Weight loss for pain relief is becoming quite a promising treatment for several disorders. There are a number of chronic conditions that cause sufferers quite a bit of discomfort. Among those whose pain is focused in their joints, losing excess pounds is proving to make their lives naturally more comfortable.
Joint disorders have become quite common. Most commonly are those involving arthritis. That said, when the condition occurs in a joint that supports much of the bodyweight, being overweight or obese can exacerbate the problem.
A new study published in the Arthritis Care and Research journal showed that when knee osteoarthritis patients who were obese or overweight dropped the pounds, their pain fell, too. The weight loss for pain relief study showed that a 20 percent body weight reduction led to a 25 percent pain reduction.
There is a great deal of logic to the reason behind the researchers’ focus. After all, if you think about how much a joint already causes suffering when it is injured, the situation only worsens if more weight is added. If your knee was causing you discomfort, the last thing you would want is to wear a backpack containing 20 pounds of books.
The concept behind weight loss for pain relief is quite similar. For people who are overweight or obese, they are carrying around an excessive number of pounds. This is placing more strain on the painful joints just as it would if you picked up a heavy bag of soil for your garden and had to carry it with you everywhere you went.
Putting down that backpack or the bag of soil would bring relief. The same can be said about weight loss for pain relief. It helps your body to remove the excess pounds it has been carrying to reduce the strain on joints. The less those painful joints need to carry, the more comfortable they are.
Among the study participants, everyone who used weight loss for pain experienced improvements in their suffering. Their pain was reduced, their mobility increased, their inflammation dropped, and their overall quality of life was measurably better.
The researchers determined that the more weight participants lost, the greater their improvements in all those areas, including quality of life. That said, even small amounts of weight loss – such as 10 percent of body weight – still brought about benefits in pain reduction.