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Stop your back pain from getting worse by reducing sedentary behavior, study suggests
When we feel pain, we tell ourselves to rest. If you experience back pain, it turns out theres such a thing as too much rest.
For those of us who work from home and/or a desk, its hard to avoid spending a large chunk of the day sitting down. We can mitigate the effects of this by working out �even at home! �or opting for a standing workstation. But even spending an hour less in a seated position has health benefits, according to a new study.
Reducing sedentary behavior can stop back pain from getting worse
A recent study published in BMJ, by a group of Finnish researchers, investigated the effects of reducing sedentary behavior (aka time spent sitting down) on back pain.
It found that cutting out one hour of sedentary time per day was enough to make a significant difference in back pain intensity, over 6 months.�
Interestingly, however, it also found that there was no measurable difference between the control group (who didnt change their behavior) and the intervention group (who did) regarding the severity of their disability or other metrics like glucose uptake and how much fat they had in their muscles.
Nor did it actually improve the lot of the intervention group. Pain-related disability increased during the intervention in both groups.
But it did make a difference to how much pain they experienced as a result of their back problems relative to the other group. Their pain stayed the same. The others’ pain got worse.
The researchers concluded that treating back problems by changing how much time patients spend sitting or lying down may be feasible. �
Chronic back pain is startlingly common
According to the UKs National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), nearly two-thirds of the adult population will have low back pain at some point in their lifetime.
Among people aged 45 and over, between 5% and 7% have chronic low back pain. In the UK, the proportion of people with low back pain jumped up by a third in just 10 years in the 1980s and 1990s.
In other words, the situation seems to be worsening.
The WHO adds that, in 2020, low back pain affected more than 600 million people worldwide. That number is projected to jump up to 843 million by 2050. This makes it the most common musculoskeletal condition in the world, and a major cause of work loss and participation restriction and reduced quality of life around the world.
Surprisingly, the age bracket with the highest levels of lower back pain is 50-55, despite the general trend being that people are more likely to experience it in old age.
For it to be classified as chronic, it has to have lasted over 12 weeks. If you suffer from chronic back pain and you havent already, see your doctor.
