The pain of obesity.

In the Star Online today, I read of a Malay lady in Bukit Mertajam who, at the age of 35 years, is already unable to move out of her house. She was crippled by a body too heavy to be carried by her equally bulky legs.

At that age, whe was already 170 kg, a weight that gave her so much inconvenience. Even to get around in her house, she had to drag her body with her hands.

Apparently, at the age of thirty years, she was already 110 kilogram, Due to her weight, she suffered from muscular pain in her knees.

To find relief for her pain, she took traditional Indonesian medicine and her weight shot up to her present weight. In two weeks the pain did disappear but when she discontinued the medicine, the pain returned and presented her with the new problem of a swelling below the knee of her left leg.

Obesity can bring a lot of pain and joint problems to a person. I know of a retired lady teacher who was a colleague of mine who had this problem too. She was almost as heavy as the lady from Bukit Mertajam. She suffered from pain in her legs and eventually, one of her ankle joints slipped sideways and, as far as I know, is now warded in a hospital.

Another sixty-three year old lady who could not control her weight was constantly having body aches, back pain as well as pain in the legs.Her weight was just too much for her skeletal frame and it caused havoc on her vertebrae column or spinal cord as well as her knee joints.

All the above mentioned pains are common among very fat people. This situation is always aggravated with age which brings along muscle weakness and oesteoporosis.

This means young people can afford to be obese if they are able to reduce their weight as they grow older. This is because strong muscles of our body help to hold up the extra weight and reduces the burden on the skeletal frame. However, with age and a sedentary lifestyle, muscles weaken and degenerate into fat and the load, without the assistance of those strong muscles, fall heavily onto the skeletal frame, gradually compressing the joints and wearing out the protective cartilage and disc at the joints. When this happens in the spinal column, the bulging disc narrows the gap between two vertebrae and with nerves being pinched by any of the two vertebrae in the spinal column coming together, there can be pain.

Therefore, as we grow older, we should throw out any extra weight. The lighter we are, the less burden we place on our body. It is not just the weight. Our organs would not have to overwork so often if we can control out food intake, consuming only enough nutrients essential for the fitness, strength and health of our body. And if we wish to eat a little bit more, well, there is always the pleasurable brisk walk with friends in the morning each day to rid the body of excess calories.

Of course, to enjoy life, do not be too obsessed with anything we plan. Just have a healthy lifestyle.