Heavy kids may suffer back pain, spinal disc woes
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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