🦠 Feeling Achy After winter colds and Covid? Your Nutrient Levels Could Be to Blame
- Julian Simpson
- Oct 8
- 7 min read
🦠 Feeling Achy After COVID? Your Nutrient Levels Could Be to Blame
If you’ve been feeling more tired, achy, or stiff since having COVID, you’re not imagining it. Many Australians are still experiencing lingering pain, fatigue, and muscle stiffness — even months after recovering from the virus.
At Health Wise Chiropractic, we’ve seen a noticeable rise in people coming in with post-COVID musculoskeletal issues — sore joints, muscle aches, weakness, and fatigue that just won’t shift. And now, new research may help explain why.
A recent study titled “Assessment of Micronutrient Levels in Patients with Post-COVID Musculoskeletal Manifestations” found that deficiencies in key micronutrients — especially iron, selenium, and copper — are strongly linked with post-COVID pain, stiffness, and inflammation.
🧬 The Missing Link: Micronutrients and Muscle Pain
Micronutrients like iron, selenium, zinc, and copper play crucial roles in metabolism, muscle repair, and immune regulation. When these levels drop — whether from illness, inflammation, or poor absorption — your body’s ability to heal and control inflammation is reduced.
The study, which assessed 166 post-COVID patients, revealed:
40% had at least one micronutrient deficiency
Iron deficiency was found in 39.7%
Selenium deficiency in 25.9%
Copper deficiency in 18%
Zinc deficiency in 4%
Even more striking — patients with joint inflammation (arthritis) had significantly lower selenium and copper levels, and higher inflammation markers (CRP).
In other words: the worse your nutrient balance, the more likely you are to experience ongoing pain, fatigue, and inflammation after COVID.
💡 Why This Matters for Recovery
The body’s healing process after illness relies heavily on nutrient availability.Micronutrients help to:
Regulate inflammation
Support muscle and joint recovery
Maintain nerve and immune function
Reduce oxidative stress and fatigue
When these levels are low, inflammation can linger — keeping muscles and joints sore, and delaying recovery.
That’s why post-COVID patients often describe symptoms that sound like fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, or persistent back and neck pain — even if they were healthy before getting sick.
⚠️ Don’t Ignore Lingering Post-COVID Symptoms
If you’re still feeling:
Muscle or joint pain
Fatigue or weakness
Stiffness or poor mobility
Brain fog or low energy
…it might be time to look deeper. Your symptoms could be your body’s way of signalling inflammation, nutrient imbalance, or stress on your musculoskeletal system.
You don’t have to “wait it out.” With the right care, it’s possible to reduce pain, improve mobility, and get your energy back.
📅 Book Your Post-COVID Recovery Assessment
At Health Wise Chiropractic, we’ll help identify what’s holding your body back — whether it’s spinal tension, muscle dysfunction, or underlying inflammation — and guide you through a personalised recovery plan.
✨ Let’s help you rebuild strength, balance, and resilience after COVID.
Some foods we may recommend to you are:
🩸 Iron – For Energy, Oxygen & Recovery
🥩 Lean red meat (beef, lamb, kangaroo)
🍗 Chicken and turkey (especially dark meat)
🐟 Sardines, salmon, tuna
🫘 Lentils, chickpeas, and kidney beans
🌾 Iron-fortified cereals and oats
🥬 Spinach, kale, and broccoli (best absorbed with vitamin C-rich foods like citrus or capsicum)
💡 Tip: Pair plant-based iron (from beans or greens) with vitamin C foods to boost absorption!
⚡ Selenium – For Immune Health & Inflammation Control
Selenium acts as a powerful antioxidant that supports immunity and reduces inflammation.Top food sources:
🌰 Brazil nuts (just 2–3 per day meet your daily needs!)
🐟 Tuna, salmon, and sardines
🍗 Chicken and turkey (and NO for once Dr Julian is not saying KFC)
🥚 Eggs
🌾 Brown rice, whole grains, and oats
💡 Tip: Stick to a few Brazil nuts a day — too much selenium can cause imbalance.
🔋 Copper – For Energy, Tissue Repair & Nerve Function
Copper supports collagen formation, joint health, and iron absorption.Top food sources:
🐚 Oysters and shellfish
🥜 Cashews, almonds, and sunflower seeds
🍫 Dark chocolate (Unfortunately not the yummy dairy milk)
🫘 Chickpeas and lentils ( not a favourite food according to Dr Julian)
🥩 Liver (in moderation)
🍄 Mushrooms
💡 Tip: Copper works hand-in-hand with zinc — balance is key!
🧠 Zinc – For Immunity, Healing & Hormone Balance
Zinc boosts immune response, wound healing, and helps regulate inflammation.Top food sources:
🦪 Oysters (the highest source!)
🥩 Beef and lamb
🐓 Chicken
🌻 Pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds
🫘 Lentils, black beans, chickpeas
💡 Tip: If you’re vegetarian, combine multiple zinc-rich plant foods daily — absorption from plants is lower than from meat.
Posture Correction Chiropractor
Q: Can chiropractic correct bad posture?Yes, chiropractic care can help realign the spine and retrain muscles for better posture.
Q: What causes poor posture?Common causes include desk jobs, phone use, weak muscles, and spinal misalignments.
Q: How long does posture correction take?It varies — some patients notice changes within weeks, others need longer-term care.
Q: Can posture correction reduce pain?Yes, correcting posture often reduces back pain, neck pain, and headaches.
For more information about how we can help YOU with your pain and improve your underlying dysfunction so the problem doesn’t come back .
Please call Health Wise Chiropractic 03 9467 7889 or book online to see one of our Chiropractors in Sunbury or Melton/Strathtulloh Today!
We are also really proud to offer our patients an APP for their Mobile- iPad. With access to your rehab exercises and our health tip blogs with over 600 articles.
Chiropractic has moved online. We offer our online program -STAND CORRECTED- To help you through the day.
We have over 30 programs on different health conditions
Each program contains
- Information about the conditions
- things to do and things to avoid
- nutrition advice
- all the stretches that are needed to help
Garre S, Krishna Prasad CR, Pratyusha AC, Sundar AS, Sangineni KSDL, Bhoangir AV. Assessment of micronutrient levels in patients with post COVID musculoskeletal manifestations - A cross-sectional observational study. J Family Med Prim Care. 2025 Aug;14(8):3421-3426. doi: 10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_287_25. Epub 2025 Sep 24. PMID: 41041185; PMCID: PMC12488108.
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