Podiatrists Recommending the Importance of Probiotics and Vitamin D in Helping to Reduce MSK Pain and Promote Healing
When I advise my patients to think about taking a probiotic as part of their diet to help reduce their joint pain and tissue inflammation they give me an incredulous look of total disbelief. They regard it as another alternative fad type treatment which has no sound backing to be effective. I go on to say it is all about the health of your gut and the balance of good and bad bacteria. At this point they go on to show an interest in what I have to say, after all they have heard of probiotics and seen the adverts, but never really understood why for example taking a small bottle of Yakult a day could potentially be beneficial? I too was a little sceptical about such products believing I could get all I need to keep healthy from a good balanced diet. In theory yes, but many of us have gut dysbiosis and need a bit of help and this is where pre and probiotics come in.
What is Gut Dysbiosis?
In 2017, I went to an amazing lecture at the London Sports Podiatric Conference; Gut Dysbiosis and MSK Disorders by Dr. Ese Stacey. It pieced together all my fragmented understanding on the subject. Gut dysbiosis is a lack of beneficial bacteria present in our gut, an imbalance between good and bad. We need to understand our gut is like a septic tank which needs the right balance of bacteria called microbes to function properly. We have trillions of microbes in our gut. It is the good ones that in effect link hands together to create a barrier to stop the bad ones doing any harm on the outside. If for example, we have an imbalance of more bad to good microbes we get a ‘leaky’ gut. The good ones stop holding hands and the ‘bad stuff,’ damaging proteins can leak out to cause havoc around the body. The result is raised inflammatory markers which cause insidious damage to tissues e.g. arthritis. The immune system is put under strain.
One of the common bad bacteria is Clostridium difficile which can cause havoc on the gut with bleeding, inflammation and pain, whilst the “clostridial clusters” fight inflammation and soothe the immune system. It is all about the right balance, good microbiome. Poor diet, environmental factors, and drugs can affect the delicate microbiome. Long term antibiotic use can cause a Clostridium difficile colitis nightmare.
I am simplifying this subject which is highly complex, but ongoing research continues to validate how probiotics can help facilitate good gut microbiome to significantly improve health. Poor gut health can affect absorption and levels of vitamins like vitamin D and K in our bodies. Vitamin D has a powerful anti-inflammatory effect which helps to keep our joints and muscles pain free it also helps with the absorption of calcium into the bones. A post-surgical study found vitamin D levels fell dramatically after surgery due to being utilised for healing and pain relief identifying it’s anti-inflammatory properties.
Taking a probiotic will help to increase levels of vitamin D. Contrary to what everybody thinks we do not get all our vitamin D from the sun. People found to be living in Mediterranean countries can be low in vitamin D! We actually make vitamin D and absorb it in our guts, only though if it is in a healthy state.
In a recently published article in Podiatry Today; (Volume 31 – Issue 1 – January 2018 ) there was a discussion about a study, published in Diabetes Metabolism Research and Reviews, involving 60 patients with chronic diabetic foot ulcers, who received either probiotics or a placebo. The authors found that probiotics significantly reduced ulcer length and depth in comparison to the placebo group. Probiotics also had positive effects on patients’ fasting plasma glucose, serum insulin concentrations and HbA1c, according to the study. Often diabetics are on long courses of antibiotics which triggers gut dysbiosis. There is a build-up of bad bacteria, resulting in a C. difficile infection. Taking a probiotic alongside the antibiotics would significantly help to counteract this and have the extra benefit of lowering blood sugars.
Real Benefits for MSK Problems
Dr Ese Stacey treats patients with recalcitrant musculoskeletal problems which have not responded to conservative treatments. She puts them on programme of taking probiotics, vitamin D, immune activators and a good diet and they respond remarkably with reduced pain, inflammation and stiffness. They start to heal! I can personally endorse the positive benefits of taking both a probiotic and vitamin D supplement daily. 8 months ago, I was suffering with chronic back pain which was steadily becoming more debilitating. I changed the mattress, did exercises, got a small infrared sauna and a vibration plate, but still the stiffness continued. I heard about the benefits of taking vitamin D so I started taking them and the back pain slowly started to resolve with the extra boost of a probiotic. Simple stuff, but significant result. I now have an unused sauna. Great for storing Christmas presents in, if only somebody had told me earlier about the importance of good gut microbiome I could have saved myself a lot of pain and money!
Further Reading :The Human Gut Microbiome in Health and Disease
