Hidden Causes of Chronic Joint Pain: Discover the Unexpected Triggers that Debilitate You

Are you tired of living with chronic joint pain and searching for real solutions? In this eye-opening episode, Aimee reveals the often-overlooked root causes of joint discomfort and offer practical tips to help you reduce or resolve your chronic pain. Discover how specific dietary changes can significantly reduce your joint pain and improve your overall well-being. Tune in to learn about surprising factors your doctor won't even think to consider that could be contributing to your inflammation and the crucial nutrients your body needs to combat pain and inflammation and stay in balance.

 
 Notable Quotes/ Key Takeaways:

• Discover the most common food triggers can aggravate joint pain through inflammatory responses.
• Resolve common nutrient deficiencies that research shows is linked to increased joint pain and inflammation for those with multiple forms of arthritis.
• Include specific foods to help reduce chronic pain and inflammation.
• Find which supplement is basically "Nature's Celebrex" and what dietary modifications are backed by research to play a significant role in managing joint pain.
• Could breast implants be the cause of your pain? Learn how this common surgery seems to have the potential for chronic pain and inflammation in women around the globe.

Resources:

Find Research Citations and Blog Form Transcript at Blasphemous Nutrition on Substack 

Work with Aimee

Photography by: Dai Ross Photography

Podcast Cover Art: Lilly Kate Creative

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Transcript

MacBook Air Microphone: 0:00

Do you think, you know, the reasons behind your chronic joint pain? Think again. And today's eyeopening episode. I'm going to uncover some often overlooked culprits that might be keeping you in chronic joint and muscle pain. From surprising dietary triggers to other factors that you wouldn't even think to consider. I'm going to dive into some of the hidden causes that many doctors mess. Tuned in today to discover what may be beneath your chronic pain and explore resources to living a pain-free life.

0:35

Hey Rebels, welcome to Blasphemous Nutrition. Consider this podcast your pantry full of clarity, perspective, and the nuance needed to counter the superficial health advice so freely given on the internet. I'm Aimee, the unapologetically candid host of Blasphemous Nutrition and a double degreed nutritionist with 20 years experience. I'm here to share a more nuanced take. On living and eating well to sustain and recover your health. If you've found most health advice to be so generic as to be meaningless, We're so extreme that it's unrealistic, and you don't mind the occasional F bomb. You've come to the right place. From dissecting the latest nutrition trends to breaking down published research and sharing my own clinical experiences, I'm on a mission to foster clarity amidst all the confusion and empower you to have the health you need to live a life you love. Now let's get started.

MacBook Air Microphone: 1:34

Welcome back to blossom as nutrition, my friends. I am your host, Aimee. And I like to pour the crumbs from the bottom of a tortilla chip bag into a bowl. Cover it with salsa and call it Mexican cereal. Today, I want to talk about possible causes for your joint pain that you may have never considered. If you or anyone, you know, has chronic joint or muscle pain, you know how debilitating it can be. And while there are medications that can reduce the inflammation and allow for people to continue to be mobile. They often come with significant side effects, especially if autoimmune disease is a root cause of that joint, pain and inflammation. Over the last two decades, I've seen many nutrition-related connections to joint pain. That are rarely if ever explored in the standard of care. From osteoarthritis to rheumatoid arthritis to idiopathic joint pain. What we put into our bodies or what we neglect to include can have a significant difference in our pain levels and our ability to enjoy life. Now let's dive in and see what possibilities there are that may be impacting your pain.

