What You Don't Want for Christmas: Weight Gain and Back Pain

A recent survey shows that Americans are gaining up to 8 pounds during the holidays and paying for it with an aching back.

When you're overweight, you're more likely to injure your back, and it is more difficult to recover--the result can be chronic back pain. Additionally, being overweight can exacerbate or even lead to symptoms of degenerative disc disease, compression fracture, osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, spinal stenosis, and spondylolisthesis.

Montclair, NJ (PRWEB) December 3, 2007 -- In a recent survey conducted by SpineUniverse, 69% of people estimated that they typically gain up to 8 pounds during the holiday season. Another 9% put their weight gain at over 8 pounds. Those extra pounds from sugar cookies and big family dinners don't come off easily, either: it takes 60% of the people surveyed up to 10 months to lose their holiday weight. 11% said that they never lose the weight. A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine agrees: most people can't shake their holiday weight until the next fall--just in time for the Halloween candy.

So year after year, people add on weight during the holidays, and in the long-term, that holiday weight gain can add up--to back pain. Dr. Steven Richeimer, a member of the SpineUniverse Editorial Board and Chief of Pain Medicine at the University of Southern California, Keck School of Medicine, explains, "If you're overweight, your spine may be overworked as it tries to carry that extra weight. This can produce injury and back pain."

He continues, "When you're overweight, you're more likely to injure your back, and it is more difficult to recover--the result can be chronic back pain. Additionally, being overweight can exacerbate or even lead to symptoms of degenerative disc disease, compression fracture, osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, spinal stenosis, and spondylolisthesis."

Thinking about back pain isn't exactly full of holiday cheer. But suffering excruciating back pain is even less cheerful. For some simple steps to follow this holiday season to prevent the typical holiday weight gain, visit http://www.spineuniverse.com/displayarticle.php/article2102.html.

About SpineUniverse
The goal of SpineUniverse is to help patients and their families understand their back or neck problems. In clear, straightforward language, their website--the #1 trafficked back site on the web--explains what causes spinal problems and how they can be treated. SpineUniverse is committed to ensuring that all of the information presented is trustworthy and of the highest quality. To achieve that, SpineUniverse relies on an exceptional Editorial Board, which is a "Who's Who" of the world's leading spine experts.

For more information, please visit http://www.spineuniverse.com.

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