Does Santa have increased risk of back pain?
As we near the Christmas holiday, I wanted to pose a question, “Does Santa have increased risk of back pain?” Let’s ignore Santa’s age and also that he travels up/down chimneys (which can’t be good for the spine). Instead, let’s look at his physical build and posture.
Santa traditionally has a large belly from eating too many cookies. We see this same posture/physique on a daily basis in our office. Think about a 8 month pregnant woman or a gentleman with a “Budwiser Tumor” — they have a similar weight distribution to Santa. Having more weight in front of the body’s center of gravity increases the forces placed on the low back joints and the muscles that run along the spine. This is part of the reason why pregnant women often have low back pain late in their pregnancy.
When your body gets used to this increased pressure over a long period of time, your posture changes and there is an increased curvature in your low back. We commonly call this sway back or doctors call this an increased lumbar lordosis. This postural change contributes to arthritic formation along the facets, or small joints, of the low back.
Most patients with a large belly probably are not doing as many “core exercises” for their deep abdominal muscles as their fitter colleagues. I’ve never seen Santa at the gym or on his exercise ball. Having decreased strength in the deep muscles of the abdomen increase your risk of injury by creating muscle imbalances that put even more pressure on the joints of the low back.
The evidence doesn’t look too good for Santa. It’s my guess that he is at his chiropractor’s office on a frequency basis and isn’t too good about doing his at-home rehab exercises. Let’s learn from his example and make 2011 a happy and healthy new year!