Belly Fat Interferes With Ankylosing Spondylitis Treatment

If you have , youre no stranger to chronic back pain. The inflammatory disease can cause vertebrae to fuse over time. Your back might be super stiff, or you might have a permanently hunched posture.

Disease-modifying medications can improve symptoms and slow the disease process. However, being overweight can reduce the drugs effectiveness. Belly fat in particular has been singled out as a problem for drug absorption.

For a study in Clinical and Investigative Medicine, scientists set out to discover if visceral fat not BMI independently predicted diminished response to the disease-modifying drug infliximab. They found that it did. In fact, they found a significant correlation between visceral fat tissue and disease activity in people with AS who received this treatment.

Where Can I Get More Information

For more information on neurological disorders or research programs funded by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, contact the Institute’s Brain Resources and Information Network at:

Office of Communications and Public LiaisonNational Institute of Neurological Disorders and StrokeNational Institutes of HealthBethesda, MD 20892

NINDS health-related material is provided for information purposes only and does not necessarily represent endorsement by or an official position of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke or any other Federal agency. Advice on the treatment or care of an individual patient should be obtained through consultation with a physician who has examined that patient or is familiar with that patient’s medical history.

All NINDS-prepared information is in the public domain and may be freely copied. Credit to the NINDS or the NIH is appreciated.

Come To Atlas For Spine

If back pain is interfering with your quality of life, we can help. At Atlas Neurosurgery and Spine Center, located in Phoenix and Sun City West, Arizona, our experienced providers can give you the spinal and nerve care you need to feel good and do the activities you enjoy. Make an appointment by calling one of our offices, or request an appointment online.

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Increase In Low Back Pain With Weight Loss

I know this sounds weird whenever I tell people but the more weight I lose, the more my lower back hurts. I have degenerative disc disease and some herniated discs in my lower back and arthritis as well. I also have some herniated discs in my upper back and in my neck. The pain is getting worse throughout my spine as I lose weight, but I notice it the most in my lower back. I have lost 20 pounds since the beginning of June and I have always found that in my own personal experience, the less I weigh, the more my back hurts. I know it doesnt make sense doctors look at me like Im nuts but the pain I feel is very real and it is getting worse.

I feel better otherwise I have more energy, my leg and knee pain has decreased but the back pain is worse. I am hoping that someone will read this and will be able to tell me that they have heard of this happening to someone else they know or something. Any thoughts?

Ways To Lose Weight In A Healthy And Not

Weight-loss efforts have the tendency to quickly morph from an initiative designed to help you feel better into one fueled by self-destructive behaviors like skipping meals and obsessively weighing yourself.

Successful ways to lose weight meaning a person drops pounds and keeps them off while staying healthy have one thing in common: theyre undertaken as a lifestyle shift.

Losing weight requires thinking about food differently, fundamentally changing habits and behaviors to support a slimmer body. Restricting calorie intake until you lose five pounds and then returning to your typical eating methods doesnt work.

But here are five weight-loss strategies that do.

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Pain And Weight Gain Are Closely Related

Pain and weight gain are closely related. Carrying excess weight causes a number of health-related issues. Additional pressure on your joints and difficulties with your heart are just a few of these problems. There are few benefits to increasing your numbers on the scale. Gaining weight slowly may allow your body to adjust to the excess strain but gaining it quickly is a shock to all your bodys systems. Joint Pain Weight-bearing joints, such as ankles, knees and hips, are used to supporting a certain load. If your weight increases quickly, say 20 lbs. over a few months, it will cause the joints quite an increase in stress.

Today, one in nine people has back trouble that compromises everyday living, interrupts steady work and tosses a monkey wrench into satisfying relationships . Furthermore, 80% of adults and a growing number of kids get back pain once in a while. Overweight kids are twice as likely as Slim Jims to have early signs of disc disease putting them on track for serious back problems down the road. So, before you order that mega-muffin and caramel mochaccino with whipped cream and chocolate drizzle, heres whats to know about the body-fat-bad-back connection:

Also, try these steps to soothe a sore back:

Weight Loss For Back Pain Relief

Every extra pound of weight adds strain to the muscles and ligaments of the back. To compensate for extra weight, the spine tends to become tilted and stressed unevenly. Excess stomach weight typically pulls the pelvis forward , leading to aggravated lower back pain.

This article reviews how extra weight leads to back problems, and guidelines for how to use exercise, diet, and weight loss to reduce back pain.

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If You Have Back Pain You May Not Get As Much Pleasure When You Eat

A small study from Yale University School of Medicine asked 18 people with chronic low back pain and 19 healthy volunteers to taste and rate various foods. When eating puddings with varying amounts of fat, back-pain patients did not enjoy the puddings as much as the healthy volunteers, despite giving similar ratings for flavor.

On a second study visit, those with back pain again appeared to derive less pleasure from eating the pudding as did the healthy volunteers. For instance, the healthy volunteers ate more pudding if they gave it high ratings and also felt less hungry after eating it. This wasnt the case with the back-pain patients.

