Patients with fibromyalgia who are severely obese have more severe symptoms and lower quality of life (QOL), according to a study published in the February issue of Arthritis Care & Research.
Chul-Hyun Kim, M.D., from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., and associates measured body mass index (BMI) to determine its association with symptom severity and QOL in 888 patients in a treatment program for fibromyalgia. Participants completed the Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire (FIQ) and the Short Form 36 (SF-36) health survey.
The researchers found that 28.4 percent of patients were nonobese, 26.8 percent were overweight, 22.2 percent were moderately obese, and 22.6 percent were severely obese. Group differences were significant with respect to the number of tender points (P = 0.003) and the FIQ and SF-36 scores, after adjusting for age. For the group with the greater BMI, there were significantly worse FIQ total scores, and significantly worse scores in the FIQ subscales of physical fitness, work missed, job ability, pain, stiffness, and depression. Significantly poorer SF-36 scores were seen in these groups in physical functioning, pain index, general health perception, role emotional, and physical component summary. The differences were mainly in the severely obese group compared with the other groups.
“In patients with fibromyalgia, severe obesity (BMI ≥35.0 kg/m²) is associated with higher levels of fibromyalgia symptoms and lower levels of QOL,” the authors write.
Are you feeling good about consistently going to your local CrossFit sessions but not so much about the lower back pain you’re feeling afterward? Well, you’re not alone. Plenty of CrossFit participants experience lower back pain, and we’re here to help you understand why and how you can relieve your back.
Reasons you could be experiencing lower back pain after CrossFit include:
You could be lifting weights heavier than your body is ready for. This leads to lumbar strain – stretching or tearing of the muscles used to stabilize your spine.
The urgency to max your rep count and weight during a CrossFit regimen lends itself to posture and form errors which can damage too much of your body, including the stability of your core.
Variety is characteristic of CrossFit workout regimens. But this also means an increased risk of excess nerve pressure and irritation, which can lead to sciatica.
Suppose you’re one to work all day in an office, sitting most of the time, and look forward to that afternoon or evening CrossFit session to stay in shape. In that case, you’re at risk of stiff iliopsoas if you’re not warming your body up beforehand. The iliopsoas is when your hip flexor muscles stiffen, leading to lower back pain.
Another risk factor involved in CrossFit’s rapid and sudden regimens; you may find yourself with a herniated disc. Excess pressure on your spinal discs from high–intensity exercise involving extreme squatting and deadlifts, coupled with improper form, will very well put your spine at risk of disc rupture.
If you’re experiencing consistent or growing back pain as you attend CrossFit, you should give your back time to rest. If it’s only a minor problem, it could grow into a long-term back condition if not given time to relieve itself.
You can take a few measures to protect yourself from long-term back pain and damage without professional medical treatment, especially when participating in CrossFit.
You probably focus more on your abs than your actual core strength. Unfortunately, this makes you more susceptible to back injury. Develop your lower spine muscles over time in your workout regimens, and you’ll strengthen your core and lower back muscles and work out your stomach muscles in many of your core exercises.
Hot or cold compresses both can help alleviate your back pain. Cold brings down the swelling of inflamed or bruised back muscles. Apply an ice pack three times daily to reduce inflammation in your back.
Hot compresses promote blood flow to your problem area. This can slow your healing, so avoid heating your back early on. Take care of any bruising and swelling with cold compresses, then wait a couple of days, and you should be ready to apply heat.
Misappropriated weight due to poor form can significantly damage your spine, especially if lifting heavier than your body should.
Make sure the bar begins close to your shins before lifting. Then, keep your spine straight for most of your life, never hunching the weight on your shoulders. And finally, your arms should never bend at your elbow.
This is a great way to build muscle without strain. You’ll be able to work out all your muscles, including your back, when swimming regularly. This is especially good if you’re in the process of pain recovery.
If you find yourself with back pain that isn’t healing on its own, then you likely have a serious condition that requires diagnosis by your medical professional and potential medical treatment to either fix your back problem or at least alleviate your pain.
