Back pain and posture.

Nobody is immune to Back pain. It is the most common musculoskeletal condition, like tooth decay and the common cold, this is an affliction that affects a substantial proportion of population, at some point in their lives. This condition does not discriminate by gender, age, race or culture.

There are a number of surveys in many countries that reveal a point-prevalence of 17–30%, a 1-month prevalence of 19–43% and a life-time prevalence of 60–80%.

It has been said that backahe is the price the human race is paying for adopting a erect posture.
There are a number of factors which contribute towards developing backache like: Work environment and ergonomics, posture, psychosocial factors and spine/extraspinal pathologies. Sometimes these factors overlap towards causing this condition.

Common conditions that cause the back ache are: Disc pathologies, Injuries, degenerative changes in the spine, infections etc.

If your have chronic backpain, pain radiating along the thighs or legs, recurrent backpains, tingling or altered sensation in the limbs; please see the orthopaedician as it needs to be investigated.

In this article i will concentrate on backpain related to work and posture.

 Back pain is often a consequence of poor posture and stress on spine. This causes overtaxing of various tissues of the spine.

Stooping either in sitting or standing posture increases the strain on the spine leading to damage to intervetebral disks.








                                                                              

Good office ergonomics to avoid RSI

Of-late in my office practice, i am getting to see more and more IT Professionals with RSI i,e repetitive strain injury. Some times Type1 RSI, but most of the times Type2 RSI. Since these individuals are working for 8 to 10 hrs per day at their workstations, it is safe to assume that the musculoskeletal pains  they are getting is related to the work environment, provided we have ruled out other specific causes. So what is RSI?

Repetitive strain injury or RSI is a range of painful or uncomfortable conditions of the muscles, tendons, nerves and other soft tissues, usually caused by repetitive use of a certain part of the body, often somewhere in the upper limbs. 

Since our patients are computer professional, it is important for them to practice good computer ergonomics to prevent RSI and also to reverse it in early stages.

What is good computer ergonomics?

A properly set-up office workstation helps workers maintain a neutral body

posture. This is a comfortable working posture, in which the joints are

naturally aligned, reducing stress and strain on the muscles, tendons, and

skeletal system, and minimising the risk of developing RSI. An adequate

workstation also helps to prevent fatigue, eye strain, headaches and stress

by controlling environmental conditions.

A neutral body posture has the following characteristics: