Back Pain from Office Work?
Is your spine taking a beating for your pay cheque?
London has seen a surge in back pain among white collar workers.
Aptly coined as Corporate Back Pain, it is fast becoming an economic burden for London businesses.
Do you have a question about back pain, a herniated disc or sciatica pain?
If you do contact Jazz Alessi now by clicking on this link HERE.
A medium sized company in London reported an average weekly loss of £4800 due to employee ill health.
Corporate back pain emerged as the main reason for sickness absenteeism in these employees. (1)
An office worker loses approximately 19 days in a year to back pain alone. (2)
Back Pain from Desk Jobs Dips Company Profits!!!
Work related back pain has caused British businesses to lose approximately 4.9 million days to employee absenteeism. (2)
Workers with back pain are unable to contribute effectively towards company growth.
The company also loses a huge amount in settling medical and disability claims.
This eats away the profit.
According to health experts, an average Briton spends almost four hours a day at the computer.
This worsens the back-pain problem. (4)
Thus, business houses in London have begun taking serious steps to tackle it.
Back pain behind job losses!
Approximately 31million days of work were lost in 2016 due to neck and back problems in London alone, the Office for National statistics reveals.
It has further revealed that depression arising out of neck and back pain accounts for 15 million missed work days. (3)
Frequent absenteeism and reduced efficiency results in missed targets.
This snowballs into pay cuts and job losses.
The financial crunch causes stress and anxiety further worsening the pain. (1)
Job losses also cause lowered self-esteem and depression. (16)
The constant aches and pains hinders sexual intimacy.
Individuals suffering from chronic pain avoid socializing, increasing depression.
Hospital visits due to back pain costs a staggering £400 million per year to NHS. (5)
The burden of healthcare services is ultimately passed on to the taxpayer.
Is your back hurting?
Check out these top causes of back pain and their quick fixes!
99% of the back pain is due to non-serious causes like sprains and strains.
Only 1% cases are due to serious pathologies like tumors, disc prolapse, aneurysms, infections or congenital abnormality. (5,7)
Lower back pain can result from injury to the muscles, ligaments or disc.
This can occur due to sudden twisting, incorrect lifting, whiplash injury etc.
The pain may last for 1-3 weeks and is termed as acute pain.
This type of pain is usually self-limiting and resolves with appropriate self-care.
Pain lasting for more than 3 months despite adequate treatment is termed as chronic pain. (7)
The commonly reported causes of LBP include
- Prolonged sitting:
The adverse effects of sitting include:
- Muscle weakness: Slouched back and poked chin postures cause stretch weakness in the back muscles. This causes upper back pain. (8,15)
The same happens with driving for hours every day.
The muscle imbalance above, percolates downwards to cause lower back pain. (9)
Posture check – elbows rested, shoulders back, chin tucked in and low back unsupported, every one hour.
Walk to your workplace. Opt for public transport or car pool options.
Sit at 90-90 angle behind the wheels. Keep close to the steering wheel and legs bent.
- Damage to disc: Sustained sitting (overly arched or slouched) can result in higher intra-discal pressures. This increases the risk of disc herniation. (9) Walking causes gentle compression – distraction effect on the discs, improving circulation and nutrition.
Sitting dehydrates the disc, making it weak and prone to injury. (9,10)
Pamper your discs- get up and walk around every half hour.
- Stiffness: Sitting makes the hip flexors and abdominal muscles particularly the transversus abdominis, tight.
Tight muscles give a feeling of stiffness.
Sit upright to maintain those essential spinal curves.
Switch to standing desks.
- Lack of oxygen: Rounded shoulders cause shortening of the chest muscles, decreasing chest expansion. The rib cage mobility is reduced. This lowers respiratory volume and oxygen uptake.
Lack of oxygen, makes one feel tired, dull and lethargic through the day.
Take deep breaths with shoulders back, every hour
- Obesity: Simply sitting and not working out promotes muscle inactivity and slows metabolism. This causes increased body weight.
With age, our bones and joints are unable to withstand the pressures of increasing bodyweight.
This, increases strain on the lower back resulting in back pain. (9,13)
Watch TV while working out on a treadmill or cycle.
Does your company aims to reducing and eliminating back pain events among your employee?
If you do contact Jazz Alessi now by clicking on this link HERE.
- Stress and Anxiety
Hectic lifestyle and demanding jobs are linked to increased mental stress.
Adrenaline, Cortisol and Norepinephrine are body’s major stress hormones.
These hormones help one to stay alert and react fast in unfavorable situations.
They also keep the muscle tension high. Usually, hormonal levels normalise within a couple of hours.
However, when one is under continuous stress, hormonal levels remain elevated.
As a result, heart rate, blood pressure and muscle tension are constantly high for days together.
This leads to muscle fatigue, pain and anxiety. (14,16)
- Stop, breathe and exercise. Only a fit body can withstand the demands of a performant or a hectic life.
- Lifting injuries
Not only the white-collar workers but the blue collar manual workers are at equal risk of back pain.
Repeated lifting at workplace, leads to micro-injury of the muscles and ligaments around the spine.
This, limits their ability to absorb work stresses.
- Practice ergonomic lifting – feet wide apart, hips and knees bent, neutral spine and hold close to the chest.
- Occupational Low back pain
In a recent study, work-based vibration (WBV) was seen to increase the risk of low back pain (LBP) by 4 times in sedentary workers. (15)
It was seen to cause sciatica in a few cases.
WBV is present when the body receives continuous vibration transmitted from the seat over a period of time.
Helicopter flyers followed by crane operators reported a greater risk (3.29 times) of LBP as compared to office workers.
Bus and cab drivers also suffer from back pain due to WBV though to a much lesser extent. (15)
Save your spine at work – Ways to reduce work related back pain
- Be choosy with your chair: Make sure it has an adjustable height, seat depth, armrests and back rest tilt.
- Sit within reach: Arrange all your items on the desk at an arms distance.
Over-reaching for stuff kills the back.
- Looking Straight at your monitor: Invest in an adjustable stand to keep your monitor at eye level.
This keeps the spine neutral and minimises muscle tension.
- Do some leg work: Put a reminder to walk every half hour for better disc hydration and core muscle activity.
- No more phone cradling: Invest in a pair of earphones or Bluetooth devices.
This prevents distortion of the spine.
- Quitting smoking: The nicotine in the cigarettes causes blood vessels to narrow, reducing blood supply.
This, delays healing.
- Stooped shoulders and forward chin: Stretch your shoulders often to correct postural loads and reduce pain.
- Find the right angle: Finding the right angle for the seat back support is crucial for optimal core muscle activity.
- Quit squinting and straining: Poor lighting causes eye strain and headaches.
One sits with forward head posture, overstretching the back muscles.
- Don’t cross your legs: Sitting crossed legs, tilts the pelvis backwards. This destabilises the lumbar spine causing pain and stiffness.
Adjust the chair height to keep feet supported.
- Exercising: 30 minutes of regular exercise, improves muscle strength, joint flexibility and fights depression.
Does your company aims to reducing and eliminating back pain events among your employee?
If you do contact Jazz Alessi now by clicking on this link HERE.
Simple steps for a pain free back!
- Exercise Therapy: A systematically designed exercise plan by physiotherapist or rehabilitation expert, is the best way forward.
The exercises are prescribed after a complete assessment.
They focus on elongating the tight muscles, correcting the muscle strength imbalance and strengthening the core.
- Home Based Exercises: Simple yoga postures that stretch the lower back and tighten the tummy are extremely effective however, some yoga exercises will aggravate a herniated disc, sciatica and knee injuries to name just a few things which matter thus, all exercises must be correctly assessed and customised according with your challenges, individualities and needs.
Pilates personal training in London, once learnt under a qualified instructor are an excellent way to strengthen the core muscles.
Aerobic exercises like dancing and walking also help in improving strength and flexibility of the spine.
Swimming is a great way to relieve muscle tension and increase strength.
- Weight management – Obesity kills your back.
A 150-minute weekly workout is a great way to shed a few pounds.
A combination of resistance and endurance training helps to tone the muscles.
- Footwear alert: High heels and flip flops increase the risk of low back pain.
They distort the alignment of the legs, pelvis and the low back, causing pain.
