As Lunar New Year approaches, you will bump into an abundance of yummy foods at relatives’ and friends’ houses, such as nian gao, turnip cake, sweets, delicious crispy pastry dumplings, sesame cookie balls, etc. There are also a reunion dinner and “hoi nin” lunch (the meal served on the second day of the Lunar New Year)– these certainly make your mouth water! Yet, after letting your appetite loose, you should control your calorie intake to prevent the constant rise of body weight, which can lead to central obesity! Central obesity can cause spine problems, which makes it more worrying than general obesity.

Warnings of spine health

Central obesity develops when the waist circumference reaches 36 or above for men and 32 or above for women, or the waist-hip ratio reaches over 0.9 and 0.85 for men and women respectively. This condition not only affects the appearance but also exerts a great burden on the body and joints. People with central obesity generally lack exercising their joints, muscles and tendons. Insufficient exercise coupled with excessive body weight will accelerate the wear and tear of knee cartilage, increasing the risk of knee arthritis. Patients will suffer from stiff knee joints, or pain when going up/down stairs, squatting, standing for a long time and walking. If you hear cracking sounds or often feel soreness and weakness in your knees, these are signs of wear and tear in the knee joints. This can trigger prolonged pain and swelling and even affect your sleep quality.

Excessive body weight exerts a huge burden on the feet, which makes central obese people a high-risk group for plantar fasciitis. Patients will only experience sore and painful heels at first, but the pressure accumulated over time will aggravate the condition. When you start walking in the morning, the first step will trigger excruciating pain that feels like being pierced by thousands of needles. Although walking a few steps may alleviate the pain, walking, standing or running for a long time will trigger the pain again. As patients change their gait to avoid stimulating pain in the heels when walking, the improper use of force can lead to joint problems including the hip, knees and ankles, as well as lower back pain and even spinal subluxation.

Pay attention to your health for effective prevention

If you identify spinal subluxation, you should seek help from professionals as soon as possible. Chiropractors will perform spinal manipulation to return the misaligned vertebra to the proper position to improve the condition. If central obesity patients suffer from foot pain, knee pain and other problems, they are advised to receive foot therapies as soon as possible. They should also wear trainers with arch support such as air-cushioned shoes to ease the burden on the foot arch.

In fact, the obesity problem has always come under the spotlight. Yet, being slim does not necessarily mean being healthy. Our body is made up of different components such as water, fat, muscles, etc. Different fat percentages lead to fat or slim appearances. So, even if one looks slender, he/she can have “invisible obesity” with a low muscle percentage but a high fat percentage. Invisible obesity can cause many health problems such as a high risk of osteoporosis, a weakened immune system, and even birth defects in the patients’ babies. Whether you are slim or chubby, you should always pay attention to your health. Do not let your appetite run wild in front of appetising food, and do more exercises to protect your health in the new year!