herbs behind our joint supplements
A few herbs come up again and again when the old books talk about joints.
牛膝
Achyranthes Root
Niu Xi, "ox knee"
Named because the stems have knobbly joints like an ox's knee. Herbalists use it to send a formula downwards, towards the legs.
Found in: Du Huo Ji Sheng Tang, Yao Tong Pian, Shen Tong Zhu Yu Tang and Guan Jie Yan Wan
杜仲
Eucommia Bark
Du Zhong
Snap a piece and it pulls apart into fine rubbery threads. It's the classic lower back herb.
Found in: Du Huo Ji Sheng Tang and Yao Tong Pian
白芍
White Peony Root
Bai Shao
Half of Shao Yao Gan Cao Tang. Herbalists use it when something's clenched and needs to let go.
Found in: Shao Yao Gan Cao Tang and Du Huo Ji Sheng Tang
Just so we're clear, this is about how these herbs have traditionally been used. Our tablets are food supplements, mind. Not medicine.
Looking after your joints
What we'd do anyway
Most of these come straight from NHS advice. The odd one's from the herbalists.
- 1Use themA swim, a bike ride, the long way round with the dog. Joints like a job, they just don't like being battered.
- 2Wrap upKnees and lower back in particular. And as any herbalist (or nan) will tell you, get off that cold wall.
- 3Watch the weightEvery extra pound goes through your knees several times over.
- 4Get it looked atSudden swelling, redness or pain that wakes you up? That's a GP job, not a supplement job.
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Which joint supplement should I start with?
Try the quiz first. If it's the classic stiff-on-a-cold-morning sort of thing, Du Huo Ji Sheng Tang is where most herbalists begin. Or just ask us, honestly, we like the chat.
What are the best joint supplements?
Depends what sort of creaky you are. The old herbalists sorted joint trouble by what makes it worse, so cold and damp, a long day on your feet or an old injury, and wrote a different recipe for each one. That's what the quiz up top is built on. Whichever you choose, look for proper testing. Ours are 5:1 strength and SGS lab tested.
Is this basically glucosamine?
Not really, no. Glucosamine's one thing on its own. These are proper recipes, anything from two to fourteen herbs balanced together, from a whole different tradition.
Are herbs a natural option for joint pain?
Joint pain is one of the oldest things people have taken to herbalists, and these recipes were written with it in mind. Ours are food supplements though, not a treatment for arthritis or anything else. Pain that's hanging around needs your GP or a physio before it needs us.
What if I'm on painkillers or warfarin?
Ask your GP or pharmacist before starting. A few of these herbs really don't get on with blood thinners.
How long does a bottle last?
Ten days at six tablets a day. Herbalists usually give a formula a good few weeks, so the 6-bottle pack is worth a look.
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More on joints and mobility
Just so we're clear: food supplements aren't a replacement for a varied, balanced diet and a healthy lifestyle, and they aren't meant to diagnose, treat or cure anything.