St Peters Chiropractic Relief of Back Pain due to Disc Degeneration May Be Boosted by Melatonin and Light Therapy
Melatonin. Mitochondria. Mitophagy. Autophagy. Oh my! Back pain links them all in an interesting way. Melatonin – the sleep regulating hormone – manages sleep which is vital to the body’s capability to recover from the day and prepare for the next. Mitophagy stimulates healthy turnover of mitochondria (the energy producers in cells). Mitophagy blocks the build-up of dysfunctional mitochondria in cells that may lead to cell deterioration. In the case of back pain, this would avoid such disc cell deterioration which could precede disc degeneration. Autophagy is the normal bodily practice that manages cell destruction and creation in the body. When there is cellular stress, autophagy is amplified. (1) Old Mill Chiropractic presents findings that melatonin and light therapy may intervene in this process and promote St Peters back pain relief.
MITOCHONDRIA AND DISC DEGENERATION
Old Mill Chiropractic understands how disc degeneration involves cellular oxidative stress, mitochondria problems and cell death (aka apoptosis). This is where researchers imply melatonin may play a beneficial role in the slowing of disc degeneration. Melatonin gets rid of oxygen free radicals, controls mitochondria function and balance, hastens mitrophagy and slows apoptosis (cell death). Melatonin may assist in the treatment of disc degeneration. (2)
MELATONIN AND LIGHT FOR DISC DEGENERATION AND St Peters BACK PAIN
In a biological study of melatonin’s effect on intervertebral disc degeneration, melatonin sustained nucleus pulposus cells influenced by oxidative stress. Such stress leads to impairment of these cells. Melatonin is an important neuroendocrine hormone with good antioxidant effect that functions on biological clock regulation. (3) Chronic non-specific low back pain sufferers who included melatonin in their treatment plan found it to positively increase the effect of standard treatments on pain, sleep and depression. The decreased pain intensity when moving and resting indicated that melatonin potentially offers an analgesic effect. (4) Melatonin may be another way to treat intervertebral disc degeneration.
LIGHT THERAPY AND BACK PAIN RELIEF
In so much as melatonin is activated by light and its lack, light treatment helps patients handle chronic low back pain, its pain intensity, behavior, and threshold. It also helps with post-traumatic stress disorders symptomatology and quality of sleep. All these were improved with morning bright light treatment of US veterans with chronic low back pain. (5) Such treatment could surely help St Peters back pain sufferers, too! These researchers believe that this light treatment regulates the circadian timing of sleep which is facilitated by melatonin. (5)
CONTACT Old Mill Chiropractic
Listen to the PODCAST with Dr. Chris DeVeau on the Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson. A patient struggling with neck pain and arm pain found difficulty with sleep and relief with Cox® Technic.
Schedule a St Peters chiropractic appointment for your St Peters back pain. Patients in St Peters with disc degeneration may find extra relief with melatonin and light therapy together with chiropractic treatment. Mitochondria, mitophagy, autophagy, melatonin and back pain are interestingly linked, aren’t they?