Your doctor will diagnose the cause of your back pain by asking questions about your health and medical history and administering a physical examination. Other tests, including X-rays, MRI scans, CT scans, and blood tests, might also be involved.
Physical therapy is an effective way of treating chronic back pain. It is the most common and has the most clinical evidence of success when treating back pain. Although more successful for short-term pain problems, long-term chronic back pain conditions can go a long way.
Researchers have detected abnormalities in the brains of people with fibromyalgia, a complex, chronic condition characterized by muscle pain and fatigue.
“We showed in our study that the functional abnormalities observed were mainly related to disability,” and not to anxiety and depression status, said Dr. Eric Guedj, the study’s lead author and a researcher at Centre Hospitalier-Universitaire de la Timone in France.
While some researchers have suggested that the pain reported by fibromyalgia patients was the result of depression, the new study suggests otherwise. The abnormalities found on brain scans done by the study authors were independent of the women’s anxiety and depression levels, Guedj said.
The French researchers evaluated 20 women diagnosed with fibromyalgia and 10 healthy women without the condition who served as a control group. They asked all the women to respond to questionnaires to determine levels of pain, disability, anxiety and depression.
Then, the researchers performed brain imaging called single photon emission computed tomography, or SPECT.
The imaging showed that women with the syndrome had “brain perfusion” — or blood flow abnormalities — compared to the healthy women. The researchers then found that these abnormalities were directly correlated with the severity of disease symptoms.
An increase in blood flow was found in the brain region known to discriminate pain intensity, the researchers found.
The findings were published in the November issue of The Journal of Nuclear Medicine.
An estimated 10 million Americans are thought to have fibromyalgia, the majority of them women, according to the National Fibromyalgia Association. They report a history of widespread pain in all four quadrants of the body for at least three months, and pain in at least 11 of 18 “tender points.”
Besides pain, fibromyalgia symptoms include fatigue; problems with cognitive functioning, memory and concentration; difficulty sleeping; and stiffness.
The cause of fibromyalgia remains a mystery, according to the association, but it may occur following physical trauma such as an injury, experts say. Treatments focus on relieving symptoms and helping patients function.
In previous research, Guedj and his team had found functional abnormalities in areas of the brain of fibromyalgia patients. The latest study goes a step further, demonstrating that the brain abnormalities are correlated with disease severity, he said.
Dr. Patrick Wood, senior medical adviser for the National Fibromyalgia Association, said the new study provides “further evidence of an objective difference between patients with fibromyalgia and those who don’t have the disorder.” Wood reviewed the study results but was not involved with the research.
Other studies have found a correlation between brain abnormalities and fibromyalgia symptoms, Wood said, adding that the new study adds more evidence and information on how the abnormalities affect patients.
Although it is commonly known for its use in cosmetic procedures, Botox injections also aid in treating muscular pain disorders and conditions, even for long-term relief.
A Botox procedure for pain relief involves injecting a local anesthetic into your problematic muscles, inducing a level of paralysis by blocking acetylcholine. This chemical causes your muscles to contract.
Depending on the muscles causing your pain, Botox may be injected into your face, lower back, or neck to prevent contractions from continuing.
Botox is a painkiller because it relieves pain by relaxing the muscles causing discomfort and blocking pain response chemicals in your brain. It is typically a mixture of saline or local anesthetic and a diluted form of botulinum toxin type A, which is injected directly into your muscle in small, safe amounts. Your muscle tension will likely be relieved after about 5-10 injections around your problematic muscles.
Given that it blocks pain response signals sent by your nerves to your brain, Botox can be injected into problematic nerves to relieve pain caused by conditions such as sciatica.
Botox for pain relief is a safe and effective non-surgical alternative for many pain conditions and disorders. You may experience swelling or bruising around the injection site. In rarer cases, flu-like symptoms such as nausea or headache might occur but typically resolve without further treatment.
Botox is never intended to be a permanent solution for treating pain conditions, but pain relief may last up to 3-6 months, requiring periodic injections for ongoing relief.
Botox injections are used to treat many different muscular and nervous conditions, including:
Lazy eye due to an imbalance in the muscles which position your eye
Eye twitchesdue to contracting and twitching muscles around your eye
Hyperhidrosis causes excessive sweating without you being hot or exerting yourself
Cervical dystonia, where your neck muscles cause your head to turn and twist in uncomfortable positions
Muscle contractures cause your limbs to pull inward to your center (ex: cerebral palsy)
Myofascial pain disorder, resulting in pain caused by the inflammation of your body’s soft tissue – general muscle pain
Sciatica,causing pain along your sciatic nerve from your lower back down to each of your legs
Arthritis, causing swelling and tenderness in a single or multiple joints
How Long Does It Take for Botox to Work for Pain Relief?
You typically feel pain relief from Botox injections within two weeks of your procedure, lasting potentially up to 4 months.
But bear in mind–for long-term pain relief, you’ll likely need continual injections until the cause of your pain is accounted for.
What Should You Expect from a Botox Injection Procedure?
Botox injections are quick and safe, taking about 5 minutes to complete. You’ll be able to return home after the procedure. Still, we advise you to avoid contact with the injection area for 24 hours to prevent the unintended spreading of Botox to other places around your problematic muscles.
Like many other things in life, pain discriminates by gender. Women, studies show, feel pain more intensely than men, suffer disproportionately from conditions like chronic pain and migraines, and are more likely to be undertreated for pain than men.
More than 70 percent of people who report suffering chronic pain are women, according to a 2003 report in the journal Obstetrics and Gynecology Clinics of North America. Compared with men, women are more prone to a wide range of painful conditions, including migraines, irritable bowel syndrome, temporomandibular joint disorder, and fibromyalgia.
Women also appear to feel pain more intensely than men. Lab studies show that if you expose women and men to the same painful situation, such as being exposed to gradually increasing heat, women are usually the first to say ouch. On the plus side, other studies show that women handle pain better than men do. This might be because women have more experience coping with the predictable pains of menstruation and childbirth, and know how to prepare for painful episodes.
Ironically, the half of the population that feels the most pain is also the half that is least likely to get the treatment they need. The National Women’s Health Resource Center reports that women with chronic pain often have trouble convincing doctors of the severity of their pain. As a result, they’re also more likely than men to have their pain undertreated.
Some may be tempted to write off these differences as attributable to cultural influences. After all, there’s no doubt that boys and girls grow up with different outlooks on pain. Girls often feel free to cry over small injuries, while boys feel extra pressure to hold in tears. But the gender gap in pain goes far deeper than culture or upbringing. As recently reported by the American PainSociety, researchers are finding fundamental biological differences in the ways male and female bodies sense and respond to pain. Learning more about these differences can help shed light on the basic nature of pain and may lead to improved treatments for all patients.
Not surprisingly, hormones explain many gender differences in pain. The monthly ebb and flow of female hormones such as estrogen can clearly help fuel migraine headaches, a potentially disabling condition that is three times as common in women as in men. Women are especially vulnerable to migraines during their menstrual periods, when estrogen levels are low. Studies suggest that drops in estrogen can also interfere with the body’s ability to control pain. During menstruation, women produce only meager amounts of endorphins, the body’s natural pain relievers. When estrogen levels are high — near the time of ovulation — women can produce about as many endorphins as men, as reported at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
The brain also plays a role in the gender gap. In a small study of patients with irritable bowel syndrome, researchers at the University of California in Los Angeles have found that men and women use different parts of their brain to respond to pain. Scan results showed that women tend to turn on their limbic system, the emotional center of the brain. Men, in contrast, respond to pain with the cognitive or analytical part of their brain. Researchers speculate that these brain differences may reflect ancient gender roles. In the old days, women in pain often needed to protect and comfort their young, a highly emotional job. Meanwhile, injured men were more likely to attack the source of the trouble — with a spear, if necessary.
