Research
Mixed
Obesity is a significant risk factor for the development and severity of various chronic pain conditions, including osteoarthritis, low back pain, and headaches, largely mediated by mechanical loading and systemic inflammation.
Being overweight increases your risk of developing chronic pain, especially in the back, knees, and head. This is due to both the physical weight on your joints and inflammation in your body. Losing weight can reduce this risk and severity of pain.
StrongSupportsVERY_HIGH confidence
Obesity is related to greater physical disability and psychological distress in chronic pain patients... Obesity is related to greater physical disability and psychological distress in chronic pain patients.
Why this rating
Extensive epidemiological evidence, longitudinal studies, and mechanistic reviews support this association.
Source
The association between chronic pain and obesity
Akiko Okifuji et al. · Journal of Pain Research · 2015
DOI 10.2147/jpr.s55598
narrative_reviewCited 592×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
Related findings · Mixed
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