Chronic pain is a debilitating condition that affects millions of people in the US and worldwide. New research from the University of South Australia shows that adopting a healthy diet can reduce the severity of chronic pain, presenting an easy and accessible way for sufferers to better manage their condition. Exploring the associations between diet, and pain, researchers found that a greater consumption of foods that make up what is felt to be a healthier diet was directly associated with lower levels of body pain, particularly among women.
Even though obesity can worsen the chronic pain of certain areas of the body, these findings were independent of a person’s weight, meaning that whatever your body composition, a healthy diet can help reduce chronic pain. Globally, about 30% of the population suffers from chronic pain which is more prevalent amongst women. Those who are overweight or obese are also overrepresented.
University of Southern Australia PhD researcher Sue Ward says the study shows how modifiable factors, such as diet, will help to manage and partially relieve chronic pain. She says, “It’s common knowledge that eating well is good for your health and wellbeing. But knowing that simple changes to your diet could offset chronic pain, could be life changing. In our study, higher consumption of core foods — which are your vegetables, fruits, grains, lean meats, dairy and alternatives — was related to less pain, and this was regardless of body weight.” This last point is of critical importance because being overweight or obese is a known risk factor for chronic pain. And even when it is not directly the goal for those most motivated by helping their pain, a healthier diet may result in weight loss resulting in even greater improvement in reducing their pain severity.
Dr Ward continues, “Knowing that food choices and the overall quality of a person’s diet will not only make a person healthier, but also help reduce their pain levels, is extremely valuable.” Although it is not known why, these research findings suggest that diet affects pain differently in men and women. “Women with better diets, had lower pain levels and better physical function. But this effect was much weaker for men,” she says. “It’s possible that the anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties of the healthier core food groups is what reduces pain, but we can’t yet determine whether poorer diet quality leads to more pain, or if pain leads to eating a poorer quality diet.
“A healthy, nutritious diet brings multiple benefits for health, wellbeing, and pain management. And while personalised pain management strategies should be adopted, a healthy diet is an accessible, affordable, and effective way to manage and even reduce pain.”
Although this study did not address the underlying mechanism of pain relief, it has long been felt that a healthy diet consisting of a greater amount of foods containing antioxidants will have an anti-inflammatory effect in comparison to unhealthy diets which are characterized by their greater intake of sugars and other food known to have an inflammatory effect.
Journal Reference:Susan J. Ward, Alison M. Coates, Katherine L. Baldock, Ty E. Stanford, Alison M. Hill. Better diet quality is associated with reduced body pain in adults regardless of adiposity: Findings from the Whyalla Intergenerational Study of Health. Nutrition Research, 2024; 130: 22 DOI: 10.1016/j.nutres.2024.08.002
Osteoarthritis of the knee is the most common form of osteoarthritis and is characterized by chronic pain, reduced mobility, and an impaired quality of life. Obesity is known to be a major risk factor for the development and progression of osteoarthritis of the knee. Weight reduction is known to alleviate symptoms, and may also reduce the risk of the structural progression of osteoarthritis. Recognized treatment guidelines include weight reduction and appropriate physical activity and should result in improvement in pain. The effect of glucagon-like peptide-1 medications specifically, had not been well studied prior to new research reported in the highly respected medical journal the New England Journal of medicine. https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2403664 presented with the title Once Weekly Semaglutide in Persons with Obesity and Knee Osteoarthritis It is well known that weight reduction will improve lower extremity pain but this was the first published study utilizing the recently popularized Semaglutide for this purpose. This newly published research was a 68-week, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial performed at 61 sites in 11 different countries. The study subjects were all classified as suffering from obesity and had a clinical and x ray diagnosis of moderate knee osteoarthritis causing at least moderate pain. The study subjects received weekly subcutaneous 2.4 mg semaglutide injections or a placebo. They were all given counseling and instructions on physical activity and a reduced-calorie dietary plan. They were evaluated at the end of the study for their weight change as well as for any change in their knee pain as measured by the well-recognized WOMAC (Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index) pain score. https://drsobo.com/semaglutide-injections-provide-relief-of-pain/
INTERMITTENT FASTING MAY BE ANTI-INFLAMMATORY
https://drsobo.com/fasting-is-anti-inflammatory-disease-preventive/
The term intermittent fasting is used to explain a recently popularized dietary pattern. It is the dietary method of eating all of one’s daily food intake within a time restricted window, fasting for between fourteen and 16 hours per day. Many testimonials have supported a number of potential health benefits including weight loss, control of blood pressure and blood sugar and the prevention of diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
A team of researchers at the University of Cambridge produced a study using 21 volunteers, who ate a 500 calorie meal then fasted for 24 hours before consuming another 500 calorie meal. They found that restricting calorie intake over the 24 hour fast increased levels of arachidonic acid which lead to less inflammation. When the study subjects ate the next meal, levels of arachidonic acid dropped again. What the researchers concluded was that arachidonic acid’s effect was to turn down the activity of the NLRP3 inflammasome. At first this was an unexpected finding, as arachidonic acid had been thought to increase inflammation. The best explanation at this point in time is that if overproduced arachidonic acid is indeed inflammatory but a more controlled naturally produced amount of it, as occurs with fasting, will be anti-inflammatory. More new research published in the scientific journal Cell Reports tells us that fasting increases the levels of the natural lipid molecule arachidonic acid, which may act as an anti-inflammatory substance in a similar manner to the way in which aspirin works.
