Most people with chronic back pain have inadequate levels of vitamin D and their symptoms are either alleviated or eliminated when they increase their daily intake of the vitamin, a new report says.
In an analysis of 22 clinical trials of people with chronic back pain, Dr. Stewart B. Leavitt, editor of Pain Treatment Topics, found that in any given study, between 48 per cent and 100 per cent of subjects with back pain had insufficient levels of vitamin D.
An inadequate vitamin D level is considered to be 20 nanograms per millilitre or less.
In one study of about 150 subjects, 93 per cent of patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain were vitamin D deficient. More than one quarter of the subjects had a severe deficiency, defined as less than 8 nanograms per millilitre.
In another study of about 360 subjects, a three-month course of vitamin D supplementation improved back-pain symptoms in 95 per cent of patients. In fact, 100 per cent of that study's subjects who had a severe deficiency of the vitamin got relief from their pain.
"Taken as a whole, the research evidence supports vitamin D supplementation as a potentially important therapy for helping to ameliorate muscle, bone, and joint aches and pains," Leavitt wrote.
While reviewing the vitamin D research, Leavitt also found that:
- The current recommended daily intake of vitamin D - up to 600 International Units (IU) per day - should be increased to 1,000 IU per day, and to 2,000 IU or more for people with chronic back pain.
- Vitamin D supplements are often inexpensive, easy to take and lead to few, if any, side effects.
Despite the fact that many people around the world are considered to be vitamin D deficient, and not all have back pain, subjects in the analyzed studies had considerably higher rates of vitamin D deficiency than the general population, Leavitt wrote.
However, further research needs to be done to examine the precise role vitamin D levels play in musculoskeletal pain. As well, Leavitt cautioned that patients with chronic pain not cast aside other prescribed remedies that can alleviate the symptoms of chronic pain, such as anti-inflammatory medications.
