Hi,
I have not been able to find anything on preventing age related spine degeneration. I have severe cervical spine arthritis ( probably 10 years advance of my age) which has come about from years of lifting heavy and bad posture. I tried stem cells, but only saw minor improvements.
Any suggestions for slowing the aging Spine?
I had really bad posture and neck pain, I don’t remember what diagnosis was stamped on my MRI images some 10 years ago. i t was getting really bad, I needed pain medication and muscle relaxants. With consistent pilates my neck pain almost resolved, my posture is much better, I am half an inch or so taller than before. It did wonders in terms of pain and symptoms. Did not repeat the MRI so I can’t report on physiological changes. I did a special “rehab” pilates with instructor, twice weekly for 6 months or so to notice substantial results of this effort.
Obviously this fits within the standard geroscience hypothesis. Hence a general cellular function protocol that works should help. (I have my own which is discussed on other threads)
However, specifically for arthritis there is a view that 3mg of Boron each day is of assistance.
Have you tried this?
I remember some posts on this forum relating to Boron. If you want me to search for them and provide a link I will do so.
Regarding Boron- I came across this video with Jorge Flechas MD:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgqldGYaNeA.
I’ve been taking 60 - 90 mg of Boron daily for a few months. I at least have Osteopenia - have not had a scan done in a number of years. Also, plenty of spine degeneration, neck pain, lower back etc. I can’t say that I notice that its done anything for me thus far. I am going other things as well. Hopefully its not harmful. The idea of using borax I think is also supporting the idea of higher intake of boron. I haven’t been using borax- hard to stomach the smell.
Thanks. Never heard of Boron in this context.
I dont have pain but mostly extreme tightness in my neck which flares up after lifting especially bench press.
Not much evidence that boron supplementation will do anything if you have a healthy diet.
But, it is cheap and certainly worth a try.
Some studies that suggest boron deficiency may be related to arthritis.
Dosages of 3-6mg/day. 10mg/day is the upper safe limit.
“The study with [1] found that boron supplementation (6 mg/day) alleviated arthritic pain and discomfort in humans compared to placebo. It also showed lower boron concentrations in bones and synovial fluid of arthritis patients compared to healthy controls, suggesting a deficiency may be related to arthritis”
“the substantial number of articles showing benefits support the consideration of boron supplementation of 3 mg/d for any individual who is consuming a diet lacking in fruits and vegetables or who is at risk for or has osteopenia; osteoporosis; osteoarthritis (OA); or breast, prostate, or lung cancer.”
Thanks for your info. I have a pretty healthy diet with at least 5 servings per day but i will give it a shot and see what happens. I also have loss of lordosis which my last x-ray showed. There seem to be many nerves that are involved in the neck which affect the digestion as well.
Also - when you look at spinal disc degeneration that comes with age you see that rapamycin reverses some of the effects of age on the spinal disc, but only about 50% (very roughly). While this study was done in older monkeys and looked at spinal disc regeneration, I suspect that the results for preservation of the discs would be much better if rapamycin was started earlier. As with all these areas, more research needs to be done.
Full Video:
I am not personally taking boron because I can’t get beyond the smell and I do wonder about how it processed and then human consumption. But I have ingested it before , in the very small amounts that the borax people talk about. Nothing happened to me at all, so I don’t agree with this wording: " The company recommends that if a person swallows the chemical, they should rinse their mouth with water or milk and immediately call a doctor."
There are 30 mg caps of Boron that i found on Amazon . Again, I haven’t had a bone scan in sometime, if this high dosage of Boron works, don’t know how long it would take to see effects. And yes, its certainly over the usual recommended dosage of 3 mg or so- maybe it can be harmful. Don’t know. I thought what Flechas had to say was worthwhile though.
I am confused. Why would anyone be taking borax when encapsulated boron citrate is available on Amazon at the recommended doses of less than 10mg daily?
Borax contains boron, which is generally safe and a recognized supplement, but it’s not the same.
Per the article I linked (and many others I have read):
Experts say social media users appear to be conflating boron, a naturally occurring mineral, with borax, which is also naturally occurring and is produced when boron is combined with sodium, hydrogen and oxygen. The chemical compound is also known as sodium borate, sodium tetraborate, or disodium tetraborate.
Your call, of course, but I wouldn’t do it.
I am a bit confused as to how this has gone. I think it is worth ensuring you have about 3mg of Boron in your daily diet on average. If you want to take a very small (I mean very small) amount of borax that is one way of doing this. However, I use the Solgar 3mg per day supplement.
FWIW
The general populace are not too bright, they follow the “heard”. They are not interested in researching/reviewing the issue{any issue]
Bernays was right.
As I have posted before;
Because the people that take borax to get their boron , are taking doses in order to get much more than 10Mg of boron a day. At that point, it gets expensive to buy the boron at the larger doses in caps. I am taking in caps for now, but that’s the reason as i see it.
Can anyone show me the literature that says doses higher than 10mg/day are safe
and even more effective for that matter than the doses used in the studies? The effective doses I cited in the studies are 3-10mg/daily.
I listened to the video with Jorge Flechas. Start with that? The audio isn’t great but its doable.
Hi Shawn, I am in the same situation with degenerative changes - and progressive pain- in my spine. I was hopeful about stem cells, because a couple of people told me about their transformative experiences with stem cell therapy. After reading the reviews about the therapy on the practitioner’s ratings, I was, once again, skeptical. It seems that stem cell therapy is a miracle for some, and not for others. It is expensive, and not covered by insurance, so it is a gamble to spend $$ not knowing whether I would be one to benefit from it.
@cronoslogical, This is a timely topic for me. Yesterday, I had my fourth steroid injection, to treat a compressed nerve, labral tear, bursitis and tendinitis, all in the spine and hip. The injections are working pretty well. After three months of misery, I am walking without pain or discomfort. Still, it can’t hurt to try the boron at the recommended levels.
@RapAdmin, the video on rapa’s benefit for the aging spine is proof to me that it’s worth taking. A 50% improvement is a highly significant outcome, and it shows that the subtle effects of rapa that I’ve detected lately are more than imaginary.
