October 10, 2012 — The Anglo-European College of Chiropractic (AECC) is supporting Backcare Awareness Week (Oct. 8–12) with some general tips that may help to prevent back pain.
It is thought that four out of five people experience back pain at some point in their lives, and the AECC’s state-of-the-art clinic treats many patients with back-related ailments every year.
Neil Osborne, clinic director at the AECC, advised: “There is still a great deal we need to learn about back pain, but there are some definite things that people need to know.
Here are two tips:
- Although there are good chairs and bad chairs, it’s sitting that is a big issue. Make getting up and moving part of sitting down! Be the one in the office that gets up to make everyone else the tea, or move your filing cabinet, phone, and printer away from your desk to encourage more movement.
- As far as you can, don’t focus on the pain and don’t focus on what caused the pain. The chances are that ignoring back pain and trying to “get on with it” is a better approach than letting it dictate what you do. For backs, hurt doesn’t usually equal harm.
“We now know from studies of the brain that the more you give in to it and focus on the causes of the pain, the more likely the brain is going to ‘learn’ the problem and even generate the perception of more pain. I’m lucky enough not to have pain, and I recognize that it’s easy for me to say ‘try to ignore it’, but give it a go!”
If adhering to such advice doesn’t work for you, clinics like the AECC in Bournemouth may help to alleviate persistent back pain in the future.
This year’s Backcare Awareness Week, organized by BackCare (backcare.org.uk), is focusing on the back problems suffered by builders and construction workers, as the building industry has the highest number of back-related injuries.
Source: Anglo-European College of Chiropractic, aecc.ac.uk
