Does Losing Weight Improve Back Pain

Back pain is one of the most common and most troublesome problems that people experience. Eight out of 10 individuals will struggle with back pain during some point in their life, the US National Library of Medicine reports. Low and chronic back pain can be aggravated by many triggers. Mechanical stress, excessive strain, muscle weakness, poor sleeping position, lack of exercise and excessive weight could all contribute to making the situation worse.

The good news is that chiropractic ranks among the most popular and effective treatment options available today for back pain. Through the chiropractic adjustment, chiropractors not only help ease the pain but also work toward correcting the problem. According to chiropractors, spinal adjustments can deliver even better results when combined with weight loss.

Individuals that are classified as overweight or obese are much more likely to experience back pain than people that aren’t according to the American Obesity Association.

How Losing Weight Can Help Relieve Lower Back Pain: Commonwealth Pain And Spine: Pain Management Specialists

Obesity prevents individuals from engaging in everyday physical activities, as well as healthy exercises. These are essential for strengthening the core muscles. A stronger core can take some of the burden away from the back, thus making back pain less likely.

In addition, the spinal cord becomes excessively burdened in the case of obese individuals. This is because it’s trying to compensate for the additional weight, which can cause tilting and uneven stress. Both of these can contribute to serious and chronic back pain. Thus the reason obesity is one of the most prominent aggravating factors in the case of lower back pain.

According to weight loss experts and chiropractors, weight loss can contribute to partial or complete reduction in the back pain symptoms. The research on the connection between weight loss and back pain is still insufficient but numerous practitioners report that they’ve seen cases of patients experiencing serious reduction in pain after losing weight.

Strengthen Your Back & Reduce Back Pain

Obviously, this occurs because the extra weight is taken off the spine. As a result, the spine doesn’t experience further stress. Especially when a chiropractor realigns the vertebral column through multiple sessions of chiropractic adjustments.

According to the American Spine Society, individuals that stay within 10 pounds of their ideal weight are the ones least likely to experience spinal problems, particularly chronic lower back pain.

Besides aiding in weight loss, exercise is also great for strengthening the core muscles and guaranteeing a proper distribution of the body’s weight throughout the spine. Stronger muscles, less weight and better posture will provide amazing long-term benefits for chiropractic patients that suffer from back pain.

The Link Between Weight And Back Pain

If you need more pointers on how to incorporate weight loss and exercise in your daily routine, speak to your local chiropractor. He or she is more than competent to guide you along the way. If you aren’t currently seeing a chiropractor, give us a call. We’re here to help!We often talk about obesity and weight loss in relation to diabetes and heart disease.  But did you know, that losing weight can help resolve or prevent back pain. If you suffer from back pain, you know how frustrating and limiting it can be. What you may not know is that there is a link between back pain and your weight.

Excess weight and obesity are linked to high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and stroke. It is no surprise that it also increases the risk for back pain, joint pain, and muscle strain. The lower back is particularly vulnerable to weight-related pressure.

Maintaining a healthy weight or losing weight can help ease or prevent back issues and reduces stress on other joints as well. Dropping just a few pounds can make a big difference to your back.

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If you are heavier than your ideal weight, your muscles will need to work harder to perform everyday tasks. By losing weight, you are reducing the strain on your back, including the muscles, ligaments and discs.

The good news is that physical activity also helps manage back pain. In fact, exercise may be your best bet for preventing and managing chronic low back pain.

A key ingredient in nearly every type of weight loss program, aerobic activity is any motion that uses the large muscles of the body and is maintained continuously for at least 30minutes.

Spine Health: Will Losing Weight Alleviate Your Back Pain?

It’s well-known that strengthening and stretching trunk muscles(especially the abdominals) and muscles around the hips provides support for upright body posture and for the spine itself.

Weight gain can lead to lower back pain by compressing the lumbar spine in the lower back, which often results in a pinched nerve that leads to pain and other symptoms. People who are overweight and currently experiencing lower back pain may find that weight loss achieved by exercising regularly and healthy eating habits, may relieve some of the lower back pain.

Exercising improperly or too vigorously may irritate the pinched nerve in the lower back, causing the lower back pain you are experiencing to increase.Ready to get started on those new years resolutions? If you’re one of the many Americans suffering from obesity, a renewed focus on weight loss is likely high on your priority list for the new year.

Weight Loss Can Reduce Back Pain

Not only does a healthier weight make us look and feel better, it also has numerous physical benefits such as decreased blood pressure and improved sleep and heart function. And there is one more important health bonus from weight loss that is often overlooked but is central to our lives: improved spine health.

Weight loss can have dramatic improvements in the strength and function of our low back and spine. To understand this, we have to appreciate spine mechanics: Increased body weight causes a corresponding increase in pressure on the intervertebral discs, the jelly discs that act as shock absorbers and allow flexibility with bending and twisting. With increased weight, there is increased pressure. This additional force increases risk of injury to the most vulnerable discs in the lowest part of the spine.

The most common discs involved in low back pain are the L4-L5 and L5-S1, located at the lowest part of the spine.  Excess weight increases the stress and pressure on these discs, increasing the risk of disc disease such as disc bulge or herniation, conditions often associated with low back pain and even sciatica.

New Campaign Launch Reveals Six Major Health Benefits To Losing Weight

Obesity is also linked to arthritis. While we commonly associate obesity with arthritis pain in the knees and hips, we can add to this list worsened back arthritis, also known as facet disease. Excessive weight places unnatural pressure on the small joints in the back of the spine known as the facets. These joints, smaller than the size of our knuckles, help us rotate our spines and stay flexible. Over time, these small joints become stressed from many factors, including excessive weight, that cause inflammation in these joints and, in turn, low back pain.

Taking these considerations together, here is ’s 2017 New Year’s Resolution message: Weight loss is critical and helps immensely in improving our spine health. Even small reductions in weight decrease the pressure on the discs of the low back and decrease the stress on the small joints of the spine. Ultimately, weight loss can help decrease low back pain, improve routine functions such as standing and twisting our low back and help us successfully develop healthier spines and improved quality of life.

This year, while working toward a healthier you and challenging yourself to stick with your resolution, think about your spine — your back pain — as added motivation to reach your weight loss goals. At , we consider all conservative options as part of our approach to relieve pain and improve lives, including an emphasis on healthy living and spine health as part of our approach to treating our patients. 

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