I am delighted to see that orthopedic surgeons are finally realizing the importance of having normal vitamin D levels in order to heal the bones that they operate on. I chose a photo of a child with a broken let for this article because 70% of American children have insufficient vitamin D.
Just this month in the prestigious Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery,Joseph Lane, MD, and colleagues published an article looking at over 700 patients they had operated on retrospectively between January 2007 and March 2008.
The results were that 43% of all patients had insufficient levels of vitamin D and 40% had completely deficient levels.
Of note the highest rates of vitamin D deficiency were seen in the trauma and sports services. In this subgroup 66% of the patients were vitamin D's insufficient and 52% were absolutely deficient.
In addition it was found that men were more likely to have deficiency in vitamin D. As to be expected Blacks and Hispanics, because of their darker skin color, were 5 1/2 times more likely to have vitamin D levels that were low compared with people with lighter skin tones.
In this article they recommend getting orthopedic surgery patients' vitamin D levels up before they have an elective surgery. I am very happy to say that at The Khalsa Medical Clinic I have been using my own pharmaceutical grade vitamin D consistently to raise preoperative patients levels for all types of surgery. not just orthopedic surgery, for many years now.
Dr. Lane was quoted as saying "in the perfect world, test levels, fix and then operate" Dr. Lane further pointed out that an important part of the healing process which is bone tissue formation occurs about 2 to 4 weeks after orthopedic surgery and is the critical time when the body needs vitamin D.
If you have family or friends who are getting orthopedic surgery or for that matter any type of elective. Surgery, be sure they have had their vitamin D levels measured and optimized before any elective surgery.
Let me know your thoughts. Do you have any friends or relatives who had orthopedic surgery and had trouble healing? Were their vitamin D levels tested? Have you tested your levels?
About Dr. Soram Khalsa
As an MD, Dr Soram specializes in Integrative Medicine combining diet, nutrition, acupuncture, herbs and nutrition. Visit Dr Soram’s Healthy Living Store where you’ll find high-quality nutritional supplements:
