Vitamin D supplementation may reduce foot pain in patients with knee OA
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Vitamin D supplementation and the maintenance of sufficient vitamin D levels for 2 years successfully reduced disabling foot pain in patients with symptomatic knee osteoarthritis, according to published results.
In a randomized, doubleblind, placebo-controlled trial, researchers studied the effect of vitamin D on 340 patients with knee OA. At baseline, 23.7% of patients presented with foot pain, as defined by the Manchester Foot Pain and Disability Index (MFPDI).
Patients were randomly assigned to receive either monthly vitamin D3 supplementation or placebo treatment for 2 years, according to the abstract.
The mean MFPDI score for the cohorts was 22.8±7.3. After adjusting for potential confounders, researchers saw a greater improvement in MFPDI scores from the vitamin D group and an even greater improvement in those who maintained sufficient vitamin D levels (226 patients) for the 2-year span than those who did not (114 patients).
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Gregory C. Berlet, MD, FRCS(C), FAOA
This fascinating study links vitamin D supplementation and patient-reported foot pain using the Manchester Foot Pain and Disability Index. The selected study group was patients with knee osteoarthritis. Patient reported pain scores significantly improved in the vitamin D treatment arm more than the control patients who did not supplement with vitamin D. The authors did not correlate serum vitamin D levels and the Manchester Foot Pain and Disability Index.
The authors did not propose a mechanism whereby knee OA patients have foot pain or speculate why vitamin D supplementation would help.
This study helps remind us that vitamin D deficiency may be linked to somewhat unlikely patient symptoms and should be part of our differential diagnosis with musculoskeletal pain regardless of the primary diagnosis.
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