BACKGROUND: Obesity is the leading public health crisis of the industrialized world. Musculoskeletal disability is closely correlated with obesity by leading to weight gain and preventing exercise-induced weight loss. Increases in HDL and hs-CRP are positively associated with exercise and joint inflammation respectively. We hypothesize that bariatric surgery improves musculoskeletal function and that these improvements correlate with weight loss, increases in HDL cholesterol, and decreases in hs-CRP.METHODS: 70 bariatric patients [(45 Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RNYGB), 17 laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding (LAGB), 8 sleeve gastrectomy (SG)] at an academic medical institution completed the validated Short Musculoskeletal Function Assessment questionnaire (SMFA) pre-operatively and at 3 and 6 months post-operatively. Outcome variables included SMFA total and six sub-domain results, percent excess weight loss (%EWL), HDL cholesterol, and hs-CRP. Pre and post-op values were compared with paired t-tests and Pearson correlations.RESULTS: At 6 months, the %EWL was highest for RNYGB (66), followed by LAGB (41) and SG (36). For all 3 procedures, there were significant improvements in both HDL and hs-CRP. For SMFA, pre-operatively, the SG patients had the worst scores and LAGB had the best scores; however, the only significant differences between RNYGB, LAGB, and SG in any of the SMFA measures were SG patients reported worse arm function and were more bothered by their skeletal muscle function than RNYGB patients. Improvements in total SMFA score from pre-op to 3 and 6 months respectively were 54%/60% for RNYGB, 72%/56% for LAGB, and 46% for SG. All the SMFA improvements were statistically significant but not correlated to weight loss, procedure, HDL, or hs-CRP. CONCLUSIONS: In this study, RNYGB, LAGB, and SG all significantly improved musculoskeletal functioning by every SMFA measure at 3m and 6m post-operatively. These improvements were independent of a patient’s weight loss, procedure, and improvements in HDL and hs-CRP.