Synergistic effects of Vitamin D and magnesium in non-specific low back ache (nLBA) – A prospective comparative study

Abstract

Low back ache constitute a group of symptoms with no clear etiopathogenesis and pose a major difficulty for a health care professional to diagnose and treat the disease per se. Low back ache has become permanent disability for certain individuals and interferes with normal functioning of day-to-day life activities. This study was undertaken to establish the correlation and functional outcome between combination of Vitamin D & magnesium supplementation and Vitamin D supplementation for patients with non-specific low back ache. An observational comparative study was performed with 117 patients of non-specific low back ache from June 2019 to May 2020. Out of 117 patients, a total of 60 patients (Group A) were treated with a combination of Vitamin D supplementation along with magnesium tablets for 3 consecutive months and remaining 57 patients (Group B) were treated with Vitamin D supplementation for 3 consecutive months. Both the groups were followed up for 6 months for pain relief assessed by VAS score and functional improvement in quality of life assessed by Oswestry Low Back Pain Disability Questionnaire. A significant difference was noted in the Group A compared to Group B which demonstrates an additive effect on the combination used in them. When analysing the change in parameters compared to the pre-interventions state both the groups showed significant improvements. However, upon analysis of the correlation between the parameters with regard to the change among the groups, we noted that Group A showed significant correlation with respect to the Calcium and Vit-D level improvement out of the intervention upon the observed results. Treatment of non-specific low back ache with vitamin-D and magnesium shows synergistic effects with significant improvement in the functional outcomes and the pre-intervention metabolic parameters.