Gluten Sensitivity and Joint Pain

What I like about having a blog is to write about research I have partaken in. Since I treat many cases involving pain, I decided to research to see if there were any internal “issues” that could cause or exacerbate a pain ailment, like joint pain. Some of my patients have issues with Gluten. I say they are Gluten sensitive.

Joint pain is a common complaint that many of my Gluten patients were complaining about. I found this interesting due to the fact that I was not even considering how pain can by a product of Gluten sensitivity. I then began to research if there was any relation between the two.

One study found that up to 75% of patients with untreated celiac disease have osteopenia (bone loss) or osteoporosis. Bone mass alterations were found in more than 60% of newly diagnosed adult celiac disease patients. Osteoporosis was significantly associated with men over the age of 45. Essentially, the researchers demonstrated a connection between bone loss and joint/tendon pain and the presence of celiac disease.

Another study I found concerned a group of researchers in Turkey who presented a case where they demonstrated a link between being on a gluten-free diet and improvements in joint pain. They presented a case where a 42-year-old woman presented with a 3-week history of left knee pain and swelling. She had never been on a gluten free diet. She was then put on a gluten free diet. She responded well to this diet, as her joint movement improved significantly. The researchers emphasized that the improvements to her joint pain and skin rashes were “more than just coincidental”.

I hope you now have a greater appreciation of the relationship with Gluten issues and Celiac disease and joint pain. When treating pain, I now screen to see if the patient has any issues with Gluten.