N E W S L E T T E R
Is Working From Home Resulting In Lower Back Pain?
Low back pain is by far one of the most common ailments ever experienced. Just about everyone deals with low back pain at one point in their life, and it is becoming even more common with people working from home. Back pain can prove to be even more troublesome if it is something that lingers for long periods of time and becomes “chronic.” It is estimated that one-half of all Americans experience lower back pain annually, and it is considered to be the leading cause of workplace disability worldwide—not just in the United States. This includes work-from-home environments that many of us are experiencing right now. It is also one of the most common reasons that people miss work, and is the second most common reason that people visit the doctor’s office. When you put those two facts together, the cost of dealing with lower back pain really starts to add up. The average annual cost of dealing with back pain in the United States is $50 billion. Unfortunately, a lot of those financial resources go into dealing with back pain through pain management and medication, but that is not an effective long-term solution for dealing with back pain. A far healthier and cost-effective solution is through physical therapy. If working from home has been resulting in lower back pain for you, don’t hesitate to contact Breckenridge Physical Therapy. WHAT SHOULD I KNOW ABOUT LOWER BACK PAIN? According to the National Institute for Health, the rates of low back pain have been steadily rising in the United States over the past 20 years.
The study mentioned above was conducted by medical researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Researchers consulted with members of the North Carolina community who experienced back pain, in order to understand what caused their pain, how frequently they experienced the pain, and what the severity of the pain was like. The researchers found by talking with household members across the state that the incidence of lower back pain has increased significantly since the last time this survey was conducted, which was in 1992. Since 1992, the percentage of people coping with lower back pain increased from just over three percent to well over 10 percent. This is a significant finding, especially when it was found that the increase in lower back pain remained constant across demographics. A further interesting finding is that of those who experience lower back pain, 84 percent opted to seek medical treatment to address the pain, which was an increase of more than 10 percent in 1992. This means that while more people are experiencing back pain, more people are also seeking treatment for that pain. However, there is still unfortunately an approximate 15 percent of the population who are coping with severe lower back pain without treatment. This is especially true for many of us working from home at this time, as we believe that there are ways to compensate for pain from the comforts of our own homes without having to venture out to find relief. However, seeking support from a physical therapist could significantly improve your quality of life.
A R E Y O U L E T T I N G PA I N H O L D Y O U B A C K ? C A L L T O S C H E D U L E Y O U R A P P O I N T M E N T T O D A Y ! 9 7 0 . 4 8 5 . 3 4 2 1
Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online