https://www.cell.com/cell-reports/fulltext/S2211-1247(24)00028-7
Arachidonic acid has previously been thought to be pro-inflammatory causing inflammation and this new information was surprising to the researchers. “There could be a yin and yang effect going on here, whereby too much …. is increasing your inflammasome activity and less is decreasing it,” said researcher Professor Clare Bryant from the Department of Medicine at the U. of Cambridge.
“Arachidonic acid could be one way in which this is happening. We’re very interested in trying to understand the causes of chronic inflammation in the context of many human diseases, and in particular the role of the inflammasome.
“Inflammasomes” act like an alarm within our body’s cells, triggering inflammation to help protect our body when it senses damage. Although inflammation is a natural response to injury or infection, this process can be triggered by other mechanisms, and then inflammasomes may trigger inflammation in deleterious ways.
Professor Bryant further explains, ”What’s become apparent over recent years is that one inflammasome in particular — the NLRP3 inflammasome — is very important in a number of major diseases Professor Bryant, further says, “this provides a potential explanation for how changing our diet — in particular by fasting — protects us from inflammation, especially the damaging form that underpins many diseases related to a Western high calorie diet… regular fasting over a long period could help reduce the chronic inflammation we associate with these conditions. It’s certainly an attractive idea.”
A TREATMENT BASED ON NATURAL HEALING- PRP FOR PAIN
PRP -PLATELET RICH PLASMA-Treatment for Knee Pain
Knee pain is a widespread issue, affecting people of all ages and backgrounds. Conditions like osteoarthritis, meniscal tears, and ligament injuries can benefit from PRP. By targeting the specific site of injury in the knee, PRP injections can alleviate pain, enhance mobility, and possibly delay or avoid the need for knee replacement surgery. This treatment is especially appealing for athletes and active individuals seeking to return to their activities without lengthy recovery times.
PRP Therapy is a form of regenerative medicine designed to harness the body’s natural healing abilities. By concentrating platelets from the patient’s own blood and injecting them into the affected area, PRP therapy facilitates a more efficient repair of injured tissues. These platelets release growth factors that promote cell regeneration, reduce inflammation, and stimulate the healing of tendons, ligaments, muscles, and joints. The procedure is minimally invasive, harnessing the body’s innate mechanisms to accelerate recovery and alleviate pain without the need for surgery.
https://drsobo.com/pain-management-prp-therapy-with-dr-henry-sobo-md/
https://drsobo.com/knees-joints-tendons/
TESTIMONIAL Last April I had a skiing accident and after many tests, x rays and an MRI, I was given the dreaded news that I’ve lost 3 out 4 knee ligaments. I am not an athlete and as a dentist, I lead a somewhat sedentary lifestyle. Losing my knee ligaments did not cause me any pain but there was always the buckling of my knee if I ran suddenly or if I walked on an uneven surface.…I started my research and looked into the many different treatment options given to me by orthopedic surgeons. I was quite reluctant toward surgery …However I was still eager to do something beneficial for my knee. I found Dr Sobo while I was looking into Platelet Rich Plasma therapy also known as PRP.I’m happy to say that after only one PRP treatment I have not yet had ANY buckling of my knee a whole year later. I run, I walk and I do everything I used to do prior to my accident. It is amazing that I even sometimes forget that I am missing three knee ligaments! Definitely do your own research on PRP but for me, it did wonders. Elika Golara, DMD