• Posted January 7, 2026

Excess Weight Increases Risk Of Low Back Pain, Researchers Find

WEDNESDAY, Jan. 7, 2026 (HealthDay News) — Did holiday treats add a few extra pounds to your frame?

If so, your risk for low back pain might have increased, as well, a new study says.

A person’s risk of back pain increases as their weight goes up, researchers recently reported in the journal Pain Medicine.

For every 10 pounds a person gains above ideal weight, their risk of low back pain rises by 7%, researchers found.

“The current study suggests weight control and maintaining a lower BMI in the healthy range, can be beneficial for low back pain symptoms as well,” lead researcher Dr. Michael Perloff, director of pain medicine at Boston Medical Center, said in a news release. (Body Mass Index, or BMI, is an estimate of body fat based on height and weight.)

Low back pain is a common complaint among patients, and addressing risk factors like smoking or lack of physical activity has been shown to help, Perloff said.

For the study, researchers analyzed medical records of more than 110,000 adults treated at Boston Medical Center clinics between June 2021 and May 2022.

Among those folks, 12% had been diagnosed with low back pain, researchers said.

Results showed that the number of people with low back pain increased as their weight rose from healthy to obese, based on their BMI.

From a low-healthy BMI of 18 to an obese BMI of 35, the prevalence of low back pain increased by 7% for every additional point of BMI, researchers said. Every added point of BMI is around 10 pounds.

This risk levels out at a BMI of 35, or roughly 240 pounds, researchers said. After that level of excess weight, low back pain does not continue to increase with further weight gain.

“Our study strongly suggests that maintaining a healthy weight or BMI is likely helpful at avoiding low back pain,” Perloff said.

More information

Johns Hopkins Medicine has more on common causes of low back pain.

SOURCES: Boston University School of Medicine, news release, Jan. 5, 2026; Pain Medicine, Dec. 19, 2025