Lose weight, improve back pain control

by | Oct 4, 2011 | Lower Back Health, Lower back pain | 0 comments

A lot of people with lower back pain find their way to my chiropractic practice.  And I see a lot of overweight people, too – after all, this is America, land of the free and home of the quarter pounder with fries.

I know that all the extra poundage doesn’t help with back problems. But I never wanted to make a big fuss about losing weight.

My patients don’t come to see me so I can bug them about their weight – they want to see what manual therapy can do for their back pain. After all, chiropractic has a lot to offer low back sufferers. So what if you’re carrying an extra 20, 30, or 40 pounds?  You can still get pain relief.

Besides which, focusing on someone’s weight is a little politically incorrect.  We need to accept ourselves more and stop trying to conform to a fake Hollywood, Photoshopped ideal.

Still, the truth must be faced.

Obesity is a major contributor to back pain.  Here are some recent research articles that prove it.

The evidence is overwhelming – trimming excess body fat is a cornerstone of any multidimensional program to control back pain.

Another myth busted

Perhaps you believe what I used to believe – that it’s hard to lose weight, and even if you do lose weight, it’s hard to keep it off.

It’s not true.

In 2001 the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition published a compilation of all the research that had looked at the long term effects of weight-loss programs.  In the aggregate, about half of the people were able to maintain a 5% weight loss for five years.  And 30% had lost more than 10% of their original body weight and kept it off for five years.

There can be many roadblocks on the way to recovering from back pain.  Don’t let excess body weight be the one holding you back.

Dr. Lavine has been an innovator in the use of movement and touch to promote health since 1981. He practices in New York City and Princeton, NJ.

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Deepen Your Body of Knowledge

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More on Body Mass Index (BMI) and back pain

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