Reduce Winter Joint Pain With Vitamin D

I use a two-pronged approach for keeping my joints healthy and pain-free during the winter -- I take Vitamin D supplements and I exercise to keep my joints flexible and strong.

On this page we take a look at the importance of Vitamin D for relieving joint pain during the winter.

Also read Reduce Winter Joint Pain With Exercise to learn how exercising wisely helps to keep our joints stronger and more supple during the winter and throughout the rest of the year. 

After some research, and some interesting discussions with friends who've had the same problems, I realized that during the winter I was probably Vitamin D deficient, which can cause joint pain.  

I now take Vitamin D supplements during the winter and I continue with my regular physical activities, and my joints feel much happier all year long.

Vitamin D is sometimes called the Sunshine Vitamin since our bodies synthesize it when we're exposed to sunlight.   

But during the winter, especially for those of us who live in the middle and higher latitudes, we're usually not exposed to enough sunlight to manufacture the necessary levels of Vitamin D that our bodies need.  Then we may start to notice the effects of its deficiency, including more joint pain, unless we eat more foods rich in Vitamin D or take supplements.

Vitamin D helps us to maintain strong and healthy joints, and it's also necessary for the proper absorption of calcium for strong bones. 

One study in 2004 on Vitamin D and Joint Health reported that patients who were deficient in Vitamin D had more joint pain and disability than those who had higher levels.  When levels were increased in those who had been deficient, they also experienced greater relief from joint pain.

Another study in 2011 found that 70% of new patients coming into rheumatology clinics were Vitamin D deficient (reviewed in Can Vitamin D Deficiency Cause Joint Pain?).

As I mentioned earlier, our bodies can synthesize Vitamin D from sunlight.  Those who live in the tropics can get enough sunlight if they spend 15 minutes in the sun twice a week without sunscreen.  At higher latitudes we need more time exposed to sunlight for our bodies to manufacture enough Vitamin D, and depending on the time of year, cloud cover, and pollution, we just may not be able to get the sun exposure that we need.  

Most of us, especially if we live in the middle and higher latitudes during the winter, will need to get extra Vitamin D from food sources such as cold-water fish (i.e. salmon, tuna), eggs, and fortified milk, and supplements.

It may be difficult to get enough Vitamin D through food, but luckily supplements are relatively inexpensive and easy to find.

You can buy good quality Vitamin D supplements at grocery stores and drug stores.    Oil-based gelcaps absorb better than tablets.  Buy Vitamin D-3 rather than other forms.

I'm currently using Nature-Made Vitamin D-3, 5000 IU (shown below) during the winter, and it's working well for me.   The minimum suggested daily amount for women of my age is 400 IU, but more and more experts are saying that we will do better with much higher levels of Vitamin D. 

You may want to ask your health care provider to be tested for Vitamin D levels to determine how much you need to take.   If your levels are very low, you may be prescribed large doses of Vitamin D for awhile, such as 50,000 IU once a week for 6 - 8 weeks, then taper off to moderate levels (1000 IU -- 5000 IU per day) for maintenance.  

It's not a good idea to take the higher levels (50,000 IU) on your own, since toxicity at those levels can occur over time.   In general, though, people are at a far greater risk to be Vitamin D deficient than to suffer from Vitamin D toxicity.