Top tips to help beat back pain

Tuesday, 21 September 2010 08:19

According to back charity Backcare, back pain can affect anyone at any age but is especially common in people aged between 35 and 55.  For many people, back pain can disappear as quickly as it appears and there may be no underlying condition that can be attributed to its cause. But for those suffering with back pain it can be an excruciating and debilitating condition. To help patients manage their back pain and other musculoskeletal (MSK) problems, we’ve set up a physiotherapy telephone advice line.

Physiotherapy helps restore movement and function to as near normal as possible when someone is affected by injury, illness or by developmental or other disability. Our team of experts are on hand six days a week from 8am until 11pm providing assessment, diagnosis and advice as to how to manage problems – they can also refer patients on to other community-based services if needs be.

Elizabeth Sharp, our lead physiotherapist, explains, “Often patients find themselves in pain outside of surgery hours.  By offering a service that they can contact for most of the day and night we are able to provide support at a time that suits. They don’t need to leave the house to access what can sometimes be vital advice.  We are also a resource for GPs who refer patients to us.”

According to Elizabeth, there are some simple steps patients can take to help prevent MSK problems and to manage their pain.  She says: “My top tips are simple. In terms of prevention, patients should always pay attention to their body. Sitting, sleeping and lifting properly is vital if you are to avoid injury.   Staying stress free is also important and ensuring that you take sensible exercise and maintain a healthy weight so as to avoid putting unnecessary strain on the body.”

So remember:

Posture, posture, posture - We should always keep our backs in a neutral spine position, that is to say position your knees and hips at 90 degrees.

Lifting is dangerous for your spine – To lift safely, always maintain the neutral spine position and think about how you are going to approach the lift before taking the action.

Keep fit and active and maintain a healthy weight – Sport and exercise is good so long as you are careful, don’t push yourself too hard and remember to warm up and warm down.  Make sure you consult an expert in your sport to ensure you are exercising correctly and try to vary what you do to avoid overusing certain muscle types.

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