What vitamin deficiency causes joint and muscle pain

Joints are the points in our body where bones connect to each other and are surrounded by tendons, ligaments and muscles. Joint pain may occur as a result of problems in the structure of any of these structures.

As joint pain can be seen in all joints, it is most commonly seen in the knee joint because it carries the entire weight of our body and is the joint that is used most during the day due to activities such as walking.

Joint Pain Symptoms

Joint pain can be a problem that greatly affects our daily life and mobility. Finding the cause of joint pain and treating it in the most appropriate way will help us live a better quality and painless life. Therefore, it is necessary to know the symptoms of joint pain. Of course, the first symptom of joint pain is joint pain, which varies in severity according to the patient. Among the symptoms that can be seen in addition to joint pain;

  • Swelling in and around the joint
  • Weakness and crackling sound
  • Imbalance
  • Burning sensation
  • Redness and stiffness
  • Movement and gait disorders due to pain
  • Symptoms include whether the knee can be fully straightened or not.

Joint Pain Causes

Although joint pain is thought to be an age-related ailment, it is actually not. Joint pain can be seen in individuals of all ages. Bone networks may also occur due to reasons such as accidents, weight problems, sports activities or various problems such as calcification, tendinitis, arthritis. However, joint and knee pain that occurs for no reason other than these diseases may be a symptom of mineral deficiency, especially.

Minerals

Before mineral deficiency, it is necessary to take a look at the functions of minerals in our body. Minerals are substances that cannot be produced by the body and are supplied with the help of food and drink. The functions of minerals are very important for the functioning and functions of the body and enzyme work. More than 15 minerals necessary for the human body have different functions and benefits. Among these minerals, calcium mineral is the most common mineral in the functioning of the muscle and joint systems. A deficiency in calcium values ​​can seriously affect bone health.

Mineral Deficiency

Mineral deficiency may occur if the body cannot get enough minerals through nutrition or if it cannot absorb the minerals it stores. When it comes to bone health, not consuming calcium-rich foods such as milk, yogurt or cheese may cause calcium mineral deficiency in the body. Mineral deficiency also prevents bones from developing and staying healthy. Calcium mineral deficiency can cause bones to weaken and break more easily if they persist in the body for a long time. Pain in the bones is also an indication of the loss of other minerals, especially calcium. For the healthy functioning of the body, the effect of minerals on the body should not be ignored. If the mineral deficiency cannot be met from food or if it is insufficient and causes pain in the bones and joints, this deficiency can be eliminated by mineral supplements. Thanks to the mineral supplement taken, a healthy body functioning is provided by fulfilling the duties of the minerals.

Researchers are exploring a possible link between low levels of vitamin D and chronic pain.

Not getting enough vitamin D in your system may be linked to chronic pain.

Over the past 10 years, several researchers have found an association between extremely low vitamin D levels and chronic, general pain that doesn’t respond to treatment.

Many Americans are running low on vitamin D. A study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine in 2009 showed that vitamin D levels have plummeted among all U.S. ages, races, and ethnic groups over the past two decades.

But does not having enough vitamin D cause pain? That's not yet clear. But here's what you need to know about vitamin D and chronic pain.

Boosting Vitamin D, Easing Pain

Greg Plotnikoff, MD, senior consultant with the Allina Center for Health Care Innovations in Minnesota, still remembers the woman in her 40s who told him that he was the 30th doctor she’d seen.

“Twelve of them had told her she was crazy,” says Plotnikoff, formerly an associate professor of internal medicine and pediatrics at the University of Minnesota Medical School. “She had weakness, achiness, fatigue -- three pages worth of symptoms. Doctors had offered her antidepressants and seizure medications and all kinds of things that didn’t work. I checked her vitamin D levels -- and they came back barely measurable.”

After six months on an aggressive, high-dose prescription vitamin D replacement, the woman could cross off every symptom on her three-page list. “I knew I wasn’t crazy!” Plotnikoff says she told him.

That's just one woman. Her case doesn't mean vitamin D will erase pain for everyone.

However, Plotnikoff published a study in 2003 on 150 people in Minneapolis who came to a community health clinic complaining of chronic pain. Virtually all of them -- 93% -- had extremely low vitamin D levels.

Vitamin D blood levels of 30-40 ng/mL are considered ideal. The average level in Plotnikoff’s study was about 12, and some people had vitamin D levels so low they were undetectable.

“The group with the lowest levels of vitamin D were white women of childbearing age,” Plotnikoff says. “Most of them were dismissed by their doctors as depressed or whiners. They attributed their pain to an inability to manage stress. But after we replenished their vitamin D, these people said, ‘Woo hoo! I’ve got my life back!’”

Plotnikoff notes that vitamin D is a hormone. "Every tissue in our bodies has [vitamin] D receptors, including all bones, muscles, immune cells, and brain cells," he says.

And in March 2009, researchers at the Mayo Clinic published a study showing that patients with inadequate vitamin D levels who were taking narcotic pain drugs required nearly twice as much medication to control their pain as did patients with adequate D levels

Jury Still Out

But other studies have shown no connection between vitamin D and chronic pain, and a research review published in January 2010 showed that the evidence on the subject is inconclusive.

“It would be nice if vitamin D worked for chronic pain. It would offer an inexpensive and simple treatment with known and probably limited adverse effects,” Sebastian Straube, MD, PhD, tells WebMD in an email. Straube is a physician-scientist at Germany's University of Göttingen and led the research review, published in the Cochrane Library.

But it hasn't been proven that boosting your vitamin D level will erase your pain.

“Looking at all the available evidence, the link is not convincing,” Straube says. “As far as treatment studies are concerned, we found a striking contrast in study outcome between randomized double blind trials that by virtue of their study design minimize bias, and other (non-double blind) studies that are more prone to bias. The latter largely do suggest a beneficial effect of vitamin D treatment; the former largely don’t.”

Plotnikoff says that there is no evidence from randomized, controlled trials that replenishing vitamin D levels will cure chronic pain. “But it doesn’t hurt to do it,” he notes.

So if you've got chronic pain, it can’t hurt to ask your doctor to check your vitamin D levels. “I believe this is absolutely medically indicated, and it should be the standard of care for everyone with chronic, nonspecific musculoskeletal pain,” Plotnikoff says.

“Considering that establishing the effectiveness (or lack thereof) of vitamin D in chronic painful conditions is a clinically important question, there is rather little high-quality evidence on this topic,” Straube says. “At present, we do not think the evidence in this area is of sufficient quality to guide clinical practice. There clearly is a need for more and better studies in the future.”

If you have severe vitamin D deficiency, any efforts to boost your D levels should be done by consulting with your doctor. Too much vitamin D can be dangerous and lead to an excess accumulation of calcium in your blood, which can lead to kidney stones.

What vitamins are good for muscle and joint pain?

Several nutritional supplements have shown promise for relieving pain, stiffness and other arthritis symptoms. Glucosamine and chondroitin, omega-3 fatty acids, SAM-e and curcumin are just some of the natural products researchers have studied for osteoarthritis (OA) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

What vitamin deficiency causes all over body pain?

Vitamin D deficiency can cause muscle aches, weakness, and bone pain in people of all ages. Muscle spasms (tetany) may be the first sign of rickets in infants. They are caused by a low calcium level in the blood in people with severe vitamin D deficiency.

What Vitamin Are you lacking If your joints hurt?

A vitamin D deficiency can affect both physical and mental health, but many people have low levels of vitamin D without realizing. The physical symptoms of a deficiency may include muscle pain in the joints, including rheumatoid arthritis (RA) pain, which often occurs in the knees, legs, and hips.

Can lack of vitamin D cause muscle pain?

When vitamin D levels are low and the body isn't able to properly absorb calcium and phosphorus, there is an increased risk of bone pain, bone fractures, muscle pain and muscle weakness. In older adults, severe vitamin D deficiency (levels less than 10 ng/mL) may also contribute to an increased risk of falls.