Getting back to good back health
According to research from the Mind Your Back campaign, more than half of us have put up with back pain as a result of COVID-19 lifestyles including uncomfortable work from home set ups (53%). Gaining weight, not moving so much, uncomfortable work set ups have all played a part and even though life is largely back to the new normal, back pain persists for many.
Exercise is the best way to relieve back pain. It’s a key recommendation in the latest advice from NICE [1] (the National Institute for Clinical Excellence). So, the simplest thing to do is get moving. But we know that even before the pandemic, more than one third of us (39%) were failing to achieve the Chief Medical Officer’s recommendation of doing something active every day, adding up to at least 150 minutes of moderate activity or 75 minutes of vigorous activity across the week [2]. More recently, according to the Mind Your Back campaign, 20% of us fail to do any exercise at all when working from home. Nearly half in the same research poll admitted they didn’t have the motivation (46%), 37% said they didn’t have the time and just over a quarter simply didn’t feel they had the energy (26%).
The Mind Your Back campaign offers five simple S.T.E.P.S. to help manage and prevent back pain. The campaign comprises Stretch, Therapy, Exercise, Posture, and Strengthen and offers simple exercises and advice to stretch, mobilise and strengthen the back. Make the Mind Your Back 5 S.T.E.P.S. part of daily life to keep your back mobile, flexible and active. Find out more at www.mindyourbackuk.com .
And remember it's not just working from home that can cause back pain. Find out about taking care of your back post pregnancy.
[1] https://www.nice.org.uk/news/article/nice-publishes-updated-advice-on-treating-low-back-pain
[2] Physical activity - GOV.UK Ethnicity facts and figures (ethnicity-facts-figures.service.gov.uk)