Unfortunately for women, an emotional response can make an already painful situation even worse. As reported by the American Pain Society, women are more likely than men to develop anxiety or depression along with their pain. Both anxiety and depression can sharpen feelings of pain while raising the risk of disability.
Of course, the cool, calm approach often taken by men has its drawbacks, too. Men are less likely than women to take their pain seriously, according to the National Institutes of Health. Instead of getting treatment, men often just hope their pain will go away — at least for a while.
A study conducted over 36 months analyzing emergency room visits by more than 32,000 Baltimore men found that there was an increase in male visits immediately following televised sports events. The study, presented in October 2006 at the American College of Emergency Physicians conference, suggests that many men who visited the Baltimore VA Medical Center’s emergency room for various illnesses, including chest pain, abdominal pain, shortness of breath, and headaches chose to ignore their pain until they’d finished watching their football, baseball or basketball game.
As doctors learn more about gender differences in pain, both men and women should get more of the relief they need. There’s certainly room for improvement. Until attitudes change, women may have to be especially aggressive in getting the right treatment for their pain. Men and women may be wired differently, but in the end, relief should be gender-blind.
Our nervous system uses electrical signals to communicate with muscles throughout our body. As electrical currents can be measured in areas like our homes, we can also measure electrical activity in our muscles and nerves.
Electromyography (EMG) and nerve conduction studies measure the electrical signals sent through our nerves and muscles. As you might anticipate, doctors can identify disruptions in these signals that may cause nerve or muscular pain and discomfort.
While an EMG test focuses on the electrical activity in your muscles, a nerve conduction study measures the speed and strength of electrical signals in your nerves. Both tests provide a broad picture of your body’s electrical traffic and whether any disruptors indicate a condition or disorder causing your pain.
Those who need EMG and nerve conduction tests are experiencing symptoms that may include muscle weakness, tingling or numbness, cramps, spasms, twitching, and even muscle paralysis.
Besides some minor pain, cramping, and even a tingling sensation, EMG and nerve conduction studies are minimally invasive. An EMG test will require inserting a needle electrode into your muscle. In contrast, nerve conduction studies simply tape or paste stimulating electrodes to your muscles and send a mild electrical pulse throughout your body.
An EMG detects damage to your nervous system by inserting a thin electrode needle into your muscle while monitoring electrical activity and proceeding with results on an oscilloscope (monitor). You will be asked to contract or relax your muscles throughout the procedure.
If your EMG reading is abnormal, your electrical activity will consist of odd wave shapes and patterns. Your body produces a baseline electrical current throughout, which becomes abnormal during muscle contraction.
Abnormal EMG results are usually signs of nerve dysfunction, muscle injury, and muscle disorders, including:
Considering doctors will need easy access to all your muscles in the test area, you should wear loose, comfortable clothing, especially if you need to switch to a hospital gown.
Since electrodes will also be attached to the surface of your skin for emitting electrical current, keep your skin clean and avoid using lotions, body creams, perfume, or cologne for a couple of days before your test.
Let your healthcare provider know if you have a pacemaker or cardiac defibrillator. There will need to be special accommodations made for your particular procedure.
An EMG test may take 30 to 60 minutes to complete, whereas a nerve conduction test may take 15 minutes to more than an hour, depending on the scope of your test.
Fibromyalgia is a mysterious and misunderstood illness, but researchers may have uncovered at least one key to the disease’s origin: insulin resistance.
The new research compared a small group of people with fibromyalgia to two groups of healthy people and noted that a long-term measure of blood sugar levels was higher in the people with fibromyalgia. Insulin resistance develops when the body starts to struggle with breaking down sugar.
To see if treating those higher blood sugar levels might help, the researchers gave people who had blood sugar levels in the pre-diabetic range or higher a diabetes medication called metformin. People taking metformin reported significantly lower pain scores, according to the study.
