Your diet and weight impacts many aspects of your health – and your spine is no exception. Excess weight, particularly central obesity, shifts the center of gravity of your body, putting undue stress on your spine as it struggles to maintain proper support and alignment. This additional stress doesn’t just raise your risk of chronic back pain, but can result in a wide range of spinal disorders, such as degenerative disc disease, herniated discs, and spinal stenosis. This blog will explore the importance of maintaining a healthy weight and how it impacts spinal health.

The Relationship Between Excess Weight And The Spine

Your spine is your body’s support structure. It has to support your body weight while being able to move. Here’s a statistic you may find surprising: For every pound of weight you gain, you’re adding four extra pounds of pressure to your lower back when walking, multiplying to eight pounds when running. This means excess weight without muscle gain exerts significant stress on your spine and its supporting structures. Excess abdominal weight in particular shifts your body’s center of gravity, forcing your spine to compensate by changing its position. At our clinic, we often see this manifest as an excessive inward curve in the lumbar region known as lumbar lordosis. This is why lower back pain is a common symptom for those who carry significant amounts of excess weight.

There’s more bad news. When excess weight compresses your intervertebral discs over time, it can hasten the degeneration of these discs and accelerate wear and tear, limiting your mobility and leading to nerve compression and chronic pain.

Excess Weight-Related Spinal Conditions 

We’ve just explained how carrying excess weight can strain your spine, increasing your likelihood of developing certain spinal problems. Below are some common spinal conditions correlated to excess weight:

• Lower back pain
• Degenerative disc disease
• Herniated discs
• Osteoarthritis of the spine
• Sciatica

How To Prevent Weight-Related Spinal Conditions

Since excess weight strains your spine, the best way to avoid this is to maintain a healthy weight. Both gradual weight loss and strengthening the muscles supporting your spine can help you increase mobility and reduce your risk of weight-related spinal conditions. Here are some stats to motivate you:

• Every kilogram of weight you lose decreases compressive force on your lumbar vertebrae by 4 kilograms
• Weight loss along with appropriate exercise helps increase spinal range of motion and increase trunk muscle strength
• The 4:1 ratio is why even losing a few pounds can improve lower back pain

Eating a well-balanced diet rich in nutrients and anti-inflammatory foods is great for spinal health. Adding plenty of vegetables, nuts, whole grains, protein, and healthy fats to your diet will help you stay full longer while giving your body the nutrients it needs. Proper hydration is also essential – spinal discs are primarily made of water, and rely on diffusion to absorb water, meaning that you must be properly hydrated for the discs to effectively bind and retain water.

Core-strengthening exercises will activate the “corset” muscles surrounding your spine, which support your spine as you move. Regular exercise and stretching will help with range of motion and enhance spinal function. 

Contact Us Today

If you are experiencing persistent back pain or other spinal conditions, you may need to visit a spine specialist. Call The Spine and Scoliosis Center to schedule an appointment today.