7 out of 10 people gets back pain at some point in their lives…but the worse thing is, half of these 7 people will go on to have long term back pain (ouch!). For some, their back pains are “just” some ache in their back, and to some, it’s so pain that they can’t even get out of bed.

Here’s 3 mistakes that you can make that may worsen your back pains.

Ignoring your back pain

I get it – we’re busy. And that dang back pain is slowing down our ability to do what we have to get done…and some people take the “I’ll wait and see if it goes away on its own”.

Sometimes yes, it does go away, which is for those that are very very mild, which can last a couple of days. These, you can ignore of course. But for those that seem to linger and doesnt improve after 5 days, for those kind, go and get it medically treated. See your doctor, or orthopedist and then come in for back physiotherapy sessions.

The earliar any pains (or problems for the matter) is diagnosed and managed, the better and quicker the outcomes.

Sit, sit, sit, sit and more sitting

We sit at work. Sit as we commute to and from work. Sit as we eat. Sit as we socialize. Sit when we get home. Kinda lots of sitting there. Did you know, that when you sit, there’s 3X more forces on your spine and back as opposed to standing and walking?

Basically the more we sit, the more force that taxes and even injures our spine. That’s why we recommend patients, young and old, to be as active as you can and avoid sitting. First, be mindful of the number of hours you sit.

Sitting has been labelled as dangerous as smoking from a health perspective.

Second, proactively find opportunities to stand and walk around, say

• stopping one or two stops earlier and walking home
• stopping at one or two floors before your floor to climb some steps
• standing as you commute in trains (be safe!)
• take standing and walking breaks every 30-45 minutes of sitting
• exercise eg going for regular walks, lift weights, play some sports
• etc

These will help you strengthen your overall body (and back too), and may help to decrease or prevent back pain.

Self treating

Ah, this is common – we have seen a lot of patients who self treat their back pains. They buy back supports, do exercise they find on video streaming platforms, or worse, do what their non-doctor/non-physio friends.

In the rare chance those may work, most of the time, it worsens the problem…because of the increased risk of treating the wrong thing, compounded by delayed accurate diagnosing healing.

An example, say someone has a numbness in their lower back, and their friend told them that they should just use a back brace. So this person can buy a brace, and wears it. They are not sure how to wear it, how long to wear for, and decided to wear it…until the discomfort goes away. 6 months later, the numbness starts to get worse, and the numbness now travels all the way down to the middle of the calf. They panic and then start looking for professional medical advice, as well as physiotherapy.

That is a common event. When it comes to health, I prefer less risk, so going to see a professional medical doctor and physiotherapist is something that I recommend, to be safe.

Where To Next?

• Go to Home / Start
• Learn and find out more about your pains (bones, muscles, joints, tendons, ligaments, nerves etc) at Pain Conditions & Injuries
• Visit our shop to see products we recommend for pain relief, heating, treatments and more
• Contact us