Dr. Ronald Tolchin, Medical Director at Baptist Center for Spine Care, says back pain in overweight patients is relevant, because it deals with what the spine is designed to carry. "When you have an abnormal load, because you have increased weight, it goes forward and it pulls you forward. That strains the back muscles, so…...

Cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart disease and respiratory disease are some of the conditions that obesity can cause. Dr. Jorge Rabaza, Chief of Surgery with South Miami Hospital, explains how most of these conditions are caused or worsened by overweight. Let's take a list of what obesity can cause because it's…...

Most of the time physicians treat obesity with diet and exercise and they obtain good results. But if the patient is morbidly obese, the treatment is different, says Dr. Jorge Rabaza, Chief of Surgery with South Miami Hospital. He explains severely obese patients have a difficult time losing weight. “We’ll put them on a diet,…...

Dr. Manuel Torres, Family Medicine Physician at Baptist Health Primary Care, says one of the most important things is to recognize your adipose tissue as a separate organ. "There is a communication between the brain and the intestinal tract, and how that adipose tissue communicates back-and-forth," he explains. The doctor says obesity has been taken…...

Dr. Ricardo Castrellon, Director of South Miami Hospital's Burn Center, explains the body will tend to have the preservation of the centripetal obesity and fat patterns into the belly and torso, which makes weight loss more difficult. He also says centripetal obesity is associated with higher risk factors of cardiac arrest and diabetes. He points…...

Dr. Anthony Gonzalez, Medical Director of Bariatric Surgery at South Miami Hospital, says he sees a lot of people with overweight and how it impacts their life. “I see a lot of depression, anxiety, panic attacks, social issues, marriages, friendships. All of the patients have to be adults with their social and psychological issues,” he…...

Being overweight plays a role in chronic pain. Brian Betancourt, Exercise Physiologist at Baptist Hospital South Florida, says carrying all the extra weight and putting a little bit more stress on the bones is just going to affect some other things. "When you are overweight and you have obesity, that comes in conjunction with metabolic…...

Family background is a factor of obesity. Dr. Manuel Torres, Family Medicine Physician at Baptist Health Primary Care, says there are micro environment and a macro environment influencing what we weigh and there are mono genetic causes for obesity, but those are not the majority of cases. "In the majority of cases, the obesity is…...