How Nutrition Can Decrease Inflammation and Pain

When people say they want to improve their diet, their inspiration is often to lose weight, avoid an allergy, gain muscle, improve their skin, or increase their athletic performance. What we don’t hear quite as often is, “I want to improve my diet in order to alleviate my chronic pain.”

The truth is, making some simple changes to your diet really can improve your pain! Call our office now if you’d like to schedule an appointment with a physical therapist who can help you start living pain-free. And keep reading to learn about what kind of foods you can eat that will optimize your results with physical therapy.

Inflammation is your body’s way of responding to an injury or illness. Think of it as your immune system sounds the alarm and launching an attack against a potential threat, which could be something like a bacteria, virus, splinter, or sprained ankle.

In the short term, an inflammatory response is normal, healthy, and beneficial. But if inflammation lasts for a long time, it can start to wear down the immune system, damage tissues and organs, accelerate cellular aging, and increase the risk of chronic health conditions. Heart disease, cancer, obesity, osteoarthritis, and autoimmune conditions (in which the immune system attacks the body’s own cells and tissues) are all associated with chronic inflammation.

Can you think of another condition associated with inflammation? You guessed it. Chronic pain.

Doctors know that if inflammation increases in the body, pain can get worse. Meanwhile, by reducing or controlling inflammation, a person will often see significant improvements in their pain level. And a growing body of research shows certain foods and beverages increase inflammation in the body, while other foods reduce inflammation in the body. This is the key mechanism by which nutrition can influence pain.

Foods that tend to promote inflammation can do so in several ways:

Interestingly, research also shows that excessive fat cells in the body release inflammatory compounds. With this in mind, any type of diet or eating pattern that promotes weight gain and obesity can be considered to promote chronic inflammation. This is a major reason why obesity is a leading risk factor for chronic pain.

Foods that tend to reduce inflammation in the body generally have the opposite effect. They don’t usually spike blood sugars quite as high or as quickly. They tend to be minimally processed and made with whole ingredients. And they almost always are rich in micronutrients, like vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and enzymes that fight oxidative stress, reduce inflammation, provide the raw material needed to make healthy tissues and cells. They also tend to be relatively lower in calories but higher in fiber, which helps combat obesity.

There are a few key nutrition principles you can follow that may help you control your chronic pain.

First, avoid foods that promote inflammation, which include highly processed goods, sugar-sweetened beverages, alcohol, and processed meats. According to the Arthritis Foundation, some of the top inflammatory foods to avoid include:

Second, make sure the majority of your diet consists of whole, natural, and minimally processed foods that are anti-inflammatory and rich in nutrients, including:

Third, make sure to stay well-hydrated and practice other complementary lifestyle habits like daily exercise, stress reduction, good hygiene, and injury prevention strategies.

Contact our physical therapy office today to schedule an appointment with a physical therapist and get back in control of your pain. We’re happy to discuss lifestyle and diet interventions as a way to optimize your physical therapy outcomes and can refer you to other specialists who can help you develop a pain-free diet.

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