Weight loss for lower back pain is an effective holistic treatment that can be used to decrease the severity of any type of lumbar dorsalgia. In some instances, weight loss alone can provide a complete and lasting cure for low back pain. However, the benefits of losing weight go way beyond the reduction in pain experienced. Weight loss might actually be a life-saving intervention for many people who are morbidly obese.
Weight loss is difficult for many people. Truthfully, most people cite losing weight as basically impossible for them, due to habit, lack of willpower, body frame design, lifestyle, pain or genetic predisposition. While weight loss can be challenging, it is possible to achieve for virtually every person, regardless of what condition they are currently in or what justifications they have relied upon in the past to explain their obesity.
This essay provides evidence that weight loss is one of the best treatments for lower back pain, since it is risk-free and actually one of the healthiest lifestyle choices anyone can ever make. We will also provide guidance on how to go about losing weight safely and effectively, despite any challenges you might face.
Weight Loss for Lower Back Pain Mechanisms
Weight loss can help to combat lower back pain through several proven mechanisms of action:
Losing weight will decrease the mass of the body and reduce pressure on compressed nerves.
Weight loss will reduce the chances of suffering potentially symptomatic compression fractures in the spine.
Less mass on the spine will decrease the rate of disc desiccation and help to prevent abnormally fast degeneration of the intervertebral tissues.
Losing weight will lighten the load that the spine must carry every moment of every day, decreasing the amount of work the postural and dorsal muscles must perform. This can reduce the chances for muscular imbalances and RSI conditions.
Weight loss can help to better distribute mass around the body, potentially eliminating forward protrusions of abdominal tissue that can misalign the spine and the pelvis.
Although not inherently linked, weight loss and exercise usually go hand in hand. It is well known that a sedentary existence is a major contributor to back pain, while exercise is an effective natural treatment that works through mechanical and chemical actions.
Being overweight is a frequent contributor to mindbody pain syndromes through psychoemotional mechanisms of action.
Weight Loss Therapeutic Efficacy
Losing weight will not definitely cure your low back pain. However, it will likely provide some degree of relief ranging from mild to full, depending on the causative mechanism involved in the painful expression. Basically, this means that most patients will benefit to some variable extent. Some patients will enjoy mild reduction in pain, while others may enjoy full and lasting cures.
However, all patients who lose weight will also enjoy additional and even more important health benefits that will lead them closer to overall wellness. Losing weight will reduce blood pressure, increase cardiovascular capacity, improve chemical balance inside the body, improve circulation, reduce the risk of stroke and heart attack, reduce the risk of diabetes and extend the expectancy of life significantly. We do not have to say much more, as these benefits already sell themselves.
Weight Loss for Lower Back Pain Challenges
It is easy for us to say, “Lose weight”. However, we are not naive and realize the challenge that this objective presents to most people. People who have back pain are usually already curtailed in their ability to be active and exercise, so they are therefore also diminished in their ability to lose weight. However, this does not mean that the goal is impossible. It just takes a bit more effort and resolve.
Personally, I have spent much of my professional career in fitness and martial arts getting people in the best shape of their lives. I have helped thousands of students to lose weight, despite pain, “slow metabolism”, genetic makeup, “big bones” and a host of other excuses. They did it and they felt great. You can too. Weight loss is certainly also a major goal of many clients in my coaching program and I am proud to help facilitate their transformation from out-of-shape, pained people to very athletic individuals in most cases.
There are many resources available to help you to succeed in your weight loss goals. However, there are others that do more harm than good. Here are my recommendations and a fitness professional with over 40 years experience:
Avoid fad diets and all diets for that matter. Avoid fad exercises and programs. These will come and go and your motivation will go with them.
Ask your doctor or physical therapist for help in your weight loss plan. Do not use drugs to help facilitate weight loss, as this is trading one problem for another.
Hire an excellent fitness trainer or begin martial arts classes to get you on the right path to better health and athletic ability.
Don’t be afraid to invest in yourself, with both time and money. Learn what you need to do and then do it. If you need help, then hire it. The investments will pay off hugely in many measurable life factors, including less low back pain.
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