A large percentage of youth in corporate India suffer from low backache; more than 80% of which can be categorized as Mechanical back pain. No time (inclination) for exercise, long hours of sitting in front of the screen and reliance on fast food makes youth put on weight/ fat. Lifecountz addresses this problem that ails the CEO of tomorrow.

 

Obesity and Backache are inter-related. Backache is a very common problem in overweight/ obese people even if they have nothing wrong with their spine. An overweight person is at a higher risk for developing several back/ spinal disorders. This happens due to the mechanical effect of extra (severe) pressure on the spine due to abdominal obesity (see pic); a bulging abdomen causes spine to turn ‘lordotic’ thus giving pain. Lack of exercise causes muscles to weaken thus making them unable to handle the extra pressure thus caused. The extra pressure on the spine due to obesity also predisposes one to herniated intervertebral disk (slip disk).

In order to compensate for extra weight, the spine becomes tilted forward and/ or stressed unevenly. Because of this back loses its proper support, over a period of time, and an unnatural curvature of the spine develops. In particular obesity aggravates problems in the low back.

Being overweight or obese also significantly contributes to symptoms associated with other co-morbidities e.g. osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, degenerative disc disease, spinal stenosis and spondylolisthesis.

A survey done in United States revealed that likelihood of back pain is proportional to one’s BMI; those with BMI between 30 and 34 suffer 65% more with back pain (as compared to one of normal BMI); with BMI between 35 and 39 this increases to almost 130% of suffering and should BMI cross 40, the incidence of back pain is a whopping 250%!

The above shows that for the overweight (obese), attempts to attain overall weight loss is very important as every kilo added, also adds to strain the muscles and ligaments in the back.

Weight loss coupled with building up muscle mass in the back muscles is the ONLY solution to treat low back pain in such patients. Muscle building helps in two ways:

• Stronger back muscles support the spine better thus preventing the mechanical pain
• Stronger abdominal muscles prevent sagging of belly and reduce the lordotic posture
• When fat is converted to muscle it leads to loss in inches as 1 kilogram of fat occupies five times the space of 1 kilogram of muscle.

There are two important issues to consider. One need not be obese or morbidly obese to get mechanical back pain; even a BMI of 30 with minimal or nil exercise leads to mechanical backache.

Regular effective exercise plan judiciously coupled with diet control is a preventive measure to prevent such back pains and please, popping pain killers NEVER works.

By Dr Asmita Shah, in addition to her MBBS & DNBE in Family Medicine possesses a Diploma in YOGA (Mumbai University), Speciality Certificate in ANC Exercise; she is a Fitness Consultant, Family Planning Counsel and a Member of Association for Advance Research in Obesity AARO). She is in clinical practice for over 30 years