Are Those Extra Pounds Causing You Back Pain?
Here is another incentive to lose that excess weight – Studies have found that extra pounds could lead to back pain, and the more excess weight you carry, the more likely you will suffer from chronic back pain that will put a right spanner into your quality of life.
According to You Docs, this is the big story :
Extra pounds could lead to Back Pain
“Body fat is a demolition derby for your backbone’s discs; staying slim keeps the gel-filled cushions that act as your spineshock absorbers out of harm’s way.”
Extra weight can throw your spine out of position as it places more weight than necessary on the soft tissue around your vertebrae – compressing it unnaturally and resulting in a lot of pain. Add all the inflammatory chemicals your extra bulge releases and you have discs in your spine that will weaken over time.
An unhealthy lifestyle just exasperates the problem. Sitting around for long periods and not sitting in a correct position is a recipe for back pain.
If you think you can deal with back pain by not moving too much or not at all, then you are missing the point. Of course, always seek medical advise before you embark on any exercise program otherwise you could do more harm than good.
Here are a couple more studies on how extra pounds could lead to back pain :
“More weight equals more pain. Carrying enough extra pounds to classify you as “overweight” (weighing 155 to 185 if you’re a 5-foot-6-inch woman, for example) boosts your odds for back pain by 20 percent. Obesity (more than 185 pounds for the same height) doubles or triples the risk. But losing just 4 pounds takes 16 pounds of pressure off your spine.
More weight equals more damage. In another new study from Hong Kong (the obesity problem is worldwide) scans of 2,599 women and men revealed that piling on pounds increases the risk for degenerative disc disease (or DDD as we docs call it) by 30 percent to 79 percent. DDD sets you up for a slipped or ruptured disc; that puts pressure on nerves. Then there’s a spine-tingling numbness and weakness in your legs and plenty of back pain. Often DDD heals within six months, but 1 in 10 with DDD end up under the knife.”
So get walking, swimming, biking to get that weight down. Even a little could mean the difference between chronic pain and just pain. And the more you lose, you more you gain in terms of health. Who wants to hobble around all day holding their backs, or just sit everything out because it is too painful to move?
You will miss out on too much and it is just not worth it. Remember, extra pounds could lead to back pain so start losing now.
Read more here:
Related articles for extra pounds could lead to back pain:
- Back Pain and Weight (nlm.nih.gov)
- Low Back Pain Prevention Secrets (abcnews.go.com)
- Back Pain: Will you need surgery for degenerative disc disease (DJD)? Spine Strong (spinestrong.com)
