What You Eat Is Your Foundation: Nutrition Tips for Aging Patients
If you've been coming to our chiropractic clinic for back pain or neck pain treatment, you already know that chiropractic care is about more than just your spine — it's about your whole body working well together. One piece of the puzzle that often gets overlooked, especially as we get older, is nutrition. What you eat has a big effect on how your spine, muscles, bones, joints, and nerves function every single day and help you get around Groton.
AGING AND NUTRITION
As we age, our bodies morph in ways that make getting the right nutrients both more critical and more difficult. Research published highlights that older adults face unique physiological challenges when it comes to micronutrient absorption and utilization. Reduced stomach acid production, changes in gut motility, and reduced kidney function can all worsen how efficiently the body processes vitamins and minerals — even when dietary intake seems good. (1)
NUTRITION AND BACK PAIN
For anyone dealing with back pain, these nutritional gaps can make a significant and often underestimated difference. Vitamin D and calcium are critical for bone density, and deficiencies are directly linked to increased fracture risk and osteoporosis-related spinal compression. Without adequate magnesium, muscles struggle to fully relax and nerves become more reactive, creating the kind of chronic tension and cramping that makes back pain harder to resolve. B vitamins support nerve health, and antioxidants like vitamins C and E help reduce the chronic inflammation that drives many musculoskeletal conditions.
Importantly, the midlife years are a great time to take action — not after symptoms worsen. A study by Yu and colleagues (2) found that educational interventions aimed at midlife women significantly improved both knowledge and self-efficacy around healthy ageing, including the preservation of what researchers call "intrinsic capacity" — the physical and mental reserves that keep us functional and independent as we grow older. Nutrition is a cornerstone of that capacity.
Unlike many aspects of ageing, your nutritional status is something you can actively boost — and even modest changes to your daily diet can have a meaningful impact on how your body responds to care and heals between visits. We at Shoreline Medical Services/ Hutter Chiropractic Office encourage every patient to consider nutrition as an extension of their chiropractic care. Your spine is only as strong as the body supporting it.
CONTACT Shoreline Medical Services/ Hutter Chiropractic Office
Listen to this PODCAST with Dr. James Cox on The Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as he discusses a common spinal condition, disc degeneration, that accompanies aging and how The Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management helps.
