Need for Testing and Supplementation of Vitamin D3 After Release of COVID-19 Lockdown in Patients with Increased Musculoskeletal Pain

Aims To evaluate vitamin D3 levels in patients who presented with increased musculo-skeletal pain after release of lockdown period when compared to pre-lockdown status. Introduction During this COVID pandemic, many countries have implemented lockdown measures and people have to work from home and many students and workers have to restrict themselves to home. During this period, their outdoor activities were limited. After the partial release of this lockdown many of them started to have some kind of physical activity and started experiencing body pains. We evaluated such patients for vitamin D3 levels and symptoms of fibromyalgia. Methods This is a retrospective analysis of patients from age group 18-60 presented to outpatient department or on telephonic consultation after partial release of lockdown. All patients who had mild back ache before lockdown and had symptoms exaggerated during this lockdown release were included. All patients were investigated for vitamin D3, PTH, thyroid profile, liver functional and kidney functional tests. Results Out of 120 patients presented to us in a period of 3 months, 31 patients had increased symptoms when compared to pre-lockdown status. 20 out of 31 patients had low vitamin D3 levels. 14 patients also developed symptoms of fibromyalgia. Conclusion There might be many reasons for increased pain during lockdown, but we focussed specially only on vitamin D3 because of its association with increased symptoms of COVID-19. This is a gentle reminder to test for vitamin D3 levels and supplement if found deficient. Supplementary information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s43465-021-00376-8.