“We combined metformin with standard drugs used for fibromyalgia and saw a much greater degree of pain relief,” said study author Dr. Miguel Pappolla. He is a professor of neurology at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston.
In fact, Pappolla said, the additional pain relief was so significant that the researchers actually called patients on different days to re-check their pain scores.
Because this is a preliminary finding, the researchers aren’t sure how insulin resistance might contribute to fibromyalgia or how metformin might reduce pain. “Metformin may have some analgesic [pain-relieving] activity on its own,” Pappolla said.
Fibromyalgia is a condition that causes widespread pain, fatigue, sleep problems and distress, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Even celebrities aren’t spared from this painful condition — Lady Gaga reportedly had to cancel concerts on her tour due to pain from fibromyalgia.
Though the cause of the disorder isn’t clear, it appears that people with fibromyalgia may be more sensitive to pain than other people — what the CDC calls abnormal pain processing.
Pappolla said that studies have shown differences in the brain between people with fibromyalgia and those without, such as areas with a lower blood flow than expected. The researchers noted that similar problems have been seen in people with diabetes.
The study included 23 people with fibromyalgia. The researchers compared their hemoglobin A1c levels to large groups of healthy people from two other studies. Hemoglobin A1c is a simple blood test that measures what someone’s blood sugar levels were during the past two or three months. A level of 5.7% to 6.4% is considered pre-diabetes, according to the American Diabetes Association. A level of 6.5% or higher means a person has diabetes.
Only six of those with fibromyalgia had normal blood sugar levels. Sixteen had levels considered pre-diabetes and one met the criteria for diabetes.
When the researchers compared the average blood sugar levels of the fibromyalgia group to healthy age-matched people in the other studies, they saw that the blood sugar levels were higher in the people with fibromyalgia, suggesting insulin resistance.
The findings were published online recently in the journal PLOS ONE.
Dr. Edward Rubin, an anesthesiologist and pain management specialist at Long Island Jewish Medical Center, said, “It’s interesting that there’s a possible connection between fibromyalgia and blood sugar. We’ve been attacking the symptoms of fibromyalgia, but we don’t have a good understanding of the root cause of fibromyalgia.”
Rubin, who wasn’t involved in the study, said there may be enough evidence here to try metformin along with other medications used for fibromyalgia for people whose blood sugar levels fall outside of the normal range, to see if they have a positive response.
Dr. Bharat Kumar, from the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, said this study shows people with the disease that there is hope.
“People with fibromyalgia are often told [falsely] that they have a disease that simply cannot be managed. This article shows that it’s not true. Although it’s unclear if metformin will work for every person suffering from fibromyalgia, there is active research into finding solutions for this frustrating and overlooked condition,” he said.
Kumar said it’s biologically plausible that insulin could have an effect on pain. “We know that other hormone abnormalities can cause fibromyalgia-like symptoms, so [this finding] is not too surprising,” he added.
Still, he said, he didn’t expect that metformin would be a “silver bullet” for all fibromyalgia pain. He said there are likely a number of causes of the disease.
With incredible advancements in medical technology, you now have more options to relieve back pain than ever before. Minimally invasive spine surgery offers effective treatment that relieves pressure and pain, proving a safer and quicker alternative to open-back surgery.
What is Considered Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery?
Minimally invasive spine surgery targets the spinal column (the backbone) and spinal cord with endoscopic methods using small incisions to provide quick relief for varying back issues.
Unlike traditional open spine surgery, where your surgeon typically makes a 5 to 6-inch incision, minimally invasive spine surgery only requires an incision that’s ½ an inch long.
It also requires less downtime compared to traditional spine surgery; Due to the surgery being less invasive, you’ll be able to get home sooner and have a less painful and much quicker recovery.
Endoscopic spinal surgery is one of the more common names for minimally invasive surgeries for back pain. It is common to use procedures to treat torn or herniated discs in the spinal canal and relieve leg pain and chronic lower back pain.
These procedures can also create minimally invasive variants of otherwise traditional spine surgeries. For example, a lumbar laminectomy involves less post-recovery pain and blood loss than its traditional form.
