Looking Past Joint Pain

Looking beyond joint pain

Most of us oftentimes dwell on the problem of pain in our bodies. Wherever and whenever we feel a certain degree of discomfort, we tend to concentrate on that particular problem and attempt to deal with it in a focused, microscopic way. 

Today's modern medical intervention for pain is also zone-specific to where the discomfort is felt. When we begin to feel pain on our hips, attention would be geared to developing a pharmacological approach to relieving that particular pain. Anti-inflammatories and other pain medications will then become a part of life when joints begin to "act out."

Arthritis of both small and big joints is usually treated with either of the following: medications to relieve pain, physical therapy to facilitate movement and prevent debility and perhaps, in late-stage conditions, surgery.

This modern day treatment and intervention will only add-up to many other medications that one is already taking for another zone-specific, micro-focused problem. The results maybe a fair management of pain and slowing of the progress of the problem, but it doesn't really deal with the root cause.

Our joints impressively carry the weight of our bodies.  The more weight we gain along the way, the harder we require our joints to work in supporting our structures.

Small weight changes make a big difference because joint forces in the hips and knees increase about 3 times that weight with normal walking. This means that 10 pounds of extra body weight is felt by the knees as an EXTRA 30 pounds!

Linking Joint Pain to Obesity

Although it is true that there are skinny people who get arthritis and there are heavy people with good joints, it is important to consider that the chance of developing joint problems is strongly associated with our body weight. People with a high BMI (Body Mass Index) tend to develop arthritis at a much younger age. An obese person has a 60 percent higher risk of getting arthritis than people who maintain a normal body weight. Research has recently shown that younger individuals are increasingly resorting to knee replacement surgery, which is an intervention initially geared to the elderly population.

One study examined the factors contributing to total knee and hip replacements in people between the ages of 18 and 50. Remarkably, 72 percent of those who underwent joint replacement surgery were obese.

Adding insult to injury

It is important for us to understand that pressure and stress on our joints are not the only factors that contribute to the development of arthritis in obese individuals. We have seen in a previous post that obesity is also connected to chronic inflammation in our body. This chronic inflammatory response leads to the breakdown of tissues in any local area that it is present.

If that be the case, the increased risk of obese individuals getting arthritis is no longer just at 60%, but maybe even more. The internal environment of the body which becomes altered with obesity leads to many disturbances that will eventually be manifested in various health problems, joint  pain included.

Studies have shown that a weight loss of 11 pounds decreases the risk of developing knee arthritis by 50%! Losing weight has been shown to have a dramatic effect on the relief of joint pain. Although it may not reverse the damage that has been done to a joint in your body, losing weight is always a good idea to better our health. 

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Sources:
http://www.webmd.com/pain-management/news/20120130/does-obesity-cause-pain
http://orthopedics.about.com/od/arthritisresearch/p/obesity.html