How Being Overweight Impacts Your Spine

Although it has been debated whether being overweight is a direct cause of back pain or a contributing factor, there is a lot of evidence to suggest that being overweight can negatively affect your spine in a number of both short term and long-term ways.

To find out more about what may happen to your spine if you are overweight, this article details the vital links between obesity and poor spine health.

How Does Being Overweight Affect the Spine?

Being overweight can put pressure on your spinal cord, which can cause a number of injuries that lead to symptoms such as lower back pain and issues with the surrounding muscles and joints. Not only this, but the excess weight on the stomach can also cause negative side effects for the spine, as this can put pressure on the spinal cord and lead to misalignment. Misalignment, and related issues such as poor posture, can cause a great amount of lower back pain for the sufferer.

Then, it is important to be aware of the risks and how to prevent yourself from becoming overweight.

What Health Issues can it Cause?

Not only can pressure on the spinal cord cause back pain, but it can also lead to a number of isolated conditions that each have different symptoms and treatments that you need to be aware of.

For instance, pressure on the spinal cord can speed up the process of degenerative discs in your spine and can lead to the discs between your vertebrae to weaken. Not only this but being overweight also encourages the progress of other age-related conditions, such as osteoarthritis. This is because, when you are overweight, the cartilage between the joints wears more easily and the circulation in your body lessens.

There are also other common conditions that you could be subject to if you are overweight. These include herniated disks, which occur when the inside of your vertebrae bursts and protrudes through the outer part of your spine. Bulging disks and compression fractures are also common, which happen when vertebrae protrude from their normal position, and when the bones in your spine break, respectively.

How can You Treat This?

Chiropractic care can help you to treat conditions with your spine, such as lower back pain, by helping to realign the spinal cord and prevent long-term health conditions. At our SnapCrack locations, like our walk-in chiropractor office in Miami Beach, our highly-trained professional chiropractors can do this through relieving tension and strain on the spine and nervous system. They can also help to boost the body’s natural healing processes on occasions where a fracture or break has occurred, such as a herniated disk. Because we offer walk-in service, you can visit us without an appointment.

Chiropractic care can also be part of the treatment plan developed by your doctor and can be combined with traditional, prescription treatments, such as back braces. You can also treat spine problems caused by being overweight naturally. To do this, you should maintain a healthy lifestyle, which can help you to lose weight and reduce the pressure on your lower back. A chiropractor or doctor can help you to create a treatment plan for these lifestyle changes.