Vitamin D deficiency: what a pain it is
Two articles on PainSci cite Holick 2003: 1. The Complete Guide to Trigger Points & Myofascial Pain 2. Vitamin D for Pain
PainSci notes on Holick 2003:
In this editorial for Mayo Clinic Proceedings, Holick explains that “Vitamin D deficiency causes muscle weakness and muscle aches and pains in both children and adults.” In reference to Plotnikoff et al, who studied the relationship between D and pain directly and produced quite dramatic data, “The association between nonspecific musculoskeletal pain and vitamin D deficiency was suspected because of a higher prevalence of these symptoms during winter than summer. The study patients ranged in age from 10 to 65 years, and all had symptoms of vitamin D deficiency. Of the more than 90% of patients who were medically evaluated for persistent musculoskeletal pain 1 year or more before screening, none had been tested previously for vitamin D deficiency.”
original abstract †Abstracts here may not perfectly match originals, for a variety of technical and practical reasons. Some abstacts are truncated for my purposes here, if they are particularly long-winded and unhelpful. I occasionally add clarifying notes. And I make some minor corrections.
In the current issue of the Mayo Clinic Proceedings, Plotnikoff and Quigley report that 100% of African Americans, East Africans, Hispanics, and American Indians in their Minnesota-based study had deficient levels of vitamin D; overall, 93% of the 150 children and adults in the study, which included broad categories of ethnic groups, were vitamin D–deficient. Is this unexpected? No. Is this newsworthy? Yes.
related content
- “Prevalence of severe hypovitaminosis D in patients with persistent, nonspecific musculoskeletal pain,” Gregory A Plotnikoff and Joanna M Quigley, Mayo Clinic Proceedings, 2003.
This page is part of the PainScience BIBLIOGRAPHY, which contains plain language summaries of thousands of scientific papers & others sources. It’s like a highly specialized blog. A few highlights:
- Is Neck Posture Subgroup in Late Adolescence a Risk Factor for Persistent Neck Pain in Young Adults? A Prospective Study. Richards 2021 Phys Ther.
- Photobiomodulation therapy is not better than placebo in patients with chronic nonspecific low back pain: a randomised placebo-controlled trial. Guimarães 2021 Pain.
- No effect of creatine monohydrate supplementation on inflammatory and cartilage degradation biomarkers in individuals with knee osteoarthritis. Cornish 2018 Nutr Res.
- The CANBACK trial: a randomised, controlled clinical trial of oral cannabidiol for people presenting to the emergency department with acute low back pain. Bebee 2021 Med J Aust.
- Relationships Between Sleep Quality and Pain-Related Factors for People with Chronic Low Back Pain: Tests of Reciprocal and Time of Day Effects. Gerhart 2017 Ann Behav Med.