How Good Nutrition Can Help With Chronic Pain

Plenty of advice around chronic pain revolves around maintaining proper posture, stretching, and exercise. While the majority of chronic pain symptoms do come from mechanical issues with the spine or nerves, good nutrition can help prevent or alleviate your chronic pain as well. The benefits of a healthy diet are well-known by the general public. Eating well helps your body recover faster, improves your mood, and strengthens your immune system. However, in what ways can good nutrition help with chronic pain?

Good Nutrition Prevents Inflammation

Some chronic pain symptoms, such as back inflammation are due to chemical rather than mechanically, based conditions. When inflammation carries on for too long, it can cause problems beyond lower back pain. Plant based diets, primarily those that focus on flax and chia seeds, avoid inflammation the best. That said, any deeply colored vegetables and fruits can provide vitamins that act as potent inflammation resistance. If you’re not someone who wants to stick with plants, fish like mackerel, black cod, salmon, tuna, and herring provide your body with omega-3, a fatty acid that helps prevent inflammation when eaten with vegetables.

Focusing on Calcium

A steady intake of calcium and vitamin D can also help with chronic pain, as these are the nutrients that build and strengthen your bones. Maintaining bone mass becomes harder as you age, and this can lead to arthritis and other related conditions that weaken your spine’s vertebrae. The good news is you only need about 1,000 milligrams of calcium per day, and natural foods like yogurt, cheese, and leafy vegetables provide that amount. Anything more than 2,000mg a day may lead to heart problems.

Everybody knows that a healthy diet is an essential part of any healthy lifestyle, the trick is knowing which healthy diet is right for you. If you are trying to plan out a diet to prevent or alleviate chronic pain you will want to balance out anti-inflammatory vitamins and calcium. Challenging chronic pain can be difficult depending on how much it impacts your daily routine. If you are looking for a more in-depth look at what lifestyle changes you can make, or what treatments are available for your chronic pain, contact us at Garden State Pain Center today to set an appointment with the experts.