Get back to fitness through exercise, arthritis charity urges people with back pain
People with back pain should resist the urge to rest and take it easy, and instead exercise their way back to fitness, according to a leading medical research charity.
At the start of its annual awareness week (January 4-8 2005) the Arthritis Research Campaign (arc) is calling for a change in attitude to back pain, one of the great scourges of the 21 st century which affects 2.5 million people in the UK and costs the country almost £10 billion in lost production.
Although current medical advice, backed up by research, is that people with back pain should stay as mobile and active as possible, there is still a belief among some health professionals and patients that exercise will make their back pain worse. The charity is keen to dispel that myth.
"Although a bad back is painful, it usually doesn’t mean that it’s anything serious," says research physiotherapist at King's College London, Duncan Critchley. "There is a often a mismatch between how painful it is and how serious the condition is in most cases.
"And because your back hurts doesn’t mean that movement and exercise is doing further damage. In fact the opposite is true; the less exercise you do, the muscles in the back become weak and worse it will get, and so it spirals into a vicious circle."
Keeping mobile will help to prevent an attack of back pain becoming chronic (long-term). When this happens, some people with back pain can often lose confidence, cut down on their usual activities, and become depressed and anxious. It's known that people who are depressed have a lower pain threshold, and are in particular need of support.
Although research has shown that exercise and manipulation can be very helpful for people with back pain, it is not yet known which specific exercises work the best. arc is currently spending more than £2million on research into back pain, including several clinical trials around the UK aiming to establish the most effective types of exercise or manipulation, although probably different types of exercises will be shown to be effective for different people.
A free booklet on back pain, which includes advice on self-help and exercises is available free of charge from arc on 01246 558033 or at info@arc.org.uk.
