Walking on two feet, scientists tell us, is what helped us to become human. Our cousins, the chimpanzees and other apes, still lope around on all fours. But we wanted our hands free for all the things we wanted to do, so we got up on our back legs a few million years ago, and all that led to… well, you know… all the stuff we think of as human. But if walking on two legs made us human, it has also brought us pain. We’ve never fully adjusted to this ‘upright’ business, and supporting all our weight on two feet has almost certainly made us more prone to skeletal stress. On top of that, here in the UK - where we’re an awfully long way from the African plains where we first started this standing up business - it’s also damp! So what are our favourite national complaints as we grow older? Painful knee joints, cranky hips, achy backs, frozen shoulders and troublesome necks.

What’s gone missing?

So what can we do? Yes, there are popular remedies such as glucosamine and MSM, but is there something even more important for those aching joints? Yes, there is. Scientists have been discovering that one of the keys to these creaky complaints is that we tend to run out of one of the body’s key building blocks as we grow older - collagen. Collagen actually makes up about a third of our total body protein. And a lot of that is in our bones and joints. Or should be. Now researchers believe that the body actually loses collagen over the years. In fact, it is thought to lose approximately 1.5% a year from the age of 25-35 onwards.

Key protein

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Collagen is a critically important protein for us humans. The structure and quality of our skin, for example, is dependent on collagen, as beauty therapists have known for years. But collagen is also the key protein in the body’s cartilage. This slightly flexible substance forms the basis of our entire skeleton. When we’re born, our bones are made from a complex net of cartilage fibres, and are actually quite bendy. Anyone who’s ever dropped a baby will have thanked heaven for that, because their bones rarely break (don’t try this at home!). Gradually the cartilage of our bones becomes calcified and packed with other minerals, forming the hardened bones of an adult. Some parts of us remain as cartilage, though, including our nose, the discs between the vertebrae in our back, and the ligaments that hold our bones together, allowing movement at the joints.
Critically, cartilage also cushions and surrounds our joints as a shock absorber. But over time it can become worn down, mainly affecting the ‘load bearing’ joints like hips, knees, neck, spine and hands. The outcome is that adjacent bones can grind together at the joints, causing discomfort and loss of flexibility. And the key protein in the cartilage that cushions the tips of our bones, remember, is collagen.
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