Heavy kids may suffer back pain, spinal disc woes
December 2nd, 2009 | 
Author: CHICAGO (Reuters Health) – Add severe back pain and spine abnormalities to the list of problems overweight and obese adolescents can develop.
Among a group of young people who came to an emergency department for severe back pain, researchers found that many had abnormalities in the lower spine. Most of those abnormalities occurred within the discs, which are sponge-like cushions in between the bones of the spine.
Spinal disc abnormalities were more common in children who were overweight or obese.
“Back pain and degenerative disc disease are yet another problem associated with obesity in children, along with type 2 diabetes,” Dr. Judah G. Burns, of The Children’s Hospital at Montefiore in New York City reported here at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA 2009).
“Disc herniation and spinal disease are generally thought of as a problem of older people, but we’re seeing it in obese youngsters, too. This is the first study to show an association between increased body mass index and disc abnormalities in children,” Burns noted. (Read more…)
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There’s no doubt that obesity is contributing to these problems.
In fact, it seems a vicious circle around a sedentary lifestyle – kids are spending less time exercising, more time sitting and using computers, the weight makes the extra computer use more likely to cause back pain, which makes them feel even less inclined to exercise.
A recent survey found that 45% of UK 11-18 year olds suffer back pain each year. That rose from 29% in an identical survey in 2002. What’s changed in the meantime? An increase in computer use and obesity – in particular, the rise of social networking has meant even cool kids spend hours at their computers.
The solution – more exercise, obviously, but also to improve your kids’ posture at the computer, and make sure they get up from time to time and move around. If you want help encouraging them on this front, take the 30 day free trial of PostureMinder – award-winning software developed to treat and prevent back pain, RSI and other computer-related health problems.