Make sure you wear trendy yet comfortable footwear while walking.
Reserve the heels only for the parties.
- Diet: An antioxidant rich diet helps in reducing pain.
They are also known for slowing the normal degenerative process.
Avoiding caffeine and saturated fats keep the arteries to the spine healthy.
This ensures good blood supply to spinal structures.13
A diet rich in calcium is good to combat osteoporosis related lower back pain.
Protein rich meals enhance healing of worn out tissues.
- Lifestyle changes: Making changes in daily routine ensures a stronger back.
Walking around 10000 steps, keeps joints flexible.
Symmetrical use of both hands prevents strength imbalance in the spinal muscles.
Squeezing in a workout session everyday makes our body fit for every day stresses.
Corporate Back Pain Rehabilitation Programmes by Jazz Alessi
The Y2K bug struck long back, but the effects are visible now.
Technology has made life easy.
But the ‘touch of a button convenience’, has damaged our backs.
It causes low back pain – herniated discs, sciatica pain, thoracic and cervical pain.
Sitting posture has become a habit that we need to break.
Now!
As an elite personal trainer for more than 20 years, I have worked with many bigwigs in the London corporate world.
Having worked with them closely, I have observed how sitting for hours together hurts your back.
With an experience of improving corporate back pain across London, I know what it takes to reduce and eliminate back pain whilst getting healthier and fit.
Getting to the root of the back pain is a major challenge.
Through professional training in injury rehabilitations and long term experience working with many clients suffering from back pain, I have mastered the skill of accurately using customised movement patterns to reduce stress on the spine and body and to eliminate back pain.
This is crucial for successful rehabilitation.
With my training as a rehab expert and clinical sports exercise specialist, I am able to design a unique back exercise programme just for your company.
I have mastered in Pilates, Yoga and Martial arts, deriving the best exercises and postures from these workout forms to keep the back rehabilitation training both entertaining and safe.
I am among the few 2nd generation Pilates instructors in Central London.
I believe in teaching simple to put in practice yet very impactful exercises progressed systematically.
My back ground as a certified nutritionist comes handy to providing you with optimum nutrition packages for weight management.
For an effective back pain rehabilitation session for your company employees in Central London, contact me now,HERE.
I will be there at the choice of your time and place.
No excuse for not rehabilitating and eliminating your back pain!
References
- https://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/gla_migrate_files_destination/health-wellbeing-2012.pdf
- https://www.alexander-technique.london/alexander-technique-for-business/
- http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-26338889
- https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/583948/back-pain-experts
- https://www.arthritisresearchuk.org/~/…/StateOfMusculoskeletalHealth2017.ashx?la…
- https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/mar/21/lower-back-pain-being-treated-badly-on-a-global-scale-study-says
- http://www.patrickrothmd.com/herniated-disc/
- Park JH Ms, Kang SY PhD, Lee SG PhD, Jeon HS PhD “The effects of smart phone gaming duration on muscle activation and spinal posture: Pilot study.” Physiother Theory Pract. 2017 Aug;33(8):661-669. doi: 10.1080/09593985.2017.1328716. Epub 2017 Jun 7.
- https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/danger-of-sitting_b_4980482
- https://www.wddty.com/magazine/2018/may/bad-back-from-sitting-try-these-myofascial-support-techniques.html
- https://www.physio-pedia.com/Low_Back_Pain_and_Pelvic_Floor_Disorders
- Hodges, Paul W. B; Richardson, Carolyn A. “Inefficient Muscular Stabilization of the Lumbar Spine Associated With Low Back Pain: A Motor Control Evaluation of Transversus Abdominis” Spine: November 15th, 1996 – Volume 21 – Issue 22 – p 2640–2650
- https://www.prevention.com/health/a20430090/bad-habits-for-your-back-pain/
- https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/adrenaline-cortisol-stress-hormones_n_3112800
- Angela Maria Lis, Katia M. Black,Hayley Korn,and Margareta Nordin “Association between sitting and occupational LBP”Eur Spine J. 2007 Feb; 16(2): 283–298
- 1007/s00586-006-0143-7
- https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/stress-management/in-depth/stress/art-20046037