The researchers believe that chronic low back pain may be associated with changes in the brain associated with food and pleasure. Those with pain may not get as much pleasure from eating and they have a harder time recognizing when to stop eating. The combination may predispose them toward overeating and weight gain.

According to the study, published in Pain:

whereas in healthy controls the hedonic ratings of pudding closely matched caloric intake and decreased hunger after ad libitum pudding intake, such effect was totally abolished in CLBP patients. Our data thus reveal a decoupling between hedonic perception and fat calorie intake in CLBP patents, suggesting altered hedonic perception of fat as a potential mechanism linking CLBP to overeating and obesity.

General Characteristics Of Participants According To Low Back Pain

Of the total 8477 participants, 6629 were classed as non-LBP and 1848 as LBP. Among the weight change categories, weight loss was 14.4% in non-LBP and 16.8% in LBP. Weight gain was 13.5% among non-LBP and 17.2% for LBP. The degree of weight change was as follows: in the case of weight loss, a 36 kg decrease was reported for 14.2% of non-LBP and 15.3% of LBP, and 6 kg decrease was 3.4% in non-LBP and 5.0% on LBP. In the case of weight gain, non-LBP was 13.9% and LBP was 16.4% for 36 kg increase, and non-LBP was 2.8% and LBP was 4.3% for 6 kg increase. Age, sex, height, weight, BMI, obesity, duration of sleep, smoking status, alcohol consumption, education level, occupation, household income, physical activity, and comorbidities were significantly different between the two groups .

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Can Back Pain Be Prevented

Recurring back pain resulting from improper body mechanics may be prevented by avoiding movements that jolt or strain the back, maintaining correct posture, and lifting objects properly. Many work-related injuries are caused or aggravated by stressors such as heavy lifting, contact stress , vibration, repetitive motion, and awkward posture.Recommendations for keeping ones back healthy

When To Seek Treatment From A Doctor

Back pain, by itself, usually is not a reason to call your doctor. But you should call your doctor right away if you experience any of the following:

• Increasingly severe pain or pain that begins abruptly
• Rhythmic cramping pains

• Difficulty urinating or âpins and needlesâ in your extremities

In rare cases, severe back pain may be related to problems such as pregnancy-associated osteoporosis, vertebral osteoarthritis, or . Rhythmic pains may be a sign of preterm labor. So if you are experiencing any of these problems, it’s important to be checked by your doctor.

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Unexplained Weight Gain And Fatigue: Underlying Conditions

• Congestive Heart Failure

Weight gain and fatigue are common issues that many people experience. These symptoms are often natural consequences of dealing with everyday stressors and a lack of sleep. But unexplained weight gain and fatigue can sometimes be symptoms of an underlying condition.

However, since many diseases could produce these symptoms, it may be difficult to pinpoint the exact cause. If you are eating a healthy diet and sleeping well but experiencing weight gain and fatigue, talk to a healthcare provider to find out what may be happening.

This article explores some common causes of weight gain and fatigue.

Verywell / Laura Porter

Can Weight Gain Cause Low Back Pain

Being overweight has become an epidemic in North America where, according to CNN, an estimated one-third of the population is obese and two-thirds of the general population is overweight. These two groups of people both suffer from the health effects that come with the condition regardless of their gender, race, financial status or even age. Research by the National Center for Biotechnology Information on this topic has linked excess weight- especially belly weight- to spinal and lower back pains.

Back pain can wreak havoc on your daily life by affecting your normal sleep pattern, your posture, walking style, and even the capacity to do any form of labor. Its a condition that affects many people and can be caused by a variety of different factors such as bad lifting, wrong sitting or sleeping postures, pregnancy, or being overweight. Any action, habit, or lifestyle that can strain your spine and back muscles can contribute to back pain.

Someone who is overweight tends to be fairly inactive, therefore might sit more, do less exercise, have less muscle tone. It is likely to be the lifestyle someone who is overweight adopts that contributes to their back pain not the actual weight itself, says physiotherapist Lyndsay Hirst, creator of Your Pilates Physio, an online Clinical Pilates resource and studio.

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I Am Overweight And My Back Hurts

If the back pain youre experiencing is persistent and debilitating, visiting a doctor is your best option. Initially, you may just want to visit with your family’s general practitioner. However, you may have to eventually visit with a more specialized surgeon depending on the severity of your condition and whether or not it has to do with your spine. Occasionally, back pain is a symptom of a much more serious condition that you would want a doctor to diagnose. Many of the above conditions make take a doctor’s diagnosis before you really know what is going on.

What Do We Mean By Weight Gain

Weight gain simply means that we have put on some weight more than what is expected for our height. But there are 3 main reasons for this:

1) Increase in the bulk of our muscles:

This is a good thing.

As we exercise, our muscle bulk increases in size. This increase in muscle bulk increases our body weight naturally. It is a very healthy way to gain weight.

2) Amount of fat in various parts of our body:

As age advances and due to lack of exercise, our muscle bulk shrinks. The space around our muslces are filled with fat. This is not healthy.

3) Excess fluid causing water retention:

Medical conditions like heart failure, liver failure and kidney failure cause fluids to stay inside our body. Fluid is heavy as compared to fat and muscle.

Not a healthy way to gain weight.

Do you know just a pound of flesh has a lot of energy about 3,500 calories. So to lose a pound of weight, we must reduce 3,500 Calories of energy coming from our food!

What do we do?

Its simple. We can reduce our food intake just by 500 calories a day! This iver 7 days will make up to 3,500 calories.

First, we must identify the type of food that contains 500 calories. Here are a few examples:

1) Big Mac

2) 4 slices of Bacon

3) Frappuccino with cream

4) Subway 6 Ham sandwich

5) Full cheese Burger

6) 2 Snickers

So, you can easily put on weight by adding one of this to your diet everyday. In a course of a week, you will add up to 3,500 calories this is a pound in weight gain.

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C Extra Weight Can Stretch Up The Body Muscles And Tendons

This in turn, can put an extra strain on that muscle that leads to a backache.

In a study published in the Journal Arthritis & Rheumatism, it has been mentioned that overweight adults are more likely to have degenerative discs in their lower backs.

Note: BMI is the Body Mass Index that quantifies the muscle, fat and bone mass of an individual. It takes into account the height and weight of a person and a result is a number that determines the weight category.

How Is Back Pain Treated

Acute back pain usually gets better on its own. Acute back pain is usually treated with:

• Medications designed to relieve pain and/or inflammation
• analgesics such as acetaminophen and aspirin
• non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs such as ibuprofen and naproxen may be sold over the counter some NSAIDS are prescribed by a physician
• muscle relaxants are prescription drugs that are used on a short-term basis to relax tight muscles
• topical pain relief such as creams, gels, patches, or sprays applied to the skin stimulate the nerves in the skin to provide feelings of warmth or cold in order to dull the sensation of pain. Common topical medications include capsaicin and lidocaine.

Exercising, bed rest, and surgery are typically not recommended for acute back pain.Chronic back pain is most often treated with a stepped care approach, moving from simple low-cost treatments to more aggressive approaches. Specific treatments may depend on the identified cause of the back pain.

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How Is Low Back Pain Diagnosed

A complete medical history and physical exam can usually identify any serious conditions that may be causing the pain. Neurologic tests can help determine the cause of pain and appropriate treatment. Imaging tests are not needed in most cases but may be ordered to rule out specific causes of pain, including tumors and spinal stenosis. Occasionally the cause of chronic lower back pain is difficult to determine even after a thorough examination.

Tests include:

Blood tests are not routinely used to diagnose the cause of back pain but might be ordered to look for signs of inflammation, infection, cancer, and/or arthritis.

Bone scans can detect and monitor an infection, fracture, or bone disorder. A small amount of radioactive material is injected into the bloodstream and collects in the bones, particularly in areas with some abnormality. Scanner-generated images can identify specific areas of irregular bone metabolism or abnormal blood flow, as well as to measure levels of joint disease.

Discography involves injecting a contrast dye into a spinal disc thought to be causing low back pain. The fluids pressure in the disc will reproduce the persons symptoms if the disc is the cause. The dye helps to show the damaged areas on CT scans taken following the injection.

Electrodiagnostics can identify problems related to the nerves in the back and legs. The procedures include:

How Does Being Overweight Affect Your Lower Back And Spine

In general, people who are overweight are at a much greater risk to suffer from back and spine pain, or any muscle or joint issues. In fact, there is a pretty direct link between obesity and spine issues. Essentially, the excess weight that is carried by an obese person puts additional strain and pressure on the spine. Thus, increasing potential injury to the spine and back. There are a variety of different conditions that may occur in the back region because of obesity that will be discussed in detail below.

People who suffer from obesity have an increased risk for problems specifically in the lumbar region . Because there is excess weight in the midsection, the pelvis is pulled forward, straining the lower back and creating lots of pain and medical issues.

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More Advanced Care Options

Surgery When other therapies fail, surgery may be considered to relieve pain caused by worsening nerve damage, serious musculoskeletal injuries, or nerve compression. Specific surgeries are selected for specific conditions/indications. However, surgery is not always successful. It may be months following surgery before the person is fully healed and there may be permanent loss of flexibility. Surgical options include:

Implanted nerve stimulators

• Spinal cord stimulation uses low-voltage electrical impulses from a small implanted device that is connected to a wire that runs along the spinal cord. The impulses are designed to block pain signals that are normally sent to the brain.
• Dorsal root ganglion stimulation also involves electrical signals sent along a wire connected to a small device that is implanted into the lower back. It specifically targets the nerve fibers that transmit pain signals. The impulses are designed to replace pain signals with a less painful numbing or tingling sensation.
• Peripheral nerve stimulation also uses a small implanted device and an electrode to generate and send electrical pulses that create a tingling sensation to provide pain relief.