2:48

You

MacBook Air Microphone: 2:52

The first thing that I want to cover is food triggers. There are several different types of foods or classes of foods that can aggravate joint and muscle pain through an inflammatory response that can happen with some individuals. There are influencers out there on social media who will categorically call all of these foods bad and say, no one should ever eat them. But that's never the case. However, if you do have chronic joint or muscle pain, you may want to consider some of the following foods. As a possible root cause for you. The first is night shades. Now night shades are a family of vegetables that include tomatoes, potatoes. Ashwagandha goji berries, tobacco, eggplant, tomatoes, and ground cherries, which are also known as Cape gooseberries, as well as all bell peppers and spicy peppers, but not peppercorns. For some. Having an intolerance to these foods. Often shows up as joint pain. And it is common enough that if someone comes in and joint pain is something that they list as. An issue that they're living with. I look tonight shades as a top suspect. In my practice, I have also seen nuts lead to chronic joint pain. Although, this is less common than night shades. Additionally eggs, gluten and dairy are among the top foods that people are intolerant to worldwide and joint pain may be linked to these commonly consumed foods as well. Now it is worth noting in cases of nuts and night shades, that sometimes someone is only reactive to one or two of the foods in that family and not the entire class of foods. So for instance, you may be sensitive to tomatoes and bell peppers, but you can have potatoes without any problem. The best way to assess whether or not one of these foods is problematic for you is to eliminate all of them for three to six weeks and see if your pain subsides. While joint pain often takes longer to dissipate than many other symptoms. I have found clinically that going beyond six weeks of elimination. Is usually unnecessary. If you find that your pain resolves before six weeks time by all means begin introducing foods sooner. And you'll want to do that one food at a time for two to three days to see if that food triggers pain. Followed by a washout period where you eliminate that food for three days, or if you do have a reaction to it, eliminate that food until the pain subsides. Before reintroducing another food. Now while most people find the elimination, part of such a plan. Relatively easy because most people are used to food restriction in one way or another. And the rules are pretty clear about elimination. A lot of people really struggle with reintroductions without any support because of the emotions that we have around restriction in the first place. And then. You know, once that bandaid is ripped off and you can start reintroducing food, sometimes people get really excited and then the reintroduction goes awry because they re-introduced too many things at once. And then don't know what food is actually. Causing their reaction. Another struggle is confusion about how to reintroduce foods in a successful way. Or having some difficulty in knowing what is a strong enough dose to reintroduce and how long to test a food out before, you know, whether or not you're reactive to that food. This is one of the places where having an experienced coach or nutritionist. Who has worked with elimination, diets and reintroductions can be really, really helpful to walk you through the process of reintroductions and give you real time feedback about that process so that you can customize it to yourself. And yes, this is something that I do in my private practice. And it's something that I have over 10 years of experience in doing as well. So I've seen a lot and been well-versed a lot and also can take elimination diets that you may read in a book or see on the internet. And help tailor them to you and your situation. Now, aside from food intolerances, there are some classes of foods and nutrients that can lead to joint pain. When we neglect to consume enough of them. There are several micronutrients. That can lead to joint pain. If we are at a deficiency level or even a subclinical deficiency level. Low vitamin D status has been linked to increased back pain as well as joint pain. Study support that supplementation of vitamin D at doses of 4,000 international units reduces pain after about 13 weeks. Even higher doses of vitamin D have been shown in the literature to reduce pain. And those who have rheumatoid arthritis. And there are other nutrient deficiencies, such as selenium, zinc, and magnesium that are associated with rheumatoid arthritis, pain. Selenium is a key player in the enzyme, glutathione peroxidase, which is an enzyme that acts as an antioxidant shielding ourselves from oxidative damage. It has some really, really impressive. Impacts upon the body, including anti-inflammatory and immune modulating effects. Which makes glutathione peroxidase super useful in conditions like autoimmune disease. And it is noted to be impactful in rheumatoid arthritis. Zinc is another essential mineral that is crucial for various biological processes like growth. Development repair. And maintenance of cell integrity. It's vital for immune system balance. And low zinc intake is often seen in rheumatoid arthritis as well as multiple sclerosis and type one diabetes. Finally magnesium does play a significant role in inflammation and immune responses. And having low magnesium is often one thing that is linked to both muscle and joint pain. Low magnesium intake is. So prevalent. And commonplace. In Western industrialized nations. I don't have data for a European nations, but in the United States, Depending on who you ask anywhere from 70% to 90% of the population is not getting enough magnesium. So we can't really ignore low magnesium intake has a possible reason for chronic muscle and joint pain. On that note, there are various seafoods that are among the most potent dietary sources of vitamin D zinc and selenium in the diet. And I typically recommend an increased intake of fatty fish, wasters, clams, and other seafood as part of an auto-immune plan because of the incredible. Oh, my gosh, just the amazing nutrient density in these foods and how much bang per bite you get when you consume them. And so seeing that. These nutrients are high-end seafood. And that lack of these nutrients is associated with. Chronic pain and rheumatoid arthritis doesn't really come as a surprise to me. In a study, I came across. Um, on our CTO, arthritis, prone, Guinea pigs. Those who were fed and omega3 supplemented feed had less disease development and half of the disease progression scores compared to those who were not fed. And omega-3 supplemented feed. Additionally, the quality of cartilage in the Guinea pigs. I stayed healthier if they were fed omega-3 fatty acids, versus those who were not. In some studies exploring the mechanisms at play that maybe. Causative of the impact of omega-3 fatty acids and reducing inflammation. They've seen that omega-3 fats inhibit specific inflammatory pathways and enzymes. Effectively acting like nature's Celebrex by reducing Cox two enzyme expression specifically among other markers that contribute to inflammation. A meta analysis, which if you'll recall is a study that looks at multiple different studies. I took a look at 17 randomized controlled trials and showed that individuals taking 2.7 grams of omega-3 fats daily for more than three months reported significant reductions in the intensity of their joint pain, their morning stiffness. And their use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs while they were on omega-3 fatty acids. So it's not just the family Guinea pig that can benefit from fish oil supplementation. Additionally a systematic review of the impact of omega-3 fats on rheumatoid arthritis indicated that at doses of three grams, that's 3000 milligrams a day or higher. Joint swelling and joint pain was reduced. With the significance of that reduction increasing as the dose increased. Now if you're not consuming high omega-3 fatty fish like salmon or sardines or mackerel, at least three times a week, you may want to consider supplementing with omega-3 fatty acids. Doses of three grams a day or more are what I see clinically being impactful. And that is often quite a bit higher than the bottle of omega three fatty acids that you'll pick up at your grocery store. Or even your sub local supplement store. That said. Omega three fatty acids are potent enough that they can interfere with some medications. So don't go fucking around with your dosing. Without informing your doctor, firstly, and asking if there are any contraindications to you taking a high dose of omega-3 fatty acids. Additionally, you may want to speak with a knowledgeable health professional about what inappropriate dose would be for you. Given your circumstances. I'm throwing out a general dose here that I've observed clinically is helpful for many people in my practice, but. That's not the dose that I'm recommending for you because you're listening to this podcast and I don't know who you are. I don't know what you're trying to accomplish and so don't just start taking that dose because I said that's often a dose that I start off with, or a dose that I use clinically. It's a dose that I have seen be effective for certain cases. But that doesn't mean that's the appropriate dose for you. Talk to your doctor. Talk to somebody. Uh, knowledgeable about your specific circumstance before you go messing around with omega-3 fatty acids. Okay. This is where being a smart human comes into play. Now, some of you may be wondering about plant-based omega-3 supplementation and whether or not these are equally effective. As fish oil. The short answer's no. Substituting flax oil is not going to have the same impact due to how plant-based omega-3 fatty acids are structured and what a shitty conversion rate humans have. In taking that plant-based form and converting it to the desired form, which is EPA and DHA. Which is directly responsible for anti-inflammatory activity in the body. Now I was unable to find any research on the impact of algae oil on osteoarthritis. If there are any providers or, um, individuals who love to dig around in the research, listening who have that data, I would love to see it. But I wasn't able to find anything on this. However, there was one small study on women in their thirties that I was able to find that showed that three grams of algae oil. Take in the week before an intense weight workout. Did reduce their pain and inflammation, following that workout. They also continued taking that supplement two days after they finished exercising. So if you're looking for a more environmentally sustainable option than fish oil, krill oil is shown to be effective in reducing osteoarthritis pain in mild to moderate cases. And it also reduces cartilage damage in osteoarthritic rats. So, if you want to use krill instead of fish, I think that's probably a reasonable choice. Give it a try. See if it works for you. Another common cause of chronic joint pain is low produce intake. I first observed this in my clinical practice with individual clients who would come back after increasing their vegetables for other reasons and say, you know, my joint pain is a lot better. Um, and then when I began holding. Vegetable focused groups. I started getting reports from participants about how chronic injuries were healing and how their joint pain was disappearing. And their chronic muscle pain was disappearing. They would wake up in the morning, feeling less stiff and achy. And it was one of those situations where I was like, is this actually real? Or am I just seeing something, you know, am I seeing a signal that's not there? So I went to pub med to. Check it out and sure enough. The research had been sitting there all along. Now upon even modest reflection, it's easy to see how this would be the case. Vegetables are chock-full of all sorts of sexy antioxidants that protect the cells and tissues from damage and inflammation. And what is joint pain, but tissue inflammation and subsequent damage due to that inflammation, what is a chronic nagging injury, but damaged tissue that doesn't have what it needs to repair itself. Now there are multitudes of studies showing associations between high produce consumption and lack of chronic pain. But many of these are observational or they rely on self reporting as the foundation of their data. So they are not nearly as strong and robust as something like a randomized controlled trial, but they are a lot easier and less expensive to do. So. In this mass of research. Showing associations or looking for associations between chronic pain and produce consumption. There is a pretty strong signal with several key components at play. The research that we have points to multiple components in plants that reduce inflammation as well as prevent tissue damage. Vitamin C is one of them and it is a well-known and well-researched vitamin that is connected to reduce joint pain. And vitamin C is also each key component of cartilage and tendon tissue. Lutein and zeaxanthin oh gosh, I'm gonna mess that up. Lutein as well as. Zia xanthan. That's what I'm going to call it. And I'm probably butchering that. Um, Found in tomatoes, watermelons, spinach, carrots, asparagus. Is associated with a decreased risk of cartilage defects in healthy adults. And those who consume the most fruits, the most green vegetables and the most omega-3 fatty acids from their diet had the least likelihood of developing arthritis in the future. A review of several randomized controlled trials showed that interventions as broad as. A Mediterranean diet or a vegan diet, or as specific as including blueberry powder, freeze, dried strawberries, broccoli soup, turmeric olive oil, all of these can reduce joint pain and individuals. Now what all of these have in common are diets or foods rich in various polyphenols that demonstrate really kick ass impacts on our cell health, on inflammation as well as chronic disease. Among the polyphenols. Flavonoids, which are found in a wide variety of green and red and purple and blue vegetables and fruits, as well as lignans found in chia, flax, and whole grains. And proteolytic enzymes, which are found in mangoes and pineapples and papaya all contribute to reducing inflammation in the body and promoting a more balanced immune system response overall. So the long and the short of it is that a high produce diet with an abundance of fish oil, as well as all of oil can make massive headway in reducing our chronic pain. If you find that you're still struggling, you might have an intolerance to one of the foods that I mentioned before. That's irritating your joints, despite your healthy diet. Now, one last factor that is associated with chronic joint pain that is now showing up in research is breast implants. This association is not especially robust. There's not a lot of data out there. Nor is the data that is out there. What I would call exceptionally strong. In many cases, the data collection has not been very precise, but as a clinician, I have seen and heard, uh, various cases over the years. So I don't feel that we can wholly dismiss the impact of breast implants. On inflammation and chronic pain. Uh, simply because the data's not there and the data that we have, isn't super great. Right. This is an area where we need to dig deeper and figure out. If there's anything going on that we need to be concerned about. Now the food and drug administration in the United States encourages ultrasound screening to see if there is a leak or other issues with implants, if you experienced joint pain after your surgery. So they do recognize that breast implant illness does in fact exist. If you have breast implants and you've taken all of the steps that I've talked about with no relief. It is worth having a conversation with a specialist about this connection and whether or not removing the implants may be helpful to you. If that's something that you're considering doing. So with all of this information. How would you put it into action? The research has shown that even six weeks on a Mediterranean diet has been shown to reduce pain and morning stiffness in women who have rheumatoid arthritis. So at the very least I would start there. And on your Mediterranean diet, focus on the veggies, focus on the olive oil, focus on the fish, part of the Mediterranean diet as your foundation. If you can't stomach the thought of doing an elimination diet or. If your personal history makes an elimination diet, a sketchy choice. Additionally, adding more red and dark blue fruits as well as vegetables. Right. And when you're thinking, like, what is a. Dark blue vegetable. Uh, that would be something like purple cabbage or purple eggplant, right. Taking into account a plant is a night shade. So maybe not that for you, but those are some examples of dark blue or purple reddish vegetables. and there are also lots of spices, as well as whole grains like keenwah and amaranth, or even chia seeds, which will boost your intake of lots of different polyphenols. Including a cup of green tea. Each day is a great way to get some polyphenols and including tasty spices, like curcumin, ginger pepper and cinnamon in your daily meals can also have a positive impact over time. It is important with these recommendations to remember. That taking a quarter teaspoon of cinnamon in the morning is not going to have the same impact as you know, swallowing an Aleve with your breakfast. These things accumulate over time because they subtly shift how the body behaves in response to inflammation and anti-inflammatory processes in the body. Now, one of the easiest ways to get vegetables and fruits and even some of those spices, first thing in the morning is a green smoothie with spinach berries or some of those enzymatic fruits like mango pineapple and papaya. And you can add turmeric or cinnamon in there to kick it up a notch as Emeril used to say, Smoothies are a great way to get more veggies and fruits in the morning and begin to get to that minimum five a day that is recommended by nearly all governing bodies. Now, if you learn something of use today, please, please share this podcast episode with someone that you know, who may be suffering from chronic pain, or take a screenshot of your phone right now with this episode, playing and load that up to social media. So someone who does have chronic joint pain, and maybe you don't even know about it will see this episode and possibly listen to it themself. Sharing this episode with them has the potential to change their lives. If you are suffering from chronic pain and you give some of these tips, uh, try, do reach out and let me know how it goes for you. Do you notice anything different? How has that process. As always my blasphemous friends. I encourage you to stay sassy. Think critically. And go out there and live your most authentic, healthy life. Until next week, my friends.

25:51

Any and all information shared here is for educational and entertainment purposes only and is not to be misconstrued as offering medical advice. Listening to this podcast does not constitute a provider client relationship. Note, I'm not a doctor nor a nurse, and it is imperative that you utilize your brain and your medical team to make the best decisions for your own health. The use of information on this podcast or materials linked to this podcast are at the user's own risk. No information nor resources provided are intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Be a smart human and do not disregard or postpone obtaining medical advice for any medical condition you may have. Seek the assistance of your healthcare team for any such conditions and always do so before making any changes to your medical, nutrition, or health plan.