Aside from strengthening your bones, magnesium maintains your muscles and nerve functions. Sufficient intake of magnesium may help muscle spasms and significantly reduce back pain. Taking vitamins and minerals can help with your lower back pain, but they also provide many benefits for your overall health.
Numerous clinical studies have found that magnesium has beneficial effects in patients suffering from neuropathic pain, dysmenorrhea, tension headache, acute migraine attack, and others.
Our findings show that a 2-week intravenous magnesium infusion followed by 4 weeks of oral magnesium supplementation can reduce pain intensity and improve lumbar spine mobility during a 6-month period in patients with refractory chronic low back pain with a neuropathic component.
A 2004 study found that magnesium deficiency is one of the main causes of chronic back pain. Since magnesium supports muscle and nerve function, a deficiency is directly related to impaired muscle and nerve function that can affect the back.
Vitamin B12 is typically known as the vitamin that can amp up your energy, but it also helps keep the body's nerve and blood cells healthy and helps make DNA. A 2000 study on vitamin B12 and low back pain found that taking this vitamin may help ease back pain, too.
Vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency can cause or worsen neck and back pain and muscle spasm.
One of the best ways to prevent back pain is to keep your back muscles strong. Follow these steps to help protect your back and prevent back pain: Do muscle-strengthening and stretching exercises at least 2 days a week. Stand and sit up straight.
How is magnesium deficiency diagnosed? Magnesium deficiency is diagnosed via a blood test and sometimes a urine test. Your doctor may order the blood test if you have symptoms such as weakness, irritability, abnormal heart rhythm, nausea and/or diarrhoea, or if you have abnormal calcium or potassium levels.
Magnesium also plays a role in regulating muscle contractions. Just like in the heart, magnesium acts as a natural calcium blocker to help muscles relax.
If you have pain, a dose of 250 to 500 mg of magnesium a day can start to decrease these deficiencies as well as the pain, after just several weeks — while also leaving you feeling more energetic and decreasing your risk of heart disease!
Too much magnesium from foods isn't a concern for healthy adults. However, the same can't be said for supplements. High doses of magnesium from supplements or medications can cause nausea, abdominal cramping and diarrhea.
Magnesium glycinate is especially for people with nerve pain or nerve degenerative diseases like diabetes mellitus and multiple sclerosis.
1 Specifically in chronic pain magnesium can be helpful for offsetting the effects of calcium, which relaxes muscles and nerves. Magnesium acts like a plug in nerve receptors that are over-stimulated. The problem with this essential mineral is that most people do not have sufficient levels for optimal health.
The essential mineral can help relieve muscle pain by getting glucose, the body's main energy source, into the muscles. This increases blood sugar availability for exercise and other activities. In addition, research shows that magnesium helps neutralize the pain-generating lactic acid during exercise.
Magnesium deficiency can cause a wide variety of features including hypocalcaemia, hypokalaemia and cardiac and neurological manifestations. Chronic low magnesium state has been associated with a number of chronic diseases including diabetes, hypertension, coronary heart disease, and osteoporosis.
Magnesium glycinate -- Magnesium glycinate (magnesium bound with glycine, a non-essential amino acid) is one of the most bioavailable and absorbable forms of magnesium, and also the least likely to induce diarrhea. It is the safest option for correcting a long-term deficiency.
Magnesium supplements should be taken with meals. Taking magnesium supplements on an empty stomach may cause diarrhea.
Magnesium supplementation has been used successfully in the treatment of different conditions such as PMS, PCOS, mood disorders, and postmenopausal symptoms and consequent risk factors, particularly in the association with other dietary components with proven antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity.
A blood test will be ordered to check your magnesium level. Normal range is 1.3 to 2.1 mEq/L (0.65 to 1.05 mmol/L). Other blood and urine tests that may be done include: Calcium blood test.