What’s a few extra pounds? Over time, just a few pounds can add up to a number of health problems from heart and pulmonary diseases and diabetes to back trouble and joint breakdown. Surplus poundage puts extra stress on organs, like the heart, and on joints in the low back, hips, and knees. Recent studies have revealed that more than half of the adults in the U.S. (62 percent) are overweight or obese. That is a very significant number and an enormous problem (no pun intended).
The human body was not designed to carry around extraneous weight in the form of body fat. Only an additional 20 or 30 pounds can put the musculoskeletal system literally on overload. Weight in the belly, for example, requires that the body compensate (counterbalance the weight) by tilting the pelvis forward. This causes joints in the low back to compress. Joint compression inhibits nerve activity and produces painful inflammation. Most individuals who are overweight suffer from low back pain caused by a pinched sciatic nerve or misalignments of the spinal column that impinge nerves due to weight-bearing stresses. Misaligned vertebra can not only create new arthritic changes in the spine, but can continue to irritate the degenerative changes that have already taken place in the past.
How can chiropractic help? First of all, to be clear, a healthy body weight is requisite in order for the musculoskeletal system to function optimally. That said, in addition, chiropractic treatment relieves nerve restrictions in the spine and helps to get motion back into the joints of the musculoskeletal system, such as in the low back, hips, and knees. A spine in alignment and joints that have healthy mobility make exercise and physical activity a lot easier. Not only will exercise help with weight loss, but it can actually decelerate degenerative changes as a person ages.
It is always a good plan to visit a healthcare professional, like your chiropractor, to discuss diet and exercise. Chiropractors not only help men and women get pain relief from back challenges and joint inflammation due to arthritis, but in addition they offer highly knowledgeable advice on the kind of lifestyle changes that can aid a person in staying healthier and more active through the years. Arthritis and immobility do not have to be a necessary and unavoidable part of aging. The human body was meant to move, to walk, even to dance, without pain, for a lifetime.
So, if extraneous weight has put your system on overload, your chiropractor can help to take some of the load off. Make an appointment today!
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