Back Pain and Spinal Abnormalities May Present Itself In Young Obese or Overweight Children

Miserably, a number of parents in our culture can't say NO to their children when it comes to eating food or making healthy eating choices. Even more sadly is that being overweight as a young child could lead to early vertabrae degeneration and deterioration according to a new study from Radiological Society of North America (RSNA). In reality, this new study proves that we as parents are setting our children up for back discomfort when all is said and done as they get older.

Close to two hundred (200) young adults and children from age 12 to 20 who said they suffer from back discomfort were studied. Certainly, young adults and children were not permitted to participate in the study who had suffered from conditions or issues that would pre-dispose them to back pain as well as injury from an accident to the back. Evidence supports that that there is a connection between back discomfort and an increased body weight in young adults and children.

Also, the study finds that over 50% of the young adults and children studied had some abnormality in the lower back region or lumbar region of the spine. Miserably, many of those spinal column disc abnormalities happen in the discs on the vertabrae. You may have heard a spinal column disc disorder results when a protruding or ruptured disc, which are the gelatinous cushions in between the bones of the spinal cord put compression on nerves which creates back pain and no doubt shooting pain.

According to the data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 15 percent of children (ages 6 – 11) and 18 percent young adults (ages 12 -19) are obese or overweight in the US. Yes, that’s 33 percent or one in three of OUR young adults and children. In general, young adults and childen north of the 85th percentile are often noted to be overweight or at risk of being so.

Body Mass Index or BMI is a ratio of body weight and height which is a widely utilized as a measurement for obesity. Of course, a lower BMI has a interconnection with being underweight or a healthy body size. Moreover, a higher BMI score has a connection with being overweight.

Conclusively, the results of this study affirms there is a strong connection between increased BMI in yound adults and children with lower back pain more abnormalities of the spinal cord for those with higher BMI.

According to the statistics from the study, this could be a evidence of a lot of health problems given the costs of back pain in the US.

We definitely need to make some changes as parents so our children don’t suffer as adults.