New Delhi, Sep 11 (IANS) A study has suggested that if a person is suffering from chronic body pain, he should start making active efforts to reduce the fat accumulated in his stomach.
Research published in the open-access journal Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine has shown that reducing abdominal fat can relieve chronic musculoskeletal pain. In such cases, women also suffer from pain in many parts of the body.
Musculoskeletal pain affects approximately 1.71 billion people worldwide. This pain occurs in bones, joints, ligaments, tendons or muscles.
Researchers from Tasmania and Monash Universities in Australia said, “Earlier studies have also suggested that obesity is associated with musculoskeletal pain. But it was not revealed that this could also be due to the fat stored in the body.”
“Abdominal fat tissue was associated with chronic musculoskeletal pain, suggesting that excessive fat accumulation may be a cause of chronic musculoskeletal pain,” the team said.
Researchers have suggested reducing belly fat to get relief from this type of pain.
The research analysed data from 32,409 participants, half of whom (51 per cent) were women and had an average age of 55 years
All participants underwent an MRI scan of their abdomen to measure fat deposits in the abdominal organs.
About 638 people were re-evaluated after two years.
In the MRI scans, researchers measured the amount of fat around the abdominal organs and the amount of fat just beneath the skin.
The team found a significant association between the number of chronic pain sites and the amount of fat around the abdominal organs, the amount of fat just beneath the skin, and weight.
The findings showed that women were twice as likely to be affected as men.
The researchers said since this was an observational study, cause and effect cannot be concluded.
–IANS
MKS/AS
