Are you at risk of developing back pain? Who is the most vulnerable to develop back pain throughout their life time, are you one of them and what can you do to lower your risk if you are.
To understand this better, we need to understand what the spine likes and what it doesn’t. Firstly, your spine is composed of over 100 joints including the discs that separate each vertebra, facet joints running down the back of the spine, rib joints and your pelvic joints just to name a few. The primary job of a joint in the human body is to move. Therefore when joints stop moving for a prolonged period of time, they actually start to degenerate. This is different from mechanical engineering, where the more a piece of machinery is used, the more wear and tear that occurs. This isn’t necessarily the case with the human body.
Impact of Not Moving Your Joints
This was in fact studied by Gregory D Cramer and his team in 2010, where they took a group of rats and immobilized parts of their spine over a 12 week period. When comparing with a control group, they found that the immobilized joints had significantly more wear and tear compared with the control. This strongly suggests that when joints stop moving, they start to wear out faster. They also noted in their conclusion the role of the Chiropractic adjustment in preventing this issue (more on this later).
Does Your Job Put Your Back At Risk?
Therefore one major group of people who are at more risk are those who have sedentary jobs. Unfortunately this is actually a lot of people. If you work at a desk 9-5 Monday to Friday, no mater how good your posture is (although this will certainly help), you’re just not going to be moving as much as someone who has a more active job. With less movement in your joints, especially if it is in a bad position posturally, will put you at a higher risk of developing back pain. This doesn’t mean however that there’s nothing you can do about this. If you do have a sedentary job, you can absolutely decrease your risk. How? By simply taking regular breaks. My advise to all my patients with desk jobs is to aim to take a break every 20 minutes. This can be as short as 30 seconds and of course you won’t always be able to make 20 minutes possible, but having this interval your aim, will mean regular movement and thus reducing your risk of developing back pain.
What About At The Other End?
Those working desk jobs aren’t the only group at risk of developing back pain. At the other end of the scale, you have the intensely physical types of jobs including construction workers, tree surgeons, and any job that involves a lot of physical activity. This group is at risk for a very different reason to those working desk jobs. They don’t have the issue of a lack of movement, but rather a higher potential of moving badly causing injury or faulty movement patterns. Over time this can increase wear and tear in the joint. This is especially true when lifting heavy loads repetitively. So what can you do if you’re in this group to lower your risk of developing back pain? You need to be extra diligent in making sure you are moving your body in the most efficient way possible. Ensuring you’re moving predominantly from your hips and knees and not putting undue stress on your spine. Attending regular course, getting advise from your Chiropractor or other movement specialist and attending the gym to work on your squats, lunges etc will all be very helpful and advised.
How Can Chiropractic Prevent Back Pain?
Chiropractors specialise in improving the motion of your spine as well as the way the spine moves. This means, whether you’re in the sedentary group or the extremely physical group, Chiropractic can ensure the joints and muscles of your spine stay healthy. If you are in one of these groups and you want to stay pain free, maintenance care is a great way to achieve this. Maintenance care involves regular check ups by your Chiropractor and is offered as a way to keep the spine optimised to help avoid back pain. Prevention is always better than cure and it is always a lot easier to to deal with an issue while it’s small and preferably before the symptoms have even started developing.
In Conclussion
In conclusion, those that are at most risk of back pain are those who are the most sedentary or those who are the most physical. Thus the sweet spot is somewhere in the middle. Having the right balance of movement and exercise without over stressing the spine. If you do happen to be in one of these high risk groups, then there’s lots you can do from taking regular breaks from your desk to ensuring good form if you’re a physical worker. If you would like to go a step further, regular Chiropractic care can reduce your risk even further.
If you are interested in a consultation with myself or just want to ask a question, please do get in touch and I’ll be happy to help.