Sadly, most people will experience back pain at some stage in their life with an estimated 1 in 6 Australian’s, that’s 3.7million people, suffering from back pain each year. Back pain and in particular, lower back pain, affects people of all ages, even young children, and can be debilitating if left untreated.
So, what causes back pain, I hear you asking?
The answer to this is complicated, just like the anatomy of the back itself, made up of intricate bones, nerves, muscles and joints, that are central to the way our body moves. One myth worth busting, is that back pain is a result of bad posture. Mounting evidence suggests that there is no link between bad posture and lower back pain but rather the body reacts to stresses by adapting its position to what feels comfortable and efficient.
In some cases, back pain is the result of a medical condition or disease and this requires medical investigation. In most case though, back pain is caused by minor strains, injury, pinched nerve, or daily triggers like poor lifting, work ergonomics, including constantly sitting in one place. And then sometimes, you just wake up one day with a bad back and the cause is an absolute mystery!
What to do about back pain?
Although you may naturally think to rest, when you’ve ‘put your back out’, this in fact will only worsen the problem, with slow and gentle movements, improving suppleness and flexibility. Exercise can play a huge rule in minimising, managing and preventing back pain for general health, sports and daily life.
Enter, ‘Back Yourself’ a new program brought to you by Northside Allied Health, designed to empower you with the knowledge and physical capability to manage lower back problems, with reduced or better still NO pain. Facilitated by our team of experienced Accredited Exercise Physiologists, the ‘Back Yourself’ program focuses on education of the lower back and delivers the fundamental basic core building blocks of lumbar stability. The program enables lower back pain sufferers to gain control and have a progressive plan to work on their specific lower back situation. If you do have back issues, you can try Back Yourself at our upcoming Open Day, see the timetable on THIS page to find out more.