Patient’s believes on effects of food on musculoskeletal pains

Introduction: Patients frequently complain of chronic pain, which was affected
by some foods. Previous investigations showed beneficial effect of some kind of
fruits and seeds on pain. The aim of present study is to determine believes of the
patients with chronic pain that wether food affects their pain.
Methods: This cross-sectional analysis performed on 455 patients with chronic
musculoskeletal pain in Yazd rhomathology clinic / Iran. Patient’s points of view
were assessed in terms of 97 variants of eating materials. The data were analyzed
using statistical software SPSS-13.
Results:: Of 455 patients enrolled at the study, more than 50% believed that food
affects some hew on pain perception. The age of patients ranged 14-81 years old
(mean: 44.95, SD: 14.67). Of them, 77.1% were female and 22.9% male, which
57.8% of studied people complained of mechanical pain, 36% of inflammatory
type, and 6.2% of other types of pains including non-specific ones.
In meat groups, beef and sausage increased pain in majority of them (beef:
32.9% increase the pain & 1.3% decrease it), dairy products in most of the
patients decreased pain (milk: 31.1% decrease the pain & 10.5% increase it) but
Grains, cereals and rice increased the pain (rice: 26.3% increase the pain & 2.6%
decrease it) but bread decreased their pain (10.1% decrease the pain & 1.8%
increase it). Cucumber (31.6% increase the pain & 4.4% decrease it), water
melon (30.3% increase the pain & 6.6% decrease it) and some of the sour fruits
increased usually their pain. Lettuce (21.9% increase the pain & 11% decrease
it), potato, tomato, beans and aubergine increased their pain severely, but okra
(11.8% decrease the pain & 2.2% increase it), carrot, onion, garlic and celery
decreased the pain. All nuts like almond, walnut, hazelnut and pistachio
diminished their pain, which walnut was the most effective one (37.7% decrease
the pain & 0.4% increase it). On the other hand, nuts especially walnut are
believed to be pain-relieving.
Conclusion: In conclusion food may have some impact on musculoskeletal pain
as mentioned by our patients. It seems that abstinence of some drinks and foods
can be helpful in better control of chronic pain in selected patients, that are
named as cold (Sard) food in our traditional culture. More multi-population
studies are suggested for more precise and comprehensive results.