For those who suffer from spinal stenosis, this treatment offers relief from its consequent pain and pressure. Due to spinal column narrowing, there is increased pressure on the nerves inside. Spinal stenosis decompression releases this built-up pressure by opening the canals where the spinal cord and nerves pass through.
This procedure is also known as vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty. It is common in treating compression fractures caused by osteoporosis and other similar conditions.
A herniated disc causes compression on the nerve roots in the spinal column or on the actual spinal cord. This procedure removes the disc and gets rid of the painful pressure.
A damaged spinal disc causes pain, numbness, and weakness. Rather than just removing it, you can have it replaced with an artificial disc to restore your spinal cord’s strength, movement, and height.
Spinal canal enlargement relieves pain and pressure in the back by enlarging the hole where a disc is “bulging” and causing pain to the nerve root. This procedure may also be used for untreated compression, causing the spinal cord to become thicker, resulting in painful pressure.
Spinal fusion was originally a traditional surgery but now offers a minimally invasive procedure. With two small incisions, the procedure can be accomplished much quicker while taking less time to recover. Its primary focus is treating scoliosis symptoms: spinal deformity and instability.
If you suffer from one or more of these back problems and haven’t found a nonsurgical treatment that’s helped, you might be a candidate for minimally invasive spine surgery.
What are the Advantages of Minimally Invasive Surgery?
Minimally invasive spinal surgery offers a variety of advantages that make it a great option before considering traditional open-back surgery. Tools used in procedures like a tubular retractor gives surgeons access to areas of the spine without needing to make extra incisions in your muscle.
Less long and short-term health risks; due to the procedure making smaller incisions and not causing great ruptures to the muscle tissue, it offers fewer risk factors
How Long Does it Take to Recover from Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery?
Individuals who undergo minimally invasive spine surgery commonly return to regular activities and daily life within six weeks post-operation. Recovery time varies from patient to patient, but the general full recovery is within this six-week range. In comparison, invasive spine surgery can take up to three to four months (12-16 weeks) for a full recovery.
What is the Success Rate of Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery?
Patient feedback, medical studies, and personal testimonies have provided evidence of a high success rate for minimally invasive spine surgery. Below are several pieces reflecting the overall positive response.
A Feedback report from the University of Utah found that approximately 80 to 90 percent of patients experienced less pain and better mobility after minimally invasive spine surgery.
Likewise, a National Library of Medicine study found that minimally invasive lumbar spine surgery is safe and highly effective in the elderly population.
According to the Newport Orthopedic Institute, out of 22 young athletes undergoing minimally invasive fusions for lumbar spondylolisthesis, 82% returned to active participation in football, soccer, cricket, and golf.
A summary of the SPORT study (Spinal Outcomes Research Trial) performed by the North American Spine Society showed that between 85% and 100% of athletes could return to their pre-surgery level in a professional sport after a minimally invasive lumbar discectomy.
A few weeks before Thanksgiving, Ken and Morgan House of Newington, Connecticut, spent a week at one of her favorite places – Disney World. They walked to all the theme parks, went on countless rides and shared healthy meals.
Every day, Morgan would smile broadly at Ken and shoot him an expression that said, “Do you even believe this?”
The last time the Houses were there, Morgan weighed 357 pounds. Ken weighed 280.
While they enjoyed the trip, Morgan couldn’t walk for more than 10 minutes without needing to take a break, her knees hurt and she didn’t fit on some of the rides, including Avatar Flight of Passage, one of her favorites.
That was in January 2020.
In November 2021, Morgan weighed 194 pounds. Ken weighed 225.
“I wasn’t struggling to get in and out of rides,” Morgan said. “I wasn’t struggling to walk. In fact, I was doing 15,000 to 20,000 steps a day without batting an eye.”
One day, she cried with gratitude exiting Flight of Passage.
The tears of joy were as much about conquering her lifelong struggle as they were about enjoying that ride.
“Being overweight prevented me from being my best self, my confident self,” she said. “You internalize how society views you as a fat person.”
In high school, she began what would become years of trying various diets and workout plans. Her weight yo-yoed, always ending higher.
In her 20s, she started getting migraines and was diagnosed with fibromyalgia, a condition marked by pain. Later, she developed sleep apnea and prediabetes.
Doctors recommended bariatric surgery. Morgan saw that as a last resort. She wanted to continue trying to lose the weight on her own.
In her 30s, her struggles continued. Between pain from the fibromyalgia and a lack of activity, “I kind of spiraled,” she said.
“Once my weight got to a certain point, I had depression, anxiety and felt out of control,” she continued. “My life was feeling unmanageable.”
Morgan was in her early 20s when she met Ken. They married five years later.
“She was always beautiful to me, and I’ve always loved her,” Ken said. “But I saw the weight as impacting her quality of life and self-esteem.”
A few years ago, a doctor encouraged Morgan to learn more about gastric bypass surgery. It’s not enough to want the operation; patients must meet certain guidelines to qualify. These include a willingness to make permanent lifestyle changes.
“I thought, ‘This is a tool that can physically help me,’” Morgan said. “It was very scary, and I had a lot of emotions, but it also felt promising.”
Ken, meanwhile, was having his own middle-age wakeup call. He’d long been on medication for high blood pressure.
“I always knew I was too heavy, but it just didn’t bother me,” he said. “Then my physician told me I was a ticking time bomb for stroke and heart attack because of my blood pressure, heart rate and metabolic panel.”
He was also developing sleep apnea. He’d wake up in the middle of the night feeling like he was drowning. He feared leaving behind Morgan and his daughter from a previous relationship.
“I want to be there for both of them,” he said.
Ken vowed to walk 10,000 steps a day. He aimed to limit his daily diet to 2,000 calories.
As he began slimming down, Morgan received the OK for the bariatric surgery. She underwent the procedure in September 2020, then began adjusting to her new life.
“I might think, ‘Oh, I can’t fit between that chair and the wall’ – when, in fact, now I can,” she said. “It’s a weird feeling.”
Another weird feeling: Adjusting to people treating her differently just because there’s less of her. It makes her angry.
“At 357 pounds, I felt invisible,” she said. “Then when you’re the same person but 163 pounds lighter, you’re suddenly visible.”
The knee is the largest joint in the body, where the thighbone (femur), shinbone (tibia), and kneecap (patella) connect. It also includes cartilage, ligaments, menisci, and tendons. When everything is working as it should, the knee joint functions properly – allowing for free movement without pain. However, if any part of the knee joint is not working well, pain, inflammation, and other symptoms can make it difficult to walk and participate in daily activities.
Chronic knee pain is common. It can be the long-term result of an injury, such as when someone falls or receives a blow to the knee. However, it is most often caused by everyday wear and tear, overuse, or by certain medical conditions. Sources of chronic knee pain include:
Patellofemoral syndrome (sometimes called “runner’s knee” or “jumper’s knee”)
Patients who experience knee pain often have other symptoms, such as swelling/stiffness, redness/warmth to the touch, weakness, instability, popping noises when bending, or inability to straighten the knee. If you cannot bear any weight on your knee or are unable to extend/flex your knee, contact your doctor or pain management specialist. Long-term knee pain can lead to permanent damage to the knee and loss of function.
Physical therapy to rehabilitate the knee and prevent future injuries and medication therapy are often the first steps in treating chronic knee pain. If there is no sign of improvement or reduced pain, your pain specialist may recommend other treatment options. Some other effective minimally invasive techniques are injections including corticosteroids (to reduce inflammation) and hyaluronic acid (to help cushion and lubricate the moving parts within the knee). If conservative therapies do not improve a patient’s condition within six months, surgery may become an option. Arthroscopic surgery, partial knee replacement surgery, and total knee replacement surgery are the three most common kinds of surgeries to improve knee pain.
