Who hasn’t had back pain at some point in their life. It’s the biggest cause of disability in the UK especially low back pain and it is also a major cause of work absenteeism with over 5 million work days lost each year.

Causes Of Back Pain

There are too many to mention but here are a few:

• Sedentary lifestyle – increasing numbers of people are sitting behind a desk most days for long periods of time and then going home (sitting in a car, train or bus) and then sit on the sofa watching TV.  It is very easy to spend a large part of life not moving.
• Fear avoidance and lack of understanding of back pain – research shows that there are many negative beliefs on a range of issues around back pain, for example, whether or not to be active or inactive when you get back pain. A lot of patients fear that they will have a permanently weak back after an episode of back pain and therefore avoid doing something about it or don’t try to rehabilitate or strengthen their back as they should.
• NHS and public service support for back pain is poor – Back pain is poorly understood by many health professionals and therefore not treated effectively early on. Thus, rehabilitation of patients with back pain is often inadequate and variable within the NHS so patients often present with simple issues that have been around too long and then need more care and attention from their osteopath.

What can you do about it?

Although there is no perfect solution to prevent back pain, there are plenty of things you can do yourself to reduce the likelihood of you developing it and helping you to deal with it if it does arise. All the osteopaths at The Wimbledon Osteopath pride ourselves on giving you the best bespoke advice and care alongside top notch manual therapy.

Keep moving regularly and daily
Create good habits around movement by moving regularly throughout the day as often as possible.  You should at least get up and move for 5 minutes every hour if you are in pain and every 30 minutes if you are not. You want to be promoting blood flow to the area and keep your joints mobilised and this is the best way to do this.

Do plenty of varied exercise that you enjoy each week
Swimming is a fantastic example of good exercise as the buoyancy of the water supports your back (backstroke or front crawl are best) and yoga is also great for keeping you supple by taking your body into different ranges of movement other than just forwards and backwards which is what we do the majority of the time. Side-bending or rotating the body are essential movements for a happy spine.

Yoga breathing techniques also help activate the part of your nervous system which reduces pain levels and improves sleep and digestion (the parasympathetic nervous system).  The government recommends up to 150 minutes of moderate activity (where your heart rate has risen but you can still talk) per week. One way to do this is to do 30 minutes of activity 5 days a week.

Sleep  
Not getting enough sleep can really affect your brain’s ability to cope with pain so it is important that you get enough of it and that, if you are uncomfortable or in pain as you try to sleep, that you look at the position you are sleeping in.  The optimum sleeping position is on your back followed by either side and lastly, by a long way, is sleeping on your front, though is not recommended as we get older. Put a pillow under your knees if sleeping on your back or between your knees if on your side and under your lower stomach if you are finding it hard to break the habit of sleeping on your front.

What’s your workstation like?
With work taking up a large part of the day and often based on a laptop or computer, it is very important to ensure that your workstation is set up properly if you are to avoid back pain or prevent it getting worse. We encourage you to review your home and work desk system, monitor and chair position. Come into the clinic for a consultation and we will provide you with helpful ergonomic tips.

If using a laptop, we would recommend that you use a concertina style stand which brings the top of the laptop screen up to eyebrow level and that you use a separate mouse and keyboard. A standing desk is a great thing if you can afford it.

Osteopathy can help relieve your back pain through techniques such as soft tissue massage, joint articulation, stretching and manipulation.  We also give exercises and advice on what to do after the treatment to continue the path towards recovery, rehabilitate your body and maintain optimum back health in the future.

Contact us at The Wimbledon Osteopath for more information or make an appointment. We’re here to help!

info@thewimbledonosteopath.com or 0208 542 8596.