I know that many people do have specific back issues.  My comment is for those who do not, yet are feeling either sudden back pain or shooting pains as thought a nerve is pinched. (DH described them has having a cattle prod zap you for just a moment.)

My husband had these when he had RNY.  The surgeon was not very good about telling him what issues were severe or expected.  DH went to a chiropractor who basically said "Oh yes, I have many bariatric patients with surprising back pain.  Here's the deal: your body spent years building up all this support structure to just allow you to sit and walk with all that weight in specific places.  Now you have lost weight and the extra support in place is throwing your back out of whack.  He said to consider it like car shocks... if you always have a huge amount of weight in the trunk, then you would probably put extra strong shocks or springs on the rear of the car.  Later, if you take all that weight out, the car tips forward and is out of balance."  Having adjustments along the way after that with his weight loss, certainly helped him completely!

 

Additionally, about the shooting nerve pains... he had the answer for that too.... he said that because of the extra volume DH had been carrying around, as he lost volume, there were extra unneeded blood vessels and nerves that were getting reabsorbed. Just the same way when you gained the weight, more nerves and blood vessels were made.  He said that unless it was the sort of pain that is a symptom of clots in the legs, that to just hang in there on the pains and they would reduce as his body adapted to the new weight.  He was right!

You know, that makes perfect sense. I hadn't heard yet about back pain being an issue, but that sure seems logical that after years of supporting a bunch of weight in certain places the vertebrae and supporting musculature would be unhappy about changes. Thanks for the heads up!

Thanks for your post. I have herniated discs (that I had operated on) and I would have thought that I did something to re-herniate them! 

 

I liek your chiro...

Thanks for the post. I have had shooting pains on and off. Not enough to really be concerned, but it is nice to know what a cause could be.

While I do agree that you don't have to run out for every ache and pain, I will also say that my husband was finally diagnosed with spinal stenosis after dealing with back pain for months post-op because it was written off as a change in his center of gravity.  I had a few pains here and there, but his was consistent and I am glad we pursued care aggressively. 

You have to love Doctors who know their stuff Thank you for sharing this with us