When your skin is safely exposed to the sun, it forms a healthy cholesterol made up of vitamin D. And as the weather gets colder and the days become shorter, it may be more difficult for people to spend enough time outside in the sun, receiving that nourishing vitamin D boost. As vitamin D deficiency has a proven correlation to certain forms of back pain, it is important to take precautionary steps that can help fend off back pain while promoting healthy vitamin D levels.
How Does Vitamin D Affect Back Pain?
Vitamin D boosts your body’s ability to absorb calcium, a mineral which helps increase bone health. And without a healthy rate of calcium absorption, the bones throughout your spine may become weaker, leading you to experience pain in the surrounding joints and muscles. Some studies have shown that vitamin D may also promote your body’s natural healing abilities; without it, there could be an increased risk of experiencing chronic back pain and other potentially debilitating ailments.
Am I Getting Enough Vitamin D?
Your daily vitamin D intake recommendation depends on a variety of different factors. These include aspects such as your age, weight, lifestyle, diet, and other factors pertaining to your physical health. At Merckling Family Chiropractic, we can work with you to evaluate your nutritional needs and implement a plan that will help get your vitamin D level to where it should be. We also carry a variety of high quality professional nutritional products and can develop a dietary plan to ensure you are getting the right amount of vitamin D.
Groups at Higher Risk for Not Getting Enough Vitamin D
• Breastfed infants, because human milk is a poor source of the nutrient. Breastfed infants should be given a supplement of 400 IU of vitamin D each day.
• Older adults, because their skin doesn’t make vitamin D when exposed to sunlight as efficiently as when they were young, and their kidneys are less able to convert vitamin D to its active form.
• People with dark skin, because their skin has less ability to produce vitamin D from the sun.
• People with disorders such as Crohn’s disease or celiac disease who don’t handle fat properly, because vitamin D needs fat to be absorbed.
• Obese people, because their body fat binds to some vitamin D and prevents it from getting into the blood.
–National Institutes of Health, Office of Dietary Supplements
Preventing and Alleviating Back Pain
Along with maintaining healthy vitamin D levels, there are other measures you can take to naturally prevent and heal back pain. Chiropractic therapy has been proven to effectively treat back pain, mitigating and potentially fully relieving its symptoms. You may benefit from several forms of chiropractic therapy including:
