Vitamin D, race and osteoarthritis (OA) symptoms
A 2012 November, (yes it is a long time ago but the information may help anyway) study reported and E-published in Arthritis and Rheumatism found that vitamin D deficiency may be a factor in race reported patterns of osteoarthritis pain. According to the research scientists at the University of Florida in Gainesville, blacks reporting more baseline osteoarthritis pain also had “significantly lower levels of vitamin D and greater sensitivity to experimental pain-though not clinical-pain.”
The research staff believes that vitamin D deficiency could be the reason behind chronic inflammation that leads to developing of, and progression of other systemic inflammation diseases such as osteoporosis.
Granted, this was a small sampling of ninety-four individuals with an average age of 55.8. From this small sampling, seventy were women, including forty-five blacks and forty-nine whites, each one with symptomatic OA in the knee. Each participant filled in a questionnaire about their knee OA symptoms and were then tested for heat and mechanical pain sensation sensitivity.
Those with low levels of vitamin D experienced increased experimental pain sensations but a lack of clinical pain.
The hypothesis of the researchers for the perceived lack of clinical pain may have been a result of a retrospective pain assessment or possibly, it was due to multiple reasons of OA symptoms as a whole.
The bottom line may be to check your vitamin D the next time you see your doctor especially if you are experiencing knee joint pain that has started to bother you more than in the past.
The National Center for Biotechnology Information https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3510313/ article seems to back this research up. However, unless you write the question down and present it to the doctor at the next visit you won’t find out. So, if you are suffering, make a note and ask them to check your vitamin D levels.
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