It's that time of year again, with Back Care Awareness week on the horizon (3-7 October). We're bringing you our best back pain prevention advice to keep you pain free and moving better.
Back pain is one of the most common problems we see in clinic, with 60% of adults reporting back pain at some stage in their lifetime, but only 20% of back pain sufferers consult their GP, so what can you do to better prevent the occurrence of back pain and 'bullet proof' your spine.
Whether you're sedentary or active our body's become what we repeatedly do, so establishing balance in your routines is an important step to activating and maintaining functional muscle strength for your daily tasks. Additionally, varying what we do is important for all muscles to be challenged in the different movement patterns we put them through.
Back pain can often come on without an explanation, however by avoiding the lazy/ shortcut approach to tasks you'll notice the incidents of 'unexplainable' back pain reduces. As much as overreaching/ stretching, twisting awkwardly or lifting with incorrect technique can make us feel great as we've saved time, our back's don't express the same level of gratitude.
There is no such thing as 'good' and 'bad' posture but often posture is the cause of an achy back. The reason for this being we spend too long in one posture, as living beings are body's like movement and are not designed to be static for prolonged periods. The best way to combat this is to set alarms during the work day to get up and moving or change up sending an email and walking to have a conversation in the office instead, these are just a few suggestions.
Breathing is a great tool if you feel upper back pain is often the problem, we tend to breathe more shallow and use our accessory breathing muscles. Focused breathing exercises making sure you are actively belly breathing will help shape your spine and reduce the accessory muscle overuse bought about by shallow breathing. Making small changes to your daily life, you'll reduce the impact of back pain arising as a result of your lifestyle.
Want to learn more about how we can help, get in touch with our team on 07733201225, use our contact form, or email info@laurafishlockosteopathy.co.uk.
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