Too many Australians are just accepting back pain as a fact of life, turning to painkillers when the discomfort becomes intense and not exploring the underlying "big picture" reasons for their discomfort, according to the Chiropractors' Association of Australia (CAA).
National research, commissioned for National Chiropractic Care Week 2009 (May 18-24) found 67% of Australians suffer from back pain on a weekly basis and one in four Australians suffers daily pain.
Among retirees, the prevalence of back pain is much higher with one in three suffering daily back pain.
Despite the burden of back pain, the majority of Australians consider themselves to be in good health even though three quarters of respondents don't take the recommended amount of daily exercise.
CAA member chiropractor Dr. Warrick Hooper said, "Lack of exercise is one of the key contributing factors to back pain and poor spinal health along with other ‘big picture' lifestyle choices such as diet, smoking and poor posture. It's not just back pain, it's the big picture."
According to Dr. Hooper, Australians need to consider that back pain could be a sign of something more significant, and should not be viewed as an inevitable fact of life that should be "put up" with.
"Back pain can be an indicator of how poor lifestyle choices are affecting an individual's spinal health," said Dr. Hooper.
"The vast majority of people consider back pain as something to treat when it happens, usually through prescription and over-the-counter drugs."
However, while drugs may relieve pain temporarily, they are a quick fix solution, which ignores underlying structural problems and lifestyle habits - the ‘big picture'," He said.
The national research also found that many people choose just to rest when they've got back pain.* However, Dr. Hooper said it is important to resume normal activities as soon as possible. Staying active helps to prevent long-term problems.
The CAA research found that people's weight remains a significant concern with 48% who considered themselves overweight experiencing daily back pain.
Being overweight made them almost twice as likely to experience daily back pain when compared to the average Australian.
"Making good lifestyle choices and maintaining your spinal health are key to reducing the risk of back pain and leading a healthy life," said Dr. Hooper.
Though most chiropractors only undergo 5 years of university education and training, Dr. Hooper has completed twelve years of university education in the areas of Chiropractic, Acupuncture, Molecular Genetics, Advanced Neuroscience, Integrative Medicine and Chinese Medicine.
Following intense university education, chiropractors can provide specialist care, exercises, healthy lifestyle advice and information regarding the ‘big picture'.
"Chiropractic care offers a safe, proven, and effective drug free choice in spinal health, care. Chiropractic can help you get to the cause of your pain and most importantly, it helps you to maintain your long term spinal health and maximise the body's overall health and performance," said Dr. Hooper.
"Not only can chiropractic provide pain relief, it corrects dysfunction in the nervous system and musculoskeletal system, enabling individuals to unlock their full health potential."
As part of National Chiropractic Care Week 2009 (May 18 - 24), the CAA has developed a free "Big Picture" booklet on spinal health, to provide great information to Australians and help them lead healthy lives.
The booklet contains information on back pain such as common misconceptions, causes, lifestyle choices, risk factors, spinal health, chiropractic care and a do it yourself home posture check.
As a free gift to you from the Spinal Centre, this book is now downloadable as in PDF format. Simply click the link below to download this booklet.
The Big Picture E-book.pdf
