Vitamin D for Chronic Pain

1,25(OH)2D FIGURE 1. Vitamin D Metabolism Standing apart from the various other essential nutrients, vitamin D was spotlighted recently as having special therapeutic potential. This has important implications for the management of chronic musculoskeletal pain and fatigue syndromes. During this past June 2008, news-media headlines heralded recent clinical research that revealed benefits of vitamin D for preventing type 1 diabetes, promoting survival from certain cancers, and decreasing the risks of coronary heart disease. Overlooked, however, was the traditional role of vitamin D in promoting musculoskeletal health and the considerable evidence demonstrating advantages of vitamin D therapy in helping to alleviate chronic muscle, bone and joint aches, and pains of various types. Chronic pain—persisting more than 3 months—is a common problem leading patients to seek medical care. In many cases, the causes are nonspecific, without evidence of injury, disease, or neurological or anatomical defect. However, according to extensive clinical research examining adult patients of all ages, inadequate concentrations of vitamin D have been linked to nonspecific muscle, bone, or joint pain, muscle weakness or fatigue, fibromyalgia syndrome, rheumatic disorders, osteoarthritis, hyperesthesia, migraine headaches, and other chronic somatic complaints. It also has been implicated in the mood disturbances of chronic fatigue syndrome and seasonal affective disorder. Although further research would be helpful, current best evidence demonstrates that supplemental vitamin D can help many patients who have been unresponsive to other therapies for pain. Vitamin D therapy is easy for patients to self-administer, well-tolerated, and very economical.