Over 80% of the population experiences back pain.  Many times this progresses to sciatica and disc problems.  Unfortunately, so many people these days are overweight and this increases the risk of having low back pain and sciatica.  Not only is the additional weight too much for the back, but the discs and other joints including the hips, knees, ankles and feet.

New research shows that losing weight significantly helps patients suffering with these conditions.  Patients that have a high BMI (Body Mass Index) recover more slowly from lower back pain and have higher risks of getting sciatica, degeneration of the discs and arthritis in the spinal joints.  When you are overweight, more pressure is put on spinal joints therefore decreasing the disc spaces and leading to pinched nerves or sciatica.

In the research, 30 patients who had gastric bypass surgery showed that with the weight loss, the space between the discs increased and alleviated the pressure on the irritated nerves.  Patients reported experiencing a significant reduction in back pain and sciatica pain.

In our Freehold, NJ office, Hometown Family Wellness Center, we take a different approach to helping out patients suffering with low back pain and sciatica.  Our natural treatment plan includes chiropractic care to correct the cause of the pain, exercise and stretching, and for those patients that are overweight we have an 11 day body transformation program.  We don’t support gastric bypass surgery as not only is it costly but the risks are substantial and many times lead to malnutrition.  Our weight loss program incorporates optimal nutrition and full body cellullar cleansing to get to the true reason why so many people have a problem losing weight.  Patients are averaging 5 to 15lbs weight loss on our 11 day program and 22 to 28lbs on our 30 day program.

Dr. Russell Brokstein, chiropractor and owner of Hometown Family Wellness center, has been helping patients for 14 years since graduating from Life Chiropractic College.  His unique approach to pain relief, weight loss and optimal health and wellness is getting patients to realize by correcting the cause of their problems, they can once again enjoy their normal daily activities without drugs and surgery.  Call our office to find out how to correct your low back pain and sciatica naturally and check out or website:  www.ChiropractorFreehold.com

References

Atchison J and Vincent H. Obesity and low back pain: relationships and treatment

Pain Management 2012; 2(1): 79-86/(doi: 10.2217/pmt.11.64)

Baumgarten K, Walter C, and Watson E. The Effect of Obesity on Orthopaedic Conditions. South Dakota State Medical Association. http://www.sdsma.org/documents/Carlson.pdf.

Djurasovic M, Bratcher KR, Glassman S, et a. The Effect of Obesity on Clinical Outcomes After Lumbar Fusion. Spine 2008; 33(16): 1789-1792.

Lidar Z, Behrbalk E, Regev GJ, et al. Intervertebral Disc Height Changes after Weight Reduction in Morbid Obese Patients, its Effect on Life Quality, Radicular and Low Back Pain. Spine 2012. doi: 10.1097/BRS.0b013e31825fab16.

Samartzis D, Karppinen J, Chan D, et al. The association of lumbar intervertebral disc degeneration on magnetic resonance imaging with body mass index in overweight and obese adults: A population-based study. Arthritis and Rheumatism 2012; 64(5): 1488-1496.