West Des Moines Diabetics with Disc Degeneration Benefit from Vitamin D

July 11, 2017

The intervertebral disc is an intricate and key part of the spine. It allows pain-free motion of the spine, or not. If the disc degenerates, spinal motion deteriorates, and pain often occurs. This is even more likely for patients with diabetes. It is|It’s]5] just one more concern West Des Moines diabetic patients need to tackle. The newest research on diabetes and the disc reveals that vitamin D may help with the health of the disc. Executive Chiropractic of Iowa is ready to do just that for West Des Moines back pain patients as well as West Des Moines diabetic patients who also have West Des Moines back pain.

Diabetes, Vitamin D, and the Disc

Diabetic patients with disc degeneration want to take Vitamin D as it prevents and even treats degenerative changes in their discs. How? By improving the content of TGF-β and IGF-1, two influential growth factor cytokines (proteins released by cells that control specific interactions with other cells). (1) Executive Chiropractic of Iowa bets you will agree that it is astonishing how the health of the disc comes down to the very cells that make it up|of which it is comprised! Those cells crave Vitamin D to do their job properly. Executive Chiropractic of Iowa urges West Des Moines diabetic and non-diabetic patients alike to tend these cells nutritionally and with West Des Moines chiropractic spinal manipulation with Cox Technic.  

Glucose Status and the Disc

The glucose status also affects the oxygen consumption rate of degenerated discs: degenerative discs in low glucose have higher oxygen consumption rates and degenerative discs in high glucose have lower oxygen consumption rates. The glucose status did not affect non-degenerated discs. (2) West Des Moines degenerated discs react in a different way than non-degenerated ones. Of this, Executive Chiropractic of Iowa is positive because Executive Chiropractic of Iowa sees it daily in taking care of our West Des Moines back pain patients.

Oxygen Consumption Rates and the Disc

The degenerative intervertebral disc has a substantially higher oxygen consumption rate - 3 to 5 times greater - than the non-degenerative, normal human disc.  The degenerative disc is different at the cellular level. This oxygen consumption rate factor changes the behavior of the disc’s cells and even its tissue’s nutritional status as nutrients are distributed to the disc through the matrix and endplates. This rate of transport of nutrients is affected by the degenerative state of the disc. (2) So when should Vitamin D be taken to protect and care for the West Des Moines degenerative disc? When the disc is healthy and even more so when it’s not.

Schedule your West Des Moines chiropractic appointment at Executive Chiropractic of Iowa to review the health status of your West Des Moines spinal discs and how Vitamin D may benefit them whether they are degenerated or not.