Your pencil drops on the floor, and when you bend down to pick it up a bolt of pain shoots up your back. You're frozen in a 45-degree angle. How could picking up a pencil prompt such agony? It may seem sudden, but the condition that triggers the pain was most likely building up over time. That's because most of us take our backs for granted until something like this happens. We slouch on the couch, bend at our waists instead of our knees, sleep on our stomachs and engage in all sorts of other bad back behaviour.
Given our habits, it's not surprising that back pain is so common. According to an Environics Research Group poll, 64 per cent of Canadians have experienced back pain in the past 12 months. Close to 70 per cent of those surveyed described their pain as moderate to severe, and women accounted for more than
half of that group. Dr. Claire Bombardier, a professor of medicine, director of rheumatology at the University of Toronto and senior scientist with the Institute for Work & Health, adds that roughly 10 per cent of us suffer from back pain at any given time, and that pain may get worse as we age.
So is it inevitable that we'll end up with back pain? No. In fact, back pain can be prevented. Regular exercise and good posture can go a long way toward ensuring we have strong, healthy backs into our 50s and beyond.
Common pain culprits
Back pain is rarely caused by disease, explains Bombardier. "The majority of cases are brought on by how we move." Other factors include strains and disc injuries as well as pregnancy. Lower-back pain occurs during pregnancy, when the curves of your spine are thrown out of line by the extra weight in front of you. In addition, relaxin, a hormone that loosens up your ligaments so you can give birth, forces the lower-back and pelvic muscles to work even harder to stabilize your back. But the real brunt of the pain starts after your baby is born, due to the weight gained during the pregnancy and the repeated motion of lifting and carrying your little one while trying to do other tasks, such as reaching for items on a shelf, at the same time.
While pregnancy can set the stage for back pain, it certainly doesn't mean you'll be saddled with problems for life. The most common pain culprit, by far, is daily wear-and-tear over time.
Typically, back pain is triggered by the culmination of incorrect movements during our day-to-day activities, such as gardening and housework, says Tia Toner, a physiotherapist at St. Mary's University clinic in Halifax. Standing or sitting for prolonged periods of time (30- to 60-minute stretches) tires out our muscles and results in slouching. Bad lifting habits and awkward body movements, such as twisting your torso while your feet stay planted on the ground, can also cause back pain.
|
more articles
