Thanks to chiropractic researcher, Dr. Gregory Plaugher, I became aware of a recent review of U.S. government’s decision to decrease the obesity epidemic in America. As a Seattle Chiropractor I do see this issue in Washington State, but notice it so much more whenever I travel to other cities.
According to the Centers of Disease Control and prevention, the adult obesity rate in the 1960’s was 13%. As of 1999 that number rose substantially to 30%, and have no doubt risen since. Unfortunately, the health objectives set forth by the CDC in 2000 have not nearly been met, which were to have the obesity levels down to 15% by 2010.
The most recent numbers show that the incidence of obesity in America has actually risen to 32% of men and 33% or women. This is absolutely unbelievable.
When I first graduated from Life Chiropractic College West, and to this point my main focus has always been chiropractic. As a Seattle chiropractor I have done my best to educate people on health, wellness, and proper nervous system function, but maybe we need to do even MORE. Just maybe we can help clean up this obesity disaster by helping out patients learn more about their health, and get active again.
Once of the biggest obstacles for a patient who is overcoming back pain and is clinically obese is trying to raise their activity level. We end up in a chicken or egg scenario since their back hurts when they exercise, and to help their back they need to lose weight.
So it ends up being a very real but convenient crutch to not make change.
Another scenario is when a person doesn’t want to increase their weight, but is going to have to be somewhat sedentary as they recover from back pain, or injury.
The recommendation that I tend to make is that the downtime they are experiencing due to their discomfort is the perfect opportunity to properly modify their diet.
If an injury takes 2-4 weeks to heal, and a healthy diet with the correct amount of calories with the ideal proportions of protein, fat, and oil is taken seriously, major improvement of their metabolism can happen in a very short period of time.
It is a great start to help curb the obesity epidemic and help our patients realize that the changes they make can start NOW, even with a low back injury, or back pain.
Graeme Gibson
Queen Anne Chiropractic Center
1905 Queen Anne Avenue North
Seattle, WA 98109
(206) 282-8275