What You Eat Is Your Foundation: Nutrition Tips for Aging Patients
If you've been coming to Cox Chiropractic Medicine Inc for back pain or neck pain care, you already know that chiropractic care is about more than just your spine — it's about your whole body working well together. Yet one of the most powerful tools for supporting your long-term health is one that rarely comes up in the treatment room — what you eat every day. What you eat has a profound effect on how your spine, muscles, bones, joints, and nerves function every single day and help you get around Fort Wayne.
AGING AND NUTRITION
Getting older doesn't just change how we move — it impacts how our bodies absorb and use the very nutrients we depend on to stay strong and pain-free. 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 decreased kidney function can all impair how efficiently the body processes vitamins and minerals — even when dietary intake seems adequate. (1)
NUTRITION AND BACK PAIN
This matters enormously for back pain. Vitamin D and calcium are critical for bone density, and deficiencies are directly associated with increased fracture risk and osteoporosis-related spinal compression. Magnesium is vital for keeping muscles relaxed and nerves functioning properly — and when levels run low, the result can be increased muscle tension and cramping that drives back pain deeper. B vitamins support nerve health, and antioxidants like vitamins C and E help combat 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 safe-guarding of what researchers call "intrinsic capacity" — the physical and mental reserves that keep us functional and independent as we grow older. Nutrition is a foundation of that capacity.
The encouraging part is that none of this is fixed — simple, consistent shifts in what you eat, like incorporating more leafy greens, fatty fish, nuts, seeds, and colorful vegetables, can directly strengthen the progress we make together in the treatment room. We at Cox Chiropractic Medicine Inc encourage every patient to think of nutrition as an extension of their chiropractic care. A healthy spine is built from the inside out — and that starts with what you put on your plate.
CONTACT Cox Chiropractic Medicine Inc
Listen to this PODCAST with Dr. James Cox on The Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as he talks about a common spinal condition, disc degeneration, that comes with aging and how The Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management helps.
