ABSTRACT
Connective tissues including bone, cartilage, tendon, ligaments, and fascia, are critical components of a functioning musculoskeletal system. Tendons, ligaments, and fascia function primarily to transfer force within the musculoskeletal system. These foods and how they interact with loading to promote tendon, ligament, and fascial structure and function is the focus of this chapter. In order to understand what about tensile loading drives an increase in collagen synthesis, author turned to an in vitro model of a ligament. Given that loading of connective tissue increases nutrient delivery, the timing of nutrition relative to load is an important consideration. There is a clear relationship between load, nutrition, and tendon/ligament/fascia function. When these loads are combined with nutritional interventions such as vitamin C and gelatin or other nutrients like glycine, the result is an improvement in tissue structure and function.
