Serum vitamin C and spinal pain: A nationwide study

Post on November 1, 2016 by André Broussard, D.C.

Pain — Dionne C, et al. | November 01, 2016

In this study, suboptimal serum vitamin C concentrations appeared to be associated with the prevalence of neck pain, low back pain, and low back pain with pain below knee, self–reported diagnosis of arthritis/rheumatism, and related functional limitations’ score. Authors recommend further investigation to determine the possible importance of vitamin C in the treatment of back pain patients.

  • As per observations back pain brings about one of the heaviest burden of disease.
  • This condition remains poorly understood, and effective treatments are frustratingly elusive inspite of much research.
  • Researchers in the field need to consider new hypotheses.
  • Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) is observed to be an essential cofactor for collagen crosslinks, a key determinant of ligament, tendon, and bone quality.
  • As per recent studies high frequency of hypovitaminosis C is evident in the general population.
  • In this study, the researchers hypothesized that lack of vitamin C contributes to poor collagen properties and back pain.
  • This study was conducted to examine the associations between serum concentration of vitamin C and the prevalence of spinal pain and related functional limitations in the adult general population.
  • Nationwide cross-sectional data from the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2003–2004 was utilized for this study.
  • In this study, data were available for 4742 individuals aged ≥ 20 years.
  • As per observations, suboptimal serum vitamin C concentrations appeared to be associated with the prevalence of neck pain (adjusted odds ratio [aOR]: 1.5; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.2-2.0), low back pain (aOR: 1.3; 95% CI: 1.0-1.6), and low back pain with pain below knee (aOR: 1.3; 95% CI: 1.0-1.9) in the past 3 months, self-reported diagnosis of arthritis/rheumatism (aOR: 1.4; 95% CI: 1.2-1.7), and related functional limitations’ score (adjusted difference of means [aB]: 0.03; 95% CI: 0.00-0.05).

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