Back Pain Tips
We are passionate about helping to reduce and prevent back pain, so we will be regularly updating this page with new tips.
Back Pain – How to Ensure a Rapid Recovery
When we experience back pain, our first port of call is to seek help from our doctor, physiotherapist of osteopath. A course of treatment and exercise will help to resolve the issue. However, all too often, the pain continues to return. Back pain is multi-causal ad cumulative and the workstation set up can often be a significant contributor if many hours are spent sitting at a computer. If this is not addressed, any treatment’s effectiveness will then be undermined by continued exposure to risk as soon as you return to work. Instead a good ergonomic chair and workstation set up will help to ensure that any tension and pressure on the spine is relieved, facilitating a quick recovery, in conjunction with treatment and exercise. A faster recovery ensures minimum time off work, a quicker return to full productivity and a heightened sense of wellbeing. I personally know how back pain affects every aspect of our lives and can cause significant distress and frustration. Anything that can help relieve it such as specialised office chairs for bad backs, therefore, has a number of physical as well as psychological benefits.
Migraine Tips
Having recently seen clients with extreme migraines, I wanted to include some tips for reducing the number and intensity of migraine occurances.
Bad posture can contribute towards Migraines as well as back pain. Other triggers includes neck or shoulder tension, low blood sugar, irregular meals, dehydration, caffeine, chocolate, cheese, bright lights, flickering screens, jaw clenching, eye strain, stress and anxiety.
It is therefore important to address these factors, Keeping a diary of symptoms can help to identify any particular personal triggers, talk to your Doctor for the latest medication recommendation, check with your dentist that you aren’t exhibiting jaw clenching symptoms and try a mindfulness app to help reduce stress. For postural tips, see
Workstation Set Up Illustration
NICE (The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) also recommend acupuncture as a treatment for migraines and for patients to consider a course of up to 10 sessions of acupuncture over 5-8 weeks for the treatment of chronic tension-type headache. If you would like clinic recommendation, just contact us.
RESEARCH SHOWS THE CORRELATION BETWEEN HAMSTRING TIGHTNESS AND LOW BACK PAIN IN SEATED WORKERS
This includes recommended exercises to ease the tightness and therefore the low back pain.
By Ahmed Radwan, PT, DPT, Ph.D., Thomas A. Crist, Ph.D.
I personally had the opportunity to test this when my lower back and hips were seizing up. Hamstring and hip flexor stretches greatly relieved both the lower back and hip pain.
THE HIDDEN BENEFITS OF SITTING UPRIGHT
A recent study* found that those who sit upright reported higher self-esteem, more arousal, better mood and lower fear when compared to slumped sitters. Sittting upright also increased the rate of speech and reduced self-focus. It concluded therefore that sitting upright can be used as a strategy to help build resilience to stress.
So not only do you reduce your risk of back pain by sitting in a healthy upright posture, you can also increase your ability to deal with stress. Being more alert and in a more positive mood can also greatly increase your wellbeing and productivity levels. Good posture is therefore extremely important for your health in many ways that you may not immediately think of.
*Do Slumped and Upright Postures Affect Stress Responses? A randomized trial. Health psychology 2014. S Nair, M Sagar, J Sollers, III, N Consedine, E Broadbent
NEW HEALTH AND SAFETY STATISTICS FOR 2012/13
The HSE have just published the above statistics. It shows that there has been a 20% rise of people with self-reported cases of Musuloskeletal discorders since 2011/12 with now over 1/2 million (526,00 people with self reported cases in the UK).
Indeed 80% of new work related ill health is due to musculoskeletal disorders and stress, depression and anxiety, resulting in 8.3 million days lost off work for MSD’s alone (an average of 16 days per case).
A very easy way to reduce the risk of developing or exacerbating a musculoskeltal issue is to check your workstation layout, limiting the negative impact on your posture and therefore stress on your body. Contact us for a free guide on how to do this.
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