This week 8-12^th October is BackCare Awareness Week – organised by BackCare – see www.backcare.org.uk. It’s estimated that 4 out of 5 adults – that’s 80%, will experience back pain at some stage in their life, and the costs to the country are enormous:

• The NHS spends more than £1 billion per year on back pain related costs¹

• Nearly 5 million working days were lost as a result of back pain in 2003-4²

• Back pain is the number 2 reason for long term sickness in much of the UK, and in manual labour it’s the number 1 reason³! – this applies of course to the farming industry as much as to any other manual trade.

I see many people in my clinics who suffer from back pain for lots of different reasons – some have an underlying disorder like osteoarthritis, some have sport-related musculoskeletal problems, and some have no specific cause, yet all can suffer from similar symptoms. One thing is for sure as the statistics show, back pain is a hugely costly problem, both for the individual and the country as a whole.

Another certainty is that keeping active and exercising regularly helps reduce your likelihood of suffering from back pain, and can speed your recovery when you do suffer from it. For more information see the BackCare site backcare.org.uk.

For the people I see in my clinics, the outcomes of treatment are varied ranging from a complete recovery from their symptoms, to managing them. With most people I use a combination of regular treatments and specifically designed stretching/strengthening exercises to rebalance the musculoskeletal system and minimise the effects of their back pain. While some people are a little reluctant at first to spend time every day carrying out what appears to be very simple movements and stretches, once they feel for themselves the difference these can make between treatments they don’t need as much persuading!

Next time I’ll talk a bit more about the musculoskeletal system – how amazingly complex and intricate it is, how unique and unusual we all are, and how sometimes it can almost seem to sabotage our efforts to stay fit as we age…

Source: ^{1,2 & 3} BackCare website factsheet ‘Back Facts