Wednesday 25 July 2012

New research on back pain

Below is an extract from the daily mail looking at research which demonstrates the prevalence of back pain in young adults. Painful: One in three young adults suffer from backache, researchers have found Young adults are paying the price for spending hours slumped in front of the television as one in three suffer from back pain, research has suggested. Research company Mintel found that the proportion of 16 to 24-year-olds suffering from pain was similar to that of pensioners. The study found that 34 per cent of 16 to 24-year-olds suffer from back ache compared with 38 per cent of over-65s. Two fifths of Britons across all age groups suffer from back pain, the research found. Michelle Strutton, from Mintel, said: 'The high incidence of back pain in Britain’s youngsters is pretty alarming. 'Too much time sitting, weakens muscle tone and this can lead to back pain. 'Many of Britain’s youngsters lead a sedentary lifestyle and lack of sport may well be contributing to back pain as well as poor posture. 'Britain’s youth are spending hours at a time slumped in front of TV and computer screens, which is doing nothing to strengthen their backs. Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2178560/How-young-couch-potatoes-giving-bad-backs-hours-box.html#ixzz21dl8BvPa I see many people from back pain in my clinic and I agree with some of the points above. Many clients now are office based spending many hours I front of the computer often in poor positions resulting in altered biomechanics which in turn leads to back pain. The key is a combination of patient education, encouraging exercise, manual theraphy and possibly acupuncture. So switch off your computer and do something more interesting instead.

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