Some say weight doesn’t determine health. But what if someone’s so heavy they waddle?
Is waddling an indicator of something being wrong?
Waddling can also be caused by a musculoskeletal issue in a person of normal weight, such as from a birth defect, sports injury or vehicular accident.
But what about waddling from morbid obesity, specifically?
One of the most common associations with a waddling gait is obesity.
Research has shown that obesity increases the strain on the musculoskeletal system, particularly the lower limbs and the spine.
Research aside, this is obvious from a logical standpoint.
As a person’s body weight increases from obesity, their skeletal frame remains the same size, and it doesn’t increase in sturdiness to support steady weight gain from overconsuming food.
Thus, the skeleton becomes more and more strained as obesity persists and especially if it gets worse.
This is why when someone gets heavy enough, they become bedbound. It’s simple physics.
A scene from “My 600 Pound Life”
A simple example is that of a basic four-legged chair.
If enough weight were piled onto it, the legs would buckle and collapse.
Though this isn’t a true apples-to-apples analogy, it’s close enough to make the point clearer, that substantial heaviness places considerable burden on human joints. We’re not built like dachshunds.
This additional weight can lead to a misalignment of the pelvis and hips, often resulting in a waddling gait.
A study published in Obesity Reviews explains that excessive body weight can cause alterations in walking patterns, leading to an uneven gait due to the increased load on joints and the risk of osteoarthritis (Visser et al., 2018).
Additionally, overweight individuals may have weakened core muscles, which are essential for maintaining balance during walking, further contributing to a waddling walk.
With these facts in mind, we can easily see how waddling that’s caused by obesity is a marker for something very bad going on with the body – even if that person’s blood work is normal (for the time being).
Health Implications of Waddling in Obesity
The waddling in and of itself is not an immediate health threat in a morbidly obese person.
Rather, it’s a visible manifestation of what all that unnatural heaviness can do to the bones and joints.
Waddling even occurs in severely overweight kids. This means their obesity is harming their musculoskeletal frame and joints.
People who waddle due to fatness have an increased risk of developing cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes and joint problems such as arthritis, as discussed in the Journal of the American Medical Association (Mokdad et al., 2001).
Preventing and Treating Waddling from Obesity
Weight loss through a combination of dietary changes and exercise will reduce the waddle and, with enough excess fat lost, eliminate it – unless permanent musculoskeletal damage had already been in place.
However, even if permanent damage is already present, this doesn’t mean that weight loss won’t dramatically improve the situation. Weight loss should still be pursued.
A study published in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology suggests that even moderate weight loss can significantly reduce the load on the joints, thereby improving gait and reducing pain associated with osteoarthritis (Hochberg et al., 2012).
What’s the bottom line?
The statement, “If you waddle you’re not healthy,” carries a lot of weight (no pun intended).
If your overweightness causes you to waddle, this should not be acceptable.
Your medical team can give you tests to rule out causes, if any, that are not at all related to carrying all the extra pounds.
But even if something turns up, such as Parkinson’s disease (Horak et al., 2009), this doesn’t mean that your abnormal gait can’t also be influenced by excessive weight.
It also doesn’t mean that your weight won’t cause musculoskeletal issues in the future.
So even if your physician says you have a condition — unrelated to your obesity — that’s causing you to waddle, you should still put in a relentless effort to get your weight down.
One last point: If you’re obese but, according to your doctor’s observation you don’t waddle, this doesn’t mean you should stay fat.
Lorra Garrick is a former personal trainer certified by the American Council on Exercise. At Bally Total Fitness, where she was also a group fitness instructor, she trained clients of all ages and abilities for fat loss and maintaining it, muscle and strength building, fitness, and improved cardiovascular and overall health.
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