FEELING GREAT: How to top your job from making your back pain worse

Your job can result in back pain unless you're careful.

Thing is most people go to work every day unaware that what they do and the way they do it is making it very likely that they will suffer from some kind ache or pain. So, let’s point a few out and see if you can avoid them:

Plumbers, bricklayers, joiners and plasterers are all aware of the likelihood of injuries to their wrists, backs or knees. It comes with the territory and is obvious for all to see, as such tradesmen spend hours in awkward positions trying to fix things in your home, or on a building site.

But what about the not so obviously ‘harmful to health’ occupations?

What if your job is in admin and you sit at a desk all day, or maybe you’re a hairdresser or dentist who spends hours stooping over their clients? These jobs come with their dangers too. What if you’re a health care worker, a nurse or a teacher? You might be surprised to learn that such professionals are regular visitors to my physio clinic. And here’s why: most people are aware of the dangers of sitting in the wrong position for too long.

I bet that if you’ve ever worked in a big office, you’ve had countless ‘workstation assessments’ carried out, or you’ve had it pointed out by your health and safety person that you should be sitting upright in your chair with all your body parts at 90 degrees!

But what most people don’t realise is that you’re more likely to suffer problems with your lower back in particular if you spend time standing and then lean forward or bend for a sustained period. And it doesn’t have to be for very long. When a healthcare worker or nurse is leaning over a bed to attend to a sick patient, it’s at that point that they are at the most risk of a lower back injury.

The spine has to work nearly a third harder than in any other position when you lean forward.

And if you’re doing this every day, without being aware of it, back pain is very easily triggered.

So, the moral of the story is this: whatever your profession, or however you make a living, if you’re spending 8-10 hours a day doing the same thing, it pays to make sure you’re aware of the health implications of doing it. More importantly, learn what you can be doing to avoid it (or change it) so that you can remain as active and as healthy as possible in your 50s, 60s and beyond.

For more tips like this, you can download my free report on how to ease low back pain here: www.paulgoughphysio.com/back-pain