HOW TO AVOID BACK PAIN

Wrong sitting posture may by itself produce back pain, {lower back pain, neck pain and mid-back pain} which constitute a back pain. And regardless of the original cause, once back pain or stiffness that has develop into poor sitting posture will further worsen the condition.

People who do most part of their work in the office such as clerks, accountants, directors would easily develop any of the back illness {lower back pain, neck pain, mid-back pain} because many of these categories of people maintain a posture for too long.

If you are an office worker, you may be going through the following stages of gradually increasing back problem. Unless you take proactive steps.

Initially, you may experience back pain only while sitting for a long period or on standing after sitting in a car. The pain is caused by overstretching of the soft tissue in the back and it takes only a few seconds for the disc to recover.

At this stage, the pain exists only for a short time.

At a later stage, you will find that on getting up will be more painful than before and for the disc to recover you must walk at least a short distance.

Now it is likely that some distortion has occurred in one of the disc in the spinal column. Prolonged sitting has led to minor distortion of a disc and the disc needs some minutes to recover.

Eventually you may reach the stage where you frequently experience sharp pain on standing and you are unable to straighten up, even after walking carefully.

If this is the case then there is a major distortion of the affected disc which cannot regain its natural shape quickly enough to allow pain free movement, instead whenever a movement is attempted, the disc bulge increases the strain on the already surrounding tissues which  are already overstretched.

In addition the disc bulge may pinch the sciatic nerve {this is the longest nerve in the body that runs from the waist to the legs} that is, if the problem is in the waist or lower back.

This will eventually cause pain, numbness and tingling sensation in the affected leg. At this stage whatever drug prescribed or taken for the pain would only give one a transient relief.

People whose jobs are always making them maintain a posture for too long should be sensitive to the time when their backs call for attention on account of years of neglect and years of wrong posture.

At the early stage of back problem, cure lies in self-correction and light therapeutic back exercise prescribed by an experienced physiotherapist. If the pain problem gets out of hand, i.e. if it becomes chronic, seek the services of a competent physiotherapist or ask your doctor to refer you to one.

The labor intensive measures carried out by a skilled physiotherapist will abolish the pain, restore mobility and strengthen the already disabled back and the victim will